Tuesday, November 01, 2005
The other side of the Severny
This morning's Guardian reports at length on the differences between England and Wales over Education and, in particular, reasserts the the position of the Welsh Assembly Government that the latest Government initiative to increase selection and re-introduce grant maintained schools will not apply in Wales.
The article is sub-headed "The Blair government's move to give schools more autonomy won't make it across the Severny," effectively inventing a new river, but apart from that it gets most other things right.
Almost every reform that teachers in England have been crying out for has long since been implemented in Wales. Testing at key stages 1, 2 and 3? All gone. School league tables? Non-existent. Coachloads of classroom assistants as the catch-all antidote to all bureaucracy? Welsh heads have the freedom to appoint the support staff they need.
The Welsh have also remained firmly communitarian and comprehensive in their ethos for secondary education. You won't find a specialist school or an academy anywhere. And, annoyingly for Westminster, the Welsh system is proving remarkably robust with GCSE and A-level results either comparable to or better than in England. So it was not altogether surprising that the first reaction of the Welsh assembly to the white paper was to put as much clear water between itself and Westminster as possible.
At first I thought that Jane Davidson had fed the piece to the paper but it seems that she is now down-playing her differences with the UK Government so as not to embarrass them too much. However, as is hinted at in the article all is not rosy in Wales. In particular there are issues around funding that a new Assembly Task and Finish Committee is trying to get to grips with at present as well as problems with capital funding for school repairs and maintenance. Nevertheless, it is still a good advert for devolution.
The article is sub-headed "The Blair government's move to give schools more autonomy won't make it across the Severny," effectively inventing a new river, but apart from that it gets most other things right.
Almost every reform that teachers in England have been crying out for has long since been implemented in Wales. Testing at key stages 1, 2 and 3? All gone. School league tables? Non-existent. Coachloads of classroom assistants as the catch-all antidote to all bureaucracy? Welsh heads have the freedom to appoint the support staff they need.
The Welsh have also remained firmly communitarian and comprehensive in their ethos for secondary education. You won't find a specialist school or an academy anywhere. And, annoyingly for Westminster, the Welsh system is proving remarkably robust with GCSE and A-level results either comparable to or better than in England. So it was not altogether surprising that the first reaction of the Welsh assembly to the white paper was to put as much clear water between itself and Westminster as possible.
At first I thought that Jane Davidson had fed the piece to the paper but it seems that she is now down-playing her differences with the UK Government so as not to embarrass them too much. However, as is hinted at in the article all is not rosy in Wales. In particular there are issues around funding that a new Assembly Task and Finish Committee is trying to get to grips with at present as well as problems with capital funding for school repairs and maintenance. Nevertheless, it is still a good advert for devolution.
