Lynne Neagle, Cabinet Secretary for Education
I am pleased to update you on the work of our Literacy Expert Panel and our support for literacy attainment. I would like to thank all members for their commitment over the past year.
I have always said that I want to be guided by the best available evidence. Learning to read is the vital gateway to the rest of children’s education and we must get it right. I convened the Literacy Expert Panel to bring together internationally recognised experts with research expertise alongside members with direct teaching experience, to ensure our approach is both rigorous and grounded in real practice.
The Literacy Expert Panel has informed our early thinking on future guidance, professional learning, and wider priorities for strengthening literacy across Wales.
Today I am sharing their newly published Principles for Language and Literacy in Wales and the Statement of Intent for Early Reading. These will drive our expectations, guidance and professional learning on literacy in both English and Welsh.
On early reading, we are clear: learners need explicit and systematic teaching of phonics, alongside rich opportunities for spoken language, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing. Systematic synthetic phonics is important for effective reading instruction, and learners should not be encouraged to guess words using cues or pictures.
We are already putting these principles into action. Central to this is the £8.2 million CAL:ON Cymru project, which is establishing a centre of excellence for literacy teaching. It is building on the best international evidence including, for example, elements of programmes from Mississippi and New Zealand. It will provide bilingual, national support, including support to develop learners’ spoken language skills, and more targeted support for learners who need additional help to learn to read in upper primary and secondary school.
CAL:ON Cymru will publish guidance on effective phonics teaching including support on using systematic synthetic phonics programmes, and how to select an appropriate phonics package. It also offers internationally recognised assessment tools to help schools understand learners’ specific needs. My Ministerial Headteacher Advisory Group has heard directly from CAL:ON and expressed clear support for the approach. CAL:ON will also be presenting to the CYPE Committee.
Our other literacy grants also support developing literacy through creativity, a love of reading, and providing additional focused support for Welsh language reading and oracy.
Dysgu, our recently established professional learning body, will be central in taking forward this national professional learning, ensuring support reaches all schools. We continue to work closely with Local Authorities to ensure schools have access to a coherent offer that builds on this national support.
I am grateful to Estyn for developing resources that set out more detailed expectations related to learners’ age, to help practitioners understand literacy progression. These will begin to be made available in the coming months and will be tested with CAL:ON to inform future guidance. They will also inform the further development of our Personalised Assessments, which will provide more detailed age-related information on learners’ progress. This will offer a shared, consistent reference point to help practitioners understand where their learners are and to support improvement focused conversations between schools. I am pleased to announce that I’ve set up a new Attainment Board to ensure that all of these priorities are aligned and to focus on delivery and impact. This will include Estyn, Dysgu and representatives from Local Authorities.
This year, alongside the other nations in the UK, we are taking part in the National Year of Reading. Our bilingual campaign Ymgolli/Go all in, launched last month, builds on work already underway to support schools, learners and families to nurture lifelong reading habits and improve literacy standards. This shared national campaign complements Estyn’s enhanced focus on reading, where they will work with all education providers, to prioritise improving reading skills for all learners.
It is critical that we get this right. I have listened to our experts, I have listened to our teachers. We now have a clear, evidence-based national approach that will support every school to give their learners the literacy skills they need to unlock their education and to thrive throughout their lives.