Estyn Annual Report: Much to celebrate but weaker practice holding learners back

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A young boy in a red school jumper is playing outside, arms outstretched and smiling, with a brick school building in the background.

According to Chief Inspector Owen Evans, there is much to be proud of, but learners’ knowledge and skills remain weaker than they were before the pandemic. Schools and other providers face particular challenges in the delivery of literacy, numeracy and Welsh in English-medium schools. Wider issues such as learner absenteeism and the recruitment of teachers and support staff across a number of specialisms pose additional challenges for education leaders.

Owen Evans, Chief Inspector, says,

The strong commitment of educators across Wales is a source of pride, but it is clear that the shadow of the pandemic remains apparent on learners’ wellbeing and the progress they make. Weaker aspects of practice are holding back progress for too many learners and self-evaluation in schools and other providers needs to improve to strengthen the system.

The HMCI’s annual report looks back at findings from inspection and thematic reports over the last academic year. Following on from the publication of Estyn’s sector summaries in October, January’s full report offers detailed context and provides a much deeper insight into what’s working well and what needs to improve across the seventeen education and training sectors in Wales. Schools, non-maintained nursery settings, colleges, work-based learning apprenticeships, adult learning in the community, and initial teacher education are among the sectors featured.

With the aim of providing useful feedback for the education and training workforce, the annual report also provides a summary of each of the national thematic reports produced by Estyn this year, and to further support improvement, signposts to inspection reports and case studies from providers that were inspected and were found to be doing particularly well.

As well as responding to the recently published results of PISA 2022, the report evaluates education and training in the context of a range of key themes, many of which are fundamental to educators as they face the dual challenges of recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and working to implement improvement focussed reforms.  

This year’s key themes include:

  • attitudes to learning and attendance
  • the Welsh language in education and training
  • the implementation of Curriculum for Wales
  • mitigating the impact of poverty on educational attainment
  • education and support for refugees and asylum seekers.

Owen Evans, Chief Inspector continued,

Educators across Wales continue to work diligently and respond to the challenges involved in supporting our children, and learners of all ages, to learn and to flourish. My report highlights the successes and outlines some of the challenges that continue to face education and training; I hope it prompts constructive reflection and discussion about how we can collectively improve.