NDM7153 - Opposition Debate
Tabled on 25/09/2019 | For debate on 02/10/2019To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:
1. Notes this summer's GCSE and A-Level results in Wales.
2. Regrets that the GCSE A*-C results in summer 2019 were worse than in summer 2007.
3. Further regrets the fall in the percentage of learners securing A*-C GCSE grades in English, maths and Welsh second language.
4. Notes that Welsh Government research has found that performance against key indicators for years 4-9 have deteriorated.
5. Calls on the Welsh Government to acknowledge its failure to significantly improve GCSE and A-Level attainment in Wales and apologise to pupils, parents and schools for letting them down.
Joint Council for Qualifications, GCSE Entry Level Certificate, GNVQ Results, Summer 2007
Joint Council for Qualifications, GCSE Entry Level Certificate, GNVQ Results, Summer 2019
Tabled By
Amendments
Add as new point at end of the motion:
Believes that Welsh GCSE and A-Level learners are being harmed by recent changes that water down school accountability and calls on the Welsh Government to reverse this trend.
Tabled By
After point 1, delete all and replace with:
Congratulates pupils, teachers and school staff for their hard work and strong set of results.
Welcomes that:
a) A-Level results this summer remained at a historic high;
b) compared to English regions and Northern Ireland, Wales improved A-Level ranking for all grades and, for the first time ever, is rated first for A*;
c) overall GCSE results showed improvement this summer;
d) the increase of over 50 per cent in science GCSE entries since 2016, and increases this year in the percentage of pupils gaining A*-A and A*-C grades in science subjects;
e) the number of pupils achieving A*-C in Welsh second language full course increased by 12.5 per cent;
f) the number of pupils who sat GCSE English literature increased by 22.8 per cent, with over 2,800 more achieving A*-C grades compared with 2018.
Tabled By
Delete points 2 and 3 and replace with:
Believes that it’s not possible to make meaningful comparisons with GCSE and A-level results from previous years for a number of reasons.
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Add new points after point 4, and re-number accordingly:
Notes the Estyn findings that pupils who attend half the secondary schools in Wales are unable to reach their full potential by the time they leave school.
Believes that the pupil-teacher relationship is key to academic attainment and that schools must be sufficiently funded in order to raise standards.
Calls for improvements to teachers’ conditions of employment, and abolish bureaucracy and unnecessary intervention, in order to strengthen academic achievement.
Calls on the Welsh Government to provide sufficient funding for our schools and move spending towards preventative services within its next budget, in order to create the conditions that will enable our pupils and teachers to succeed
Tabled By
In point 5, delete "to acknowledge its failure to significantly improve GCSE and A-Level attainment in Wales and apologise to pupils, parents and schools for letting them down" and replace with “to apologise that the current education system does not allow half the pupils in Welsh schools to achieve their full potential”.