What steps has the Minister taken to ensure education professionals are appropriately trained and provided with a development path, to deliver all mental health aspects of the new curriculum?
Recognising and promoting teaching excellence is one of the key objectives in ‘Our National Mission’ and is crucial to translating the new curriculum into practice. We have committed to support teachers to be lifelong professional learners that reflect on and enhance their own practice to motivate and inspire the children and young people in their care. Part of that commitment lies in the development of a national approach to career-long professional learning that builds capacity from Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and is embedded in evidence-based enquiry and research and effective collaboration, with system wide benefits for all practitioners.
In regard to a development path to deliver the well-being and mental health aspects of the new curriculum, we recognise that students in ITE need both an understanding of child development and knowledge to learn and engage with emerging issues and areas of concern around emotional and mental wellbeing for learners. This needs to form part of a wider understanding of interdependencies including ALN and the range of approaches to behaviour and pedagogy.
The new curriculum for ITE under the terms of the new accreditation criteria will be delivered from September 2019. This curriculum includes a requirement for Partnerships to develop approaches to assist aspiring teachers to manage their own wellbeing, as well as their ability to contribute to the wellbeing of the pupils in their care. The new criteria do not specify how partnerships will deliver this but assessment of their approach forms part of the accreditation process undertaken by the independent Teacher Education Accreditation Board (TEAB). However, Welsh Universities providing initial teacher education have confirmed that, in line with delivery of the new curriculum, wellbeing will form part of the new syllabus from September 2019. This will not be a stand-alone module but will permeate all aspects of the syllabus.
We are working with the Universities to support their efforts to make learning resources and opportunities available that enhance the main programmes and which can be accessed by students in many education and related programmes across our Universities. Working through the Universities and Schools Council for the Education of Teachers (USCET) Cymru we are developing materials which under the currently accredited programmes will be voluntary and/or support enrichment. There will also be a need to ensure any material is aligned with the existing ITE syllabus.
Any developments in policy around Mental Health and Well-Being and their incorporation into ITE programmes will be for TEAB to assess during accreditation.
For those practitioners leaving Initial Teacher Education and progressing into the early career years, we are also reviewing induction arrangements to ensure that future delivery builds on the new ITE programmes and provides progression opportunities for NQTs to further develop their practice. We will consider any opportunities to bolster NQTs’ knowledge to deliver the new curriculum, including the mental health aspects, as part of the revised arrangements.
For in-service practitioners, our bespoke “made in Wales” approach to professional learning marks a key point in our reform journey. Our National Approach to Professional Learning (NAPL) aligns our new professional standards, the Schools as Learning Organisations approach and professional learning model, and is now recognised as the national framework within which all professional learning should be designed and delivered.
£24m funding has been made available to ensure all practitioners are prepared for the new curriculum. This funding can be used flexibly to allow schools to work together in ways that suit their own circumstances.
We have also recognised the importance of creating the time and space for practitioners and leaders to work together across schools and networks to get ready for the new curriculum. This is why we have proposed and taken forward additional INSET days (one day per year for the next three academic years), as we recognise the need to provide additional whole-school time for all practitioners to be able to do this.
To build the supporting infrastructure for professional learning, we are also working with practitioners to develop digital resources to support a common professional learning programme for curriculum reform; as well as developing new National Networks aligned to the Areas of Learning and Experience. The networks will be conduits to engage with the wider sector to ensure that all practitioners have support to further develop their skills and knowledge to deliver the new curriculum.
During the current ‘refinement phase’ of the new curriculum, we need time to further develop our understanding of the professional learning challenges associated with implementation in schools. Since last autumn, pioneers have interacted with the new curriculum through cycles of action enquiry supported by higher education partners, (Cardiff Metropolitan University being the lead partner for the Health and well-being Area of Learning and Experience (AoLE)). During the spring term, enquiry cycles extended to the wider community of schools, with some pioneers focusing on the implementation changes for schools including internal organisation, timetabling and subject specialism.
Pioneers leading enquiries linked to the Health and Well-being AoLE focused on how schools will need to plan and develop their school curriculum to deliver this AoLE, exploring how pupil voice, community links and outside agencies could inform the curriculum for Health and Well Being. Early feedback reflected that practitioners are pleased that health and well-being has an equal footing within the other AoLEs, acknowledged that the AoLE achieves an appropriate balance between developing knowledge and skills and recognised the need to be creative in the delivery of this AoLE to provide rich, authentic learning experiences for all pupils.
As we move into year 2 of the professional enquiry programme, regional consortia will have a variety of ways of sharing key enquiry outputs as part of the wider professional learning offer. We are working with the regions to ensure that the relationship between pioneers and the wider community of schools delivers for all practitioners, with a move towards a national programme of teacher professional enquiry to support the transition to a self improving system.