Local Government Services > Education and
Lifelong Learning
Lifelong learning in Wales has followed a unique path since devolution, shaped by the Welsh Assembly Government’s strategic plan for education in Wales, The Learning Country. This plan was revisited in 2006 with the publication of The Learning Country: Vision into Action, which re-stated the Assembly Government's key aims for learning from pre-school to adult learning and training.
Local authorities have a duty to promote improved standards in schools and educational attainment in Wales has continued to improve since devolution in 1999. The initial figures for examination results in 2006 show that there was an overall increased pass rate in A levels with 96.9% achieving A to E grades and overall GCSE results of 98.1% pass rate with A* to C grades up 1% to 62.3%. However, improving attainment in education only makes up part of the role of local authorities.
The role of the local authority in relation to education and training has changed significantly in recent years. The Welsh Assembly Government has introduced a number of significant policy initiatives that have impacted on the work of local authorities. Some of these policies, which are particularly important for local government, are outlined below.
The Children Act 2004 outlines a new way to plan for the provision of services for children and young people including education. The main change is that existing plans for education will now be part of a more overarching Children and Young Peoples Plan. The new plan will cover all services for children and young people within a local authority area and come into force in 2008. They will be put together by a Children and Young Peoples Partnership in each local authority. Although the ultimate responsibility lies with the local authority, there are other partners that have shared responsibility for the development and implementation of the plans. These include health services, the police, probation services, youth offending teams and the voluntary sector. All partners will have to work together to deliver services to children and young people that are based on their needs.
This poses a significant challenge for all partners involved in the development of the plans. Although working in partnership is not new for local authorities it still takes time and commitment to ensure processes are in place. Local authorities see that getting partnership working right is essential to fulfil their most important commitment; the commitment to children and young people from all backgrounds and in all situations.
The Foundation Phase consists of curriculum and assessment arrangements for 3 – 7 year olds, and so is directly related to the activities of schools in the lower age range. The aim of the Foundation Phase is to provide a rounded approach to the education of young children with a combination of child initiated and adult directed learning. One of the key aims of the Foundation Phase is an increased child to staff ratio of 1 adult to 8 children which is aimed at improving increased input by qualified staff.
The Welsh Assembly Government is committed to ensuring that 95% of young people by the age of 25 will be ready for high skilled employment or higher education by 2015. The development of the 14 – 19 Learning Pathways is key to achieving this commitment.
The initiative essentially aims to provide all young people with the opportunity to develop in an academic or vocational field to fulfil their full potential. Schools, the further education sector and businesses have been asked to work together to provide a variety of opportunities for young people to access the type of education and training that best suits them. Each young person is entitled to a learning coach to help them develop their learning pathway. In order to achieve this local authorities have developed Learning Networks which bring together key stakeholders to take the program forward and to provide a strategic lead.
Schools are often the centre of a community but are sometimes under used in the evenings, on weekends and in the holidays. The Community Focused School initiative encourages schools and local authorities to view their schools as a community resource. In practice this means not only using schools for after schools clubs for children and young people, but also a possible base for additional services such as health, social services, libraries and adult education activities.
Work undertaken by the WLGA and the Assembly Government under the Narrowing the Gap project showed that a key factor in a successful school is a close relationship with the wider community which the community focus school initiative aims to achieve. Involvement with the community improves the achievement and motivation of a school and benefits the pupils in that school.
Important national challenges are:-
- ensuring that levels of attainment across all primary and secondary sectors continue to improve
- continuing to work with partners, including the further and higher education sectors, to deliver high quality services for children and young people
- working with the Assembly Government to ensure that schools in Wales are well maintained, meet the educational expectations of the 21st century and are in appropriate locations
- in 2005/06 there were 484,899 pupils in maintained education in 1,944 schools in Wales
- local government expenditure on education was £1.9 billion in 2006/07
- 53.8% of pupils achieved 5 or more A* to C grades at GCSE in 2005/06 with 86% of pupils achieving A* to G.
Transforming schools: a discussion paper (Estyn, March 2007)
The Annual Report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales 2005-2006 (Estyn, January 2007)
The Learning Country: Vision into Action (Welsh Assembly Government, 2006)
Narrowing the Gap in the Performance of Schools Project: Phase II Primary Schools (Welsh Assembly Government, November 2005)
Narrowing the Gap in the Performance of Schools (Welsh Assembly Government, October 2002)
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