What steps has the Welsh Government taken to ensure that the new curriculum is implemented to the same degree in faith schools as it is in other schools?
The Curriculum for Wales guidance framework gives every school in Wales the opportunity to design their own curriculum. It encourages schools to build their own vision for their learners within the context of the four purposes and the learning defined at a national level. It provides the space for practitioners to be creative and to develop meaningful learning through a range of experiences and contexts that meet the needs of their learners, and the nature of their school or setting. It is also clear on the requirements placed on schools.
The Curriculum for Wales was co-constructed through active and direct engagement of representatives from the full range of schools and settings across Wales. Those pioneers were drawn from rural and urban settings; English-medium and Welsh-medium; primary, secondary and special schools, a range of school sizes, and schools with a religious character. The Curriculum for Wales is, therefore, designed to be relevant to all learners aged 3 to 16 in Wales irrespective of where they access their learning. The co-construction process and the inclusive nature of the new curriculum has supported greater ownership from schools across Wales.
In addition to broad practitioner engagement, an advisory group was formed in 2019 to draft the Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) section of Curriculum for Wales guidance. That comprised religious education experts, practitioners, academics, and representatives from the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) and the National Advisory Panel for Religious Education (NAPFRE). Expanded co-constructed RVE statutory guidance was issued as part of the Curriculum for Wales Framework. It provides schools with guidance on the relationship between religion, values and ethics, the Agreed Syllabus, and the areas of learning and experience and also how the statements of what matters included in the Humanities Area can be achieved in relation to RVE.
Funding was made available to the Catholic Education Service and Church in Wales to prepare their own supporting curriculum documentation for Catholic and Church in Wales schools, linking denominational religious education and the Curriculum for Wales. This is helping ensure that these schools have a full and clear understanding of how learning and teaching through the Curriculum for Wales can reflect the needs of their learners and the communities they serve. All maintained schools and Pupil Referral Units are supported by the school improvement services including on curriculum implementation and professional learning to support this.
More generally, it is worth emphasising that the requirements and expectations regarding the development of a broad and challenging curriculum and the drive for increased standards and learner attainment rest equally across maintained schools in Wales. Schools are also publicly held to account through Estyn inspections, which provide objective, independent, and impartial information about schools’ performance and effectiveness. Estyn inspect schools with a religious character under the same inspection framework as other maintained schools. Estyn does not, however, inspect denominational religious education or the religious content of collective worship when it is a school with a religious character. Instead, the governing body is required by law to arrange for denominational religious education and collective worship to be inspected separately.
In their summary report in September, Estyn noted that schools and settings recognised the importance of implementing the Curriculum for Wales effectively; and they also continued to recognise and value the freedoms it offers them to better meet the needs of their learners. In that report Estyn helpfully set out some areas where things are working well and some aspects to focus on. These align closely with our understanding of how this significant change programme is moving forward and how schools and settings should be supported this year.
Work is already underway with school improvement services to ensure support reflects where schools are and how they should progress, including with schools of a religious character. Our total support for Curriculum for Wales implementation is some £37 million this financial year. For schools that means they will receive over £21 million this year to directly support their work on the new curriculum and related professional learning, alongside a range of nationally available programmes of support.