Welsh Conservatives today slammed Welsh Labour for presiding over 15 years of educational stagnation, as the education watchdog’s latest report says standards in Wales have not improved.
The Annual Report 2012-13 of the Chief Inspector of Schools, published today, concludes:
- ‘Standards of education in Wales have not improved in the main’
- The proportion of secondary schools branded ‘unsatisfactory’ increased from 14% to 23%
- ‘Excellent schools remain in a small minority’
- Two thirds of secondary schools and half of primary schools are in need of follow-up inspections
Carwyn Jones’ Labour Government has been responsible for education since the start of devolution in May 1999.
Commenting, Angela Burns AM, Shadow Minister for Education, said, “Labour have been responsible for Welsh education for 15 years, yet standards are stagnating, with Wales dragging along the bottom of UK league tables.
“This report is yet another damning indictment of Labour’s mismanagement of the Welsh education system, where a quarter of secondary schools are unsatisfactory and two thirds are in need of further inspections.
“The Welsh education system has been the subject of numerous scathing reports and two sets of disappointing PISA results showing Wales dropping down international league tables alongside countries which have recently experienced civil wars.
“A generation of young people who have completed their entire schooling under Labour Governments has been let down and may not be properly equipped for the world of work or higher or further education.
“Successive Labour Ministers meddled in the curriculum and fiddled with qualifications, while Wales’ international competitors in the global race unashamedly drove up standards.
“This report makes for sobering reading about the monumental challenges in turning around 15 years of stagnation and decline in educational standards under Labour.
“Labour Ministers must address the underfunding of Welsh schools by cutting out local education authority bureaucracy, which eats up to a third of the schools budget and free up teachers to teach.”
