National Coherence Group: letter to Cabinet Secretary April 2025

National Coherence Group

30 April 2025

Dear Cabinet Secretary,

The National Coherence Group (NCG) met on 2 April to consider the progress that is being made across Wales towards delivery of the new school improvement arrangements. You will recall that the NCG members include Local Authority Leaders, Chief Executives, the Chair of ADEW, HMCI, WLGA and the Welsh Government School Improvement Partnership Programme team.

The Group received helpful progress updates on the recent series of workshops that have been held between the WG Education Improvement Team and local authorities and their school leaders to help support delivery of the local school improvement arrangements; progress to transition; and the establishment of the new Professional Learning and Leadership (PLL) support body.

It is clear that there is a great deal of complex and inter-dependent work going on which could helpfully be shared with the sector through planned, increased communications and engagement. This is a priority for all parts of the system and the Group would be keen to see a clear plan for the next meeting, supported by the work of the sector and through the Programme Board.

There is also a genuine desire in local authorities to work together in partnerships characterised by agility and responsiveness. This is evidenced by some excellent examples of impactful collaborative work which already exists and is further underlined by an in-principle agreement by all local authorities to share their school improvement plans with one another. The Group could see the opportunity for local authorities to work more closely together and with the new Professional Learning body to ensure a coordinated approach.

It is also evident, however, that the picture across Wales is complicated and that both the extent and pace of change is variable. NCG remarked that collaboration done well requires time and effort, but also noted capacity concerns in schools, local authorities and Welsh Government which might impact this. Anecdotally, it was observed that where collaboration is strong and effective, there is an acknowledgement that the input and effort that is required is far outweighed by the resultant benefits of working together.

NCG members were also keen to emphasise that changes to organisational arrangements alone will not bring about the desired school improvements. They will need to be accompanied by a shift in culture. NCG recognised that changing and embedding a new culture takes time and it will be important to consider how this can be achieved, acknowledging the important role and reliance on other agencies such as Estyn and the new PLL body in this. I welcomed the views and contributions of HMCI to this discussion. 

The Group recognised the significant progress that has been made to establish the new PLL body and that this work is being shaped by feedback from the sector. We would suggest however that the extent of work required to enable it to be operationally ready for the 2025 to 2026 academic year is a significant challenge. 

Finally, thanks and best wishes were extended to Claire Homard who will step down from the NCG as her tenure as Chair of ADEW comes to an end. We look forward to working with her successor.

The intention is that the NCG will meet again in July before the end of the academic year. At this stage, I hope the Group will look towards the milestones for success over the coming period to ensure we are building a coherent and consistent high quality self-improving system across Wales.

Yours sincerely,

Kirsty Williams CBE