In response to the Education Minister’s statement on PISA 2012, the Party of Wales Shadow Education Minister Simon Thomas said:
“The Minister today put his faith in the validity of PISA, and this is to be welcome. Plaid Cymru has always made it clear that there should be no excuses for the government’s poor performance, and we need to be clear while it may not be perfect as an assessment, we cannot underestimate its importance as a yard stick of attainment.
“However, I am concerned that the Minister’s announcement today does not go far enough. The latest PISA figures show that the problems in our education system are large and deeply-rooted, and this needs to be met with large scale solutions. Wales is the bottom of all the UK nations, and this can only be addressed through serious change.
“A Plaid Cymru government would invest in teaching staff, and ensure that they have the skills to intervene early when a child begins to fall behind. We also want to ensure that teaching remains focused on skills. Teaching children to pass the next set of PISA tests is not sufficient, will it be enough that we encourage children to sit the test more frequently in the hope that they will hit the bull’s eye? We need to teach children skills that they can adapt to perform consistently well.”
