Senior Plaid Cymru leaders have warned plans to shake-up schooling in Rhondda Cynon Taf could end up seriously damaging children’s education.
They said the controversial proposals had been prepared with “indecent haste”, left a huge number questions unanswered, would mean a downgrading of Welsh medium education. They also attacked a lack of consultation and the possible use of private finance.
Plaid Cymru AMs Leanne Wood and Chris Franks, Pauline Jarman, Plaid leader on RCT council, Treorchy councillor Cennard Davies and Ioan Bellin , Plaid’s Parliamentary Candidate for Pontypridd held a special schools summit in the town to discuss the plans.
Councillor Davies and fellow Plaid councillor Sera Evans are meeting Chris Bradshaw, RCT’s Director of Strategic Policy & Continuous Education on Friday, December 18, to press for answers to a series of questions on the proposals.
Pauline Jarman said: “The council has dillied and dallied since 2005 and now want to press forward with their plans in just a few months.
“This is being pursued with indecent haste and the end result could be that children’s education is damaged. Education is a root out of poverty and the council must get that right. If they don’t, they will be failing the young people of RCT.”
Leanne Wood said: ““We would acknowledge the failings in the existing education system in RCT, particularly on the vocational side which needs to be dramatically improved.
“But the council is proposing a whole range of changes to both English and Welsh medium education which need far more consideration.
“Bilingual schools do not produce Welsh speakers, they end up diluting provision and education professionals fear we could end up with a situation where pupils are not proficient in Welsh to a standard where they can apply for jobs after leaving school.
“In Welsh medium schools pupils have their pastoral care and carry out extra-curricular activities through the medium of the Welsh language. These plans will result in a watering down of provision.
“It was only in May last year that the then Education Minister Jane Hutt said that Welsh medium education was the best way of producing fluent Welsh speakers.”
Chris Franks said: “It’s no good, as far as RCT is concerned, going out to consultation on a flawed document which has more holes in it than a colander.
“But there has been no consultation with schools to date on the plans and it would be ludicrous to go out to the public on a flawed blueprint.”
Ioan Bellin said that he was worried that no proposals had been put forward to cater for mature students over the age of 19 in the future. “I am also concerned about the impact on pupils with special educational needs.”
Councillor Geraint Davies, Plaid Cymru’s Prospective Parliamentary candidate for Rhondda, added: “The council has made it clear that they will seriously consider funding the scheme under a Private Finance Initiative if funding from the Assembly Government is not available
“But that would put a huge financial burden on future generations and contradicts with the Welsh Assembly Government’s move away from PFI in the health service.”
Fellow RCT councillor Cennard Davies said: “Coleg Morgawwg’s educational record doesn’t convince us that they have the expertise or the management team to offer a programme of academic courses when, according to Estyn inspectors, they are not successfully offering their current provision of vocational courses.”
