Wednesday, January 17, 2007
The Sun and devolution
Whoopee! I have made the columns of The Sun and not a Cheeky Girl in sight. Thanks to Iain Dale who obviously reads the paper, as without his post on the subject I would not have known.
Those unreconstructed centralists at The Sun's 'The Whip' column have picked up my press release on Alan Johnson's idea of putting the school leaving age up to 18 and claimed that I am at odds with our English Education Spokesperson, Sarah Teather. What they do not seem to understand is that Mr. Johnson's proposal only relates to England. There is already evidence that the current Welsh Labour Education Minister is planning a different route.
Sarah Teather's comments are quite appropriate within the English context, however Wales has a different education system and the ability to determine our own response to the problem of 16 years olds leaving school with no educational qualifications or training.
My view is that Wales can find a way of dealing with this problem without changing the school leaving age and that within a Welsh context such a change would be undesirable. That is what devolution is about. It is a shame that the London based journalists of The Sun do not understand that.
Those unreconstructed centralists at The Sun's 'The Whip' column have picked up my press release on Alan Johnson's idea of putting the school leaving age up to 18 and claimed that I am at odds with our English Education Spokesperson, Sarah Teather. What they do not seem to understand is that Mr. Johnson's proposal only relates to England. There is already evidence that the current Welsh Labour Education Minister is planning a different route.
Sarah Teather's comments are quite appropriate within the English context, however Wales has a different education system and the ability to determine our own response to the problem of 16 years olds leaving school with no educational qualifications or training.
My view is that Wales can find a way of dealing with this problem without changing the school leaving age and that within a Welsh context such a change would be undesirable. That is what devolution is about. It is a shame that the London based journalists of The Sun do not understand that.
