Wales

Overview of Welsh policy on literacy and education

Early years

In 2003, a new foundation stage for three to seven-year-olds, The Learning Country: The Foundation Phase - three to seven years, replaced the foundation and key stage 1 phases shared with England where tests mark the end of the stage. Language, literacy, communication skills and mathematical developments will all be monitored. Many of the objectives are informal. Children will learn through play and will be taught about their own bodies and health as well as how to go to the toilet themselves. The foundation stage was due to be rolled out across Wales in 2006, however, due to the speed of implementation this was delayed until 2008.

The guidelines stated that classrooms should provide one adult for every eight children, and at foundation level teachers should have studied child development to degree level. The Welsh Assembly said: "Too often, children are introduced to formal skills before they are ready, with the risk of losing confidence and a love of learning.

In 2004, the assembly announced an extra £141 million to be invested in early learning by 2007, drawn from education, health and social services coffers. This funding helped pay for free part-time nursery places for all three-year-olds in Wales, and for integrated centres offering wrap-around childcare and education through play for infants. The money also funded a pilot of a free breakfast scheme and the new foundation phase for three to seven-year-olds.

Childcare is For Children was the Assembly's response to the recommendations put forward by the Childcare Working Group in January 2005. It links into Flying Start, a £46m initiative which aims to give children living in disadvantaged areas in Wales a better start in life. The three main objectives of the strategy are to ensure that childcare supports the developmental needs of children, to ensure that childcare is widely available and affordable, and to provide childcare so that parents can balance work, family and other commitments.

Schools

Education in Wales is run by the Welsh Assembly. It is responsible for setting the principality's education strategy as well as distributing budgets and controlling the quangos which oversee schools, further education colleges and universities. 

There are, following devolution in 1999, increasingly many differences between the education system in Wales and that in England, but the terminology referring to years and key stages is similar to that used in England and it follows a similar National Curriculum to that in England. See the different approaches to educational structure within the UK , including a summary of how education in Wales differs from England.

In September 2001, the assembly set out its ten year strategy for education to 2010 in the White Paper The Learning Country (TLC) which outlined a significant move away from the English White Paper Schools Achieving Success . There are no primary school league tables and Wales scrapped the publication of secondary league tables in 2001. National tests for seven-year-olds were abolished in 2002 and, in 2005, testing for 11 and in 2006, for 14-year-olds was also scrapped. In its place it has boosted teacher assessment and moderation, and the results report, Key statistical indicators at school level 2000-5 was published. A separate curriculum accommodates compulsory Welsh language teaching into secondary schools (see use of Welsh in education).

Guidelines from the Welsh Inspectorate in July 1998 stated that LAs need not follow England's National Literacy Strategy, but rather that it was a matter for 'local discretion'. Teachers were told that they were free to choose whatever strategies they deemed fit with heads being told that there was no one way to teach literacy successfully. Schools adopting the official literacy hour would be 'welcomed', but the report added that it was "for schools and teachers to determine the most appropriate teaching strategies for improving standards of literacy, including the amount of class-room time to be devoted to this." Every Welsh local authority has drawn up a local strategy, based on good practice from the best schools.

In practice, this has left Welsh LEAs with the freedom to select what they see as the best aspects of the literacy hour and any other promising primary initiatives. Some have chosen to go down the route of the Australian First Steps approach which has much in common with the literacy hour, including a similar focus on the six non-fiction text types, but has more emphasis on a learning continuum.  Much of the NLS methodology has been officially advocated as good practice, and many Welsh primary schools have adopted the NLS objectives or a version of them adapted to include the Welsh language dimension of the curriculum. Since 2001, significant TLC targets have been missed and now revised downwards for 2010, they include:

       key stage 2 assessments (originally 90% achieving the expected level in English/Welsh, maths and science, revised to 80%, currently 74%)
key stage 3 assessments (originally 85-90%, revised to "at least" 65%, at present 57%)

       five A*-C grade GCSEs (originally 75%, revised to "approaching 60", currently 52 and 56% in England)

       five A*-G grade GCSEs (originally 95%, revised to "approaching 90", at present 85 and 89% in England)

       secondary attendance (originally 95%, revised to 93, now 91 and 92% in England).

