Vikki Howells MS, Minister for Further and Higher Education
As a government we have made it clear that our continued focus is on raising standards in our schools and colleges; expanding opportunities for learners; improving greater participation in tertiary education and training; and supporting a genuine commitment to encourage all age learning.
The continued dedication and on-going commitment of our tertiary education workforce is critical to achieving these aims. Driving forward the professionalisation of the tertiary workforce, ensuring parity while acknowledging the sector’s diverse teaching roles, is fundamental to shaping a robust and future-focussed Tertiary Education Workforce Framework.
On 21 January I published The Future of Tertiary Education in Wales evidence paper, which sets out the challenges facing further and higher education in Wales and calls for submissions. It invites the post-16 education sector to help build the evidence base that will inform and address five key challenges. These challenges have implications for the workforce, and I welcome responses to the questions posed from employers, the tertiary education workforce and its representative bodies.
It is more important than ever, that the sector comes together to support the recruitment and retention of highly skilled, agile and committed individuals to enter the post compulsory workforce, and in partnership with Medr, our stakeholders and employers we will further develop the professionalisation of the tertiary workforce.
Last spring I asked officials to establish an Initial Teacher Education (ITE) for post compulsory Education and Training Advisory Group, chaired by Dafydd Evans, former Principal of Grŵp Llandrillo Menai.
The Group, with membership drawn from our partner organisations, has been tasked with building on work previously undertaken to explore the opportunities and challenges in the delivery of ITE. This includes developing a unifying vision on the future of ITE for the post compulsory sector and how better, more targeted support, might be made available to student teachers entering the profession during their training and in their early years of teaching.
The Advisory Group has shared its findings with me and today I welcomed the opportunity to meet with members to hear first-hand their observations on what future policy development might be required to enable change in the delivery of ITE, to ensure a coherent, managed approach to support the workforce.
Common themes emerging from the work of the Group and its sub-groups include the development of a unifying vision for the delivery of ITE; the development, via a formal co-ordinating network, of a common core curriculum which better reflects societal change and recognises the contemporary issues teachers face in the delivery of teaching and learning today; and exploration and analysis of the induction and mentoring support newly qualified teachers require, together with training for mentoring staff.
While this work is at an early stage of development a phased approach to implementing change is being developed to effect and embed meaningful and long-term improvements.
The Advisory Group will continue to provide advice to help inform future Government policy decisions to support the recruitment and retention of new teachers and complement the work to design a strategic tertiary education workforce framework. This work will be developed in full and open consultation with Medr and our partner stakeholders taking a pragmatic, collegiate approach.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the Advisory Group members for their input to date. Further updates will be provided as the work evolves.