Teaching the Curriculum for Wales: Welsh Government response

This thematic report was written in response to a request for advice from the then Minister for Education and Welsh language, Jeremy Miles MS, in his remit letter to Estyn for 2023 to 2024. This is the second thematic review on teaching and builds on findings from the first thematic review, Improving Teaching (Estyn, 2018). It is based on evidence of age ranges currently working within the Curriculum for Wales, which at the time of this report is up to Year 9 in secondary schools.

The report highlights the pivotal role of teaching in achieving the aims of the Curriculum for Wales and improving pupil outcomes, emphasising that pedagogy must be central to educational improvement and calling on schools, local authorities, and national partners to maintain a strong focus on high-quality teaching.

Effective realisation of the Curriculum for Wales depends on high-quality teaching aligned with the four purposes. Schools must develop a clear, shared vision for teaching that reflects the curriculum’s aims and pedagogical principles. Curriculum design should be coherent, sequenced, and responsive to learners’ needs. 

Schools are expected to plan for learning that builds progressively on prior knowledge and enables application in meaningful contexts. 

Learning should be rooted in real-life, local, and culturally relevant contexts to foster engagement and identity. Schools are encouraged to use the concept of Cynefin to connect learners with their communities and heritage. Assessment should focus on progression in knowledge and skills, not solely on the four purposes. Misuse of the four purposes at lesson-level assessment criteria can lead to superficial learning. 

Sustained and collaborative professional learning is most effective when it is directly focused on improving teaching. Schools where professional learning is prioritised and aligned with both whole-school and individual development needs, tend to see greater impact on teaching quality and learner outcomes. Leadership plays a key role in fostering a culture where staff are supported to engage in ongoing learning and reflection.

However, time and budgetary constraints can limit the availability and effectiveness of professional learning, with some staff reporting limited opportunities to focus on pedagogy. This is particularly challenging for those who require ongoing, tailored development.

Across the system, there is growing recognition of the value of peer collaboration in driving improvement. Schools that embed a culture of professional dialogue and shared responsibility for teaching quality are better positioned to support continuous improvement.

Effective self-evaluation is integral to improvement planning, with the most successful schools focusing on the impact of teaching on pupil progress. Where self-evaluation is less effective, it tends to emphasise compliance over meaningful evaluation of teaching approaches, resulting in inconsistent practice and limited improvement.

Schools should: 

• Develop and communicate a clear, whole-school vision for effective teaching that is understood and applied thoughtfully by all staff.
• Ensure that curriculum planning is sequenced, coherent, and allows pupils to revisit and apply clearly identified knowledge and skills in context-rich experiences over time.
• Prioritise sustained, collaborative professional learning that focuses on improving pedagogy and is grounded in classroom practice and its impact on learning.
• Ensure that self-evaluation processes focus sharply on the quality of teaching evaluated by its impact on pupil progress.
• Embed ongoing and structured peer support and coaching to promote professional dialogue, reflection, and shared improvement. 

Welsh Government response

The Welsh Government welcomes Estyn’s recommendations.

The Schools as Learning Organisations (SLO) model provides the framework for schools to become dynamic, self-improving learning communities. The seven action-oriented dimensions of the model promote a culture of collaboration, enquiry, and continuous improvement, placing the four purposes of the curriculum at the heart of school development. Schools should be developing and promoting a culture of effective teaching using the SLO model.

Sustained, collaborative professional learning remains a priority. Working closely with Dysgu, our national professional learning and leadership body, and our partners, we will support our practitioners to continue to develop their understanding of effective pedagogy through national guidance and professional learning opportunities. Our national offer will focus on improving pedagogy grounded in classroom practice and its impact on learning. This will help ensure that all staff understand and apply effective teaching principles consistently across the school.

Curriculum planning will be supported through the national support programme emphasising coherence, progression, and meaningful learning experiences. This will enable learners to revisit and apply key knowledge and skills over time.

We will strengthen self-evaluation and professional development review practices, which will help schools and practitioners to focus on the quality of teaching and its effect on learner progress. This will support more purposeful and improvement-focused evaluation.

We will continue to embed peer support and coaching through national programmes and networks. These will encourage professional dialogue, reflection, and shared improvement across the system.

Local Authorities and Partnerships should:

• strengthen approaches to subject and phase specific professional learning that prioritise high-quality teaching and are tailored to schools’ curriculum and pedagogical needs
• strengthen support for the leadership of self-evaluation in schools to ensure it focuses sharply on improving teaching and its impact on pupil progress

Welsh Government response

The Welsh Government welcomes the recommendations and recognises the critical role of local authorities and partnerships in supporting high-quality teaching and learning across Wales.

Dysgu will have a key role in working with local authorities and partnerships to strengthen subject and phase-specific professional learning. This will ensure that professional development is tailored to meet schools’ curriculum and pedagogical needs and grounded in classroom practice. The Welsh Government is also committed to enhancing support for the leadership of self-evaluation in schools and Dysgu will be developing a range of support for our leaders.