In 1997 a Welsh White Paper entitled Building Excellent Schools Together (BEST) was published. This made it clear that raising standards of literacy and numeracy within the context of a broad and balanced curriculum would be at the heart of the Government's programme for raising levels of educational attainment. The Government believed that the stretching targets for raising standards in Wales would only be achieved if there is concerted action at all levels to raise standards of literacy and numeracy. To read the Paper visit www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/

Since 2000, a Welsh baccalaureate has been introduced, and a play-based foundation stage (see above). There is no desire to follow England down the specialist schools route, LAs are seen as central to the long-term development of the education system and the English approach of contracting out, privatisation and competition has been rejected. Equally it did not introduce education action zones or advanced skills teachers.  In 2002, Jane Davidson, minister for education and lifelong learning said: "As a matter of policy, reliance on the private sector has been ruled out in Wales. So has the introduction of specialist schools. In Wales, schools have long been encouraged to build on their strengths. When a system is working well it makes no sense to disrupt the productive pattern of relationships on which it rests. So we remain committed to a dynamic, all-ability comprehensive system, where the school is embedded in its local community."

Developing the Curriculum Cymreig was published in 2003 to help schools teach the cultural, economic, environmental, historical and linguistic characteristics of Wales. It offers guidance to schools on using the Curriculum Cymreig as an organising principle for planning the whole curriculum and to develop a whole school approach. It provides case studies in most subjects, including English, and highlights the requirements in that subject to read stories and poems from Wales at all key stages, including works by Welsh authors writing in English.

Statistically there has been a widening gap in attainment between Wales and England. In 2007, nearly 54% of Welsh students passed at least five GCSE or equivalent exams at grades A*-C in 2006, compared with 58.1% in England. The pass rate for five grades A*-G was also higher across the border: 89.2%, compared with 86 in Wales. Heads in Wales say greater use of vocational GNVQs in English schools, which can count for up to four GCSE grades, is responsible for the gap. Academics suggest lower per-pupil funding levels and fewer initiatives focused on boosting pass rates may also explain the gap.

In 2007, four years after the launch of Aiming for Excellence in 2003, Estyn published a report on the programme, which aims to raise standards at key stage 3. It found that it had stimulated teachers to plan more interesting learning activities. Pupils are generally less bored and better behaved. Standards in literacy, numeracy and ICT all went up, with 60% of teaching in 2005/06 rated at grade 2 or above, with 1 being the highest grade. Pupils of average ability have benefited most but the report said that less able boys are often impeded at KS3 because they have poor literacy skills, particularly writing.

In March 2007, the TES reported that Estyn was conducting a three-year evaluation of the Raise programme, which had showed early signs of raising litearacy and numeracy skills in the country's most disadvantaged communities schools. Raise includes funding for extra staff to coach disadvantaged and underachieving pupils, after-school clubs and initiatives for improving attendance and team-building. One secondary school has set up a home visit for parents who have been 'reluctant partners' with the school. The final report is due in December 2009.

In a report released in June 2008 by Estyn, Best Practice in the Reading and Writing of Pupils aged 7 to 14 Years, inspectors found written communication was often the biggest barrier to pupils' learning.

Adults

The National Basic Skills Strategy for Wales 2001-2004 listed action to be taken to improve basic skills across Wales. Support was made available for books for babies, and family literacy and numeracy schemes will be extended to include Keeping up with the Children, a programme to bring parents up to date with what their children are learning. There is early language programmes for parents and their young children, developed with the support of Sure Start. For post-16 learners self-help programmes were established with the support of distance learning advisers. The Basic Skills Agency will extend its employer pledge scheme, which encourages small and medium-sized employers to show commitment to improving their employees' basic skills. There is language through play training for early years workers; support for basic skills training in secondary schools; and training for basic skills supporters in schools, youth services, community and voluntary organisations, and libraries.

There is an information and advice service, a new system of certificates in literacy and numeracy, a pre-test preparation course and online practice tests. Every college in Wales received public funds for post-16 basic skills teaching will be required to assess all students' standards in literacy and numeracy soon after they start courses. A new body, ELWa, Education and Learning Wales, overseeing post 16 and adult education was formed.

