What discussions has the Minister had with the Children's Commissioner for Wales following the publication of their report on racism in Welsh schools?
I met with the Children’s Commissioner for Wales at a quarterly meeting on 14th November, during which we discussed the publication of her report “Take it Seriously”: children’s experiences of racism in secondary schools, published on 28th November. I will now consider the Commissioner’s report and recommendations and the Welsh Government will respond in due course.
The Welsh Government’s Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan sets out a number of actions to embed anti-racism into our education system and create a truly anti-racist Wales by 2030.
The Plan brings together work across education, including:
- updating our statutory anti-bullying guidance to better reflect the impact of racist bullying and harassment on learners;
- robust professional learning for education practitioners and senior leaders via the Diversity and Anti-Racism Professional Learning (DARPL) project;
- improving the levels of recruitment, retention and progression into leadership of teachers from ethnic minority communities;
- expecting every school to effectively record and address incidents of racist abuse; and
- ensuring that our teaching reflects the histories and experiences of our diverse communities in Wales.