EDUCATION CRISIS: Report slams 'failing' Monmouthshire education (From South Wales Argus)

11:57am

IN RESPONSE