A national promotion campaign was launched in 2001 with basic skills roadshows in supermarkets and shopping centres, information directed to organisations whose clients may have basic skills problems (eg health, housing and social services), and with material to promote learning distributed to schools, libraries, shops, sports and social clubs.

In 2002, the 'Reading, writing, maths- get them all right' campaign for adults was targeted at the substantial number of adults who need to 'brush-up' their skills rather than being targeted at non-readers. It was also aimed at making the most of partnership and collaboration initiatives. The Basic Skills Agency made available grants to help post-16 settings with the cost of local promotion, recruitment and referral. The slogan at the end of the adverts on TV and radio was, "Together we can build an even better Wales".

A three-year national campaign aimed at increasing access to Welsh and English literature was launched in 2002. The project, Estyn Allan (Branching Out), involved all 22 local authorities in Wales and was targeted to inspire as wide a range of people as possible to indulge in the pleasure of a good read. Having explored the various reasons behind society's move away from the printed word, the project seeked to offer a lifeline to individuals who may feel isolated from enjoyment of reading by geography, cultural background or disability, or may have been put off by negative experiences at school. Estyn Allan was launched in conjunction with the bilingual promotion Cyfle I Ddianc - Give me a break - which offers a wide range of contemporary fiction, short stories and poetry in both Welsh and English. For more information visit www.branching-out.net/welsh_english/welsh/default.asp

Individual learning accounts (ILAs) aimed at boosting the skills of adults with few or no educational qualifications failed to hit recruitment targets by the end of March 2005- even after these were cut almost in half by ministers. Only 3,200 out of 1.3 million poorly-qualified adults in Wales were expected to have started courses paid for by ILAs. ILAs are open to adults living in Wales with level 2 qualifications (GCSE grade C or equivalent) or below. People on benefits such as income support receive the full cost of courses up to £200 a year. Those not on benefits, or on income-related benefits such as working tax credit, have to contribute towards course costs and receive a maximum of between £100 and £160. Computing courses are the most popular.

From May 2005 Books on Prescription was rolled out by the assembly to all 22 library authorities in Wales following successful pilots in Cardiff and Gwynedd. Libraries help to promote self-help books that are generally considered by the medical professions to be positively helpful for patients suffering the effects of anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. Booklists have been circulated to GPs, who have agreed to give patients, alongside their prescription for normal medication, another for a book. That prescription is taken by the reader to the library, where the appropriate book is dispensed to them free of charge. For more information, visit http://www.nhsdirect.wales.nhs.uk/

In 2005, Words Talk - Numbers Count, the second phase of the national basic skills strategy for Wales, began and £40 million was made available over the three years from 2005 to support activities outlined in the strategy. The second phase included an all-age approach that concentrates on 10 horizontal themes and 10 priority groups. The Basic Skills Agency was awarded the contract to oversee the implementation of the strategy.

The British Market Research Bureau undertook a survey of the literacy and numeracy skills in English of adults aged 16 to 25 in Wales on behalf of the Basic Skills Agency, as part of the National Basic Skills Strategy. The Survey questioned more than 2,500 adults and found that one in four adults in Wales, about 450,000 people, have only entry level literacy [below GCSE level] and more than half, or 980,000, only entry level numeracy. A parallel study was commissioned to assess the reading and writing proficiency of Welsh-speaking adults in that language.

In March 2007, the assembly released figures showing that over half of all adults in Wales have poor numeracy skills and one in four have a reading and writing age of 11 or below. They show that 25% of people aged 16 to 65 have a reading and writing age of 11 or below compared with 22% in England. A total of 53% of people aged between 16 and 65 in Wales had numeracy levels of an 11-year-old or below compared with 49% in England. Fluent Welsh speakers were found to be less likely to have problems reading and writing. One in five Welsh speakers had a literacy age of 11 or below compared with one in four who did not speak Welsh. Challenging targets have ben set for adults by the assembly. By 2010:

       80% of adults are to have at least Level 1 literacy skills

       55% are to have Level 1 numeracy skills

       50% of employees are to be with employers who have signed the Employer Pledge

The Incredible Years programme, an innovative parenting course, proved so successful in a north and mid-Wales pilot that in 2006 the assembly pledged £50,000 to make it more widely available, forming a central plank of a parenting action plan.