Our Strategic Education Workforce Plan will set out how we will promote a sharper focus on improving teaching and its impact on learner progress.

Welsh Government should:

Ensure that national professional learning opportunities are grounded in high quality educational research, practically applicable in the classroom, and designed to build teachers’ pedagogical expertise over time 

Welsh Government response

The Welsh Government accepts this recommendation.

Our National Strategy for Educational Research and Enquiry sets out our aim that educational policy and practice in Wales should be informed by the best available research evidence and disciplined enquiry undertaken by educational professionals. We are working closely with our universities on a number of programmes to ensure that we are building research capacity in Wales and developing the research and enquiry skills of our practitioners.

Dysgu has been established to develop and deliver high-quality, coherent and nationally available professional development opportunities for our school practitioners. The Welsh Government expects Dysgu to work with our universities and other partners to ensure that all professional learning delivered is grounded in high-quality educational research. We also want the professional learning to be practical and purposeful so that practitioners can apply their learning in the classroom.

We will work collaboratively with Estyn, local Authorities, Dysgu and practitioners to establish a clear and shared understanding of what constitutes high-quality professional learning and how the impact of professional learning should be measured. 

Welsh Government should:

Consider strategies to enhance the time and flexibility available to schools for high-quality professional learning that directly supports improvements in teaching 

Welsh Government response

The Welsh Government accepts this recommendation.

We acknowledge that workload pressures are a significant barrier to engaging in professional learning. Our Strategic Education Workforce Plan will set out actions that we will be taking with our partners to address workload. We will work with practitioners, local authorities and our education workforce unions to co-develop solutions that provide more time and flexibility to schools.

The Welsh Government has agreed a further additional INSET Day for the 2025 to 2026 academic year for schools to use to enable practitioners to engage with professional learning. This is the 7th consecutive year that an additional has been provided. We have commissioned independent research to inform future proposals for INSET.

Additionally, all schools receive funding as part of the professional learning grant, which is a total of £13.5m in 2025 to 2026. The main purpose of the grant is to create time in schools for all practitioners to develop their skills and practice to deliver high-quality teaching and learning for all learners. It also enables schools to continue to adapt and access necessary support, including the national support available for delivering Curriculum for Wales. The funding conditions are sufficiently flexible to enable schools to work together in ways to meet the specific needs of their own settings.

Working with Dysgu, we will explore flexible models of delivering professional learning, including blended and asynchronous learning via digital platforms, to support access to professional learning at times that suit practitioners.

Welsh Government should:

Strengthen opportunities for local authorities, partnerships and schools to work together to share effective practice, refine pedagogy, and understand its impact on pupils’ progress 

Welsh Government response

The Welsh Government accepts this recommendation.

We recognise that effective pedagogy, rooted in the pedagogical principles, is fundamental to supporting learner progression and enabling all learners to thrive. To build pedagogical expertise and support curriculum delivery, we are committed to promoting sustained, collaborative professional development.

Collaboration is central to our approach to professional learning and school improvement. Working with local authorities and Dysgu we will improve opportunities for professional dialogue, peer learning, and the dissemination of effective practice.

We are working with all our stakeholder to enhance partnerships between schools, local authorities, initial teacher education providers and national bodies to create a more coherent and impactful professional learning ecosystem. This includes improving the quality of placements and mentoring for student and newly qualified teachers and promoting shared learning across the system to support continued practitioner development and curriculum implementation.

Welsh Government should:

Strengthen curriculum planning resources to ensure that teachers have a clearer understanding of progression, particularly in literacy and numeracy, and to prioritise the development of more effective and meaningful formative assessment practices.

Welsh Government response

The Welsh Government accepts this recommendation.

The Welsh Government welcomes Estyn’s thematic report and its emphasis on the central role of high-quality teaching in enabling learning and realising the aims of the Curriculum for Wales. Strong teaching is underpinned by purposeful curriculum design. Curriculum planning should be coherent, sequenced, and responsive to learners’ needs, and there are many positive examples of this throughout the report. Effectively realising the interdependencies of pedagogy and child development enables learning that provides a strong foundation for learner progression. We are committed to supporting schools to recognise the value of creating engaging experiences and effective environments through the Enabling Learning guidance. 

In May 2025 the Welsh Government published a range of tools and templates to provide schools and settings with practical support for curriculum and assessment design. These resources are part of the wider National Support Programme for Curriculum and Assessment Design, which provides further detail and exemplification of approaches to progression and assessment. The learning and tools from this programme are being shared nationally and we will continue to work with partners to develop clear, simple support building on this learning. 

Nationally available professional learning for literacy and numeracy will also be made available from autumn 2025. This practical support for designing effective learning in these gateway skills will support all practitioners to enable learner progression. 

A range of pan Wales grant programmes for curriculum design, literacy and numeracy will enhance this support, working alongside the publication of further detail on progression in literacy and numeracy to support effective curriculum and assessment design in all schools and settings. 

The full report can be accessed on estyn’s website and was published on 11 September 2025.