A month-long consultation, launched today by Estyn, seeks the views of teachers, senior leaders, policy makers and everyone with an interest in education on proposals for changes to the ways schools and other providers will be inspected from September 2017. 

Meilyr Rowlands, Chief Inspector, says:

“Inspections play an integral part in ensuring our education system is the best that it can be.  Last year we asked for your views on changes to the way we inspect education and training and got over 2,000 responses.  We listened to your feedback and developed proposals.  We now want your views on these detailed proposals.”

“This is another opportunity to influence changes to inspections in Wales.  I encourage everyone with an interest in education to take part in the consultation.”

The consultation questionnaire is available on the Estyn website at https://www.estyn.gov.wales/consultation .

We also welcome feedback on the inspection process outside of the questionnaire, which can be emailed or posted to Estyn.  The consultation period runs until Wednesday 30 November  2016.

Notes to Editors:

• The current inspection framework was introduced in September 2010 after consultation. This marked the start of a six-year cycle of inspections during which Estyn will inspect all providers. In 2014, new Welsh Government regulations introduced a more flexible approach to when providers are inspected and reduced the predictability of inspections. This regulatory change in effect reset the inspection cycle from 2010-2016 to 2014-2020. 
• Any changes to the inspection process will affect most sectors of education that Estyn is responsible for inspecting, with the exception of non-maintained nursery, Welsh for Adults and local authority inspections which are being reviewed separately.
• Use these hyperlinks to access Estyn’s Common Inspection Framework and inspection guidance
• Respondents can write to Estyn at, Anchor Court, Keen Road, Cardiff, CF24 5JW or email consultation@estyn.gov.wales

The report notes that where progress is good there is a strong commitment by elected members and senior leaders to develop Welsh-medium education.  Conversely, in a few local authorities where it is not regarded as a high priority and delivery is the responsibility of middle-tier officers progress against targets is slow.  

Meilyr Rowlands, Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales comments:      

“The priority that individual local authorities give to developing Welsh-medium education contributes to the uneven implementation of these plans across Wales. In general, not enough people are aware of the plans to develop Welsh-medium education in their area.”

More findings and recommendations

• Some local authorities make effective use of Welsh-medium education fora in developing and monitoring their strategic plans but others do not.

• Other authorities lack systematic approaches to measuring demand for Welsh‑medium education with the result that provision lags behind.

• Only a few local authorities see increasing the proportion of learners taking GCSE subjects through the medium of Welsh as a priority. While 50% of local authorities track the number of key stage 4 Welsh-medium courses, few set targets for schools to increase the number of pupils following them.

As well as addressing these shortcomings, the report recommends that local authorities should work more closely with schools to:

• explain to pupils and parents the advantages of Welsh‑medium education and courses and

• set targets to increase the proportion of key stage 4 pupils studying Welsh as a first language

It also recommends that the Welsh Government should ensure that:

• local plan targets align with the Welsh-medium education strategy

• local authorities regard delivering these targets as a strategic priority and

• the implementation of strategic plans is rigorously monitored.

Notes to Editors:

About the report

Estyn’s report ‘Local authority Welsh in Education Strategic Plans’ was commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government. It available in full at https://www.estyn.gov.wales/thematic-reports

The report considers:

• the impact of Welsh in Education Strategic Plans (WESPs) on improving planning for Welsh-medium education

• the influence they have had in stimulating and supporting actions to raise standards of Welsh and Welsh second language

• the degree to which the statutory responsibility of local authorities in producing WESPs allows for co-operation with, and support from, regional consortia school improvement services

Inspectors gathered evidence from:

• research visits to a sample of 8 local authorities: two in each consortia region

• analysis of all 22 local authority WESPs

• scrutiny of other related documentation

• analysis of data used to measure WESP outcomes

• views of specific stakeholders; sample of parents, focus group of head teachers

• analysis of related Estyn thematic reviews