Welsh Conservatives claimed yesterday that Labour meddling in the Welsh education system has damaged confidence as a letter shows the Welsh Government claimed 16 months ago that the new English Language GCSE would not disadvantage Welsh students.
The Welsh Labour Education Minister has accused head teachers in Rhondda Cynon Taff of ‘reckless scaremongering’ by raising concerns about the results.
The 19 secondary school head teachers and the Director of Education had written a letter to the Minister saying that pupils and parents are losing faith in the Welsh education system.
Commenting, Angela Burns AM, Shadow Minister for Education, said, “These results make a mockery of the Welsh Government’s promises 16 months ago that pupils would not be disadvantaged.
“This is an extraordinary attack on the teaching profession from the Education Minister, who has since 1999 supported meddling and tinkering with the Welsh examinations system by successive Labour governments.
“The Education Minister has completely prejudged the findings of his own review into the results of the English Language GCSE and chosen to use teachers as a scapegoat for his own failure.
“This letter signed by every head teacher in a Labour-led local authority condemning the situation pupils and teachers are now facing.
“Labour Ministers meddling in the examination system has damaged confidence in the rigour of Welsh qualifications and undoubtedly knocked the morale of teachers and students who have important exams looming this summer.”
