Children and Young People’s Committee - Consultation for the Education (Wales) Bill

The Education (Wales) Bill was introduced to the National Assembly for Wales by Huw Lewis AM, Minister for Education and Skills. The Business Committee remitted the Bill to be looked into by the Children and Young People’s Committee. Over the last couple of months the Outreach team have been busy conducting focus groups across Wales to discuss different aspects of the Education (Wales) Bill. They have also been distributing a questionnaire to parents, teachers and teaching assistants to ask them about the harmonisation of school term dates. During the focus groups, which have been held with Wrexham Youth Service, UNISON Cymru, Carmarthenshire County Council and Monmouthshire County Council, along with others, the Outreach Team have been discussing two aspects of the Bill with participants. The first aspect was the registration of the wider education workforce. Participants discussed what the advantages of having a registration board for the wider education workforce would be and any disadvantages that may appear. They also discussed whether they, and colleagues alike, would want to register with a registration board. The second aspect was the provision of SEN post-16 in schools. Participants discussed the provision that is already available for learners and what the proposed changes would mean to learners across Wales. We the Outreach Team, and the Children and Young People’s Committee would like to thank all of the participants and individuals who have taken part in a focus group or taken the time to fill in the questionnaire during this consultation. For more information on the Education (Wales) Bill consultation, click here: http://www.senedd.assemblywales.org/mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=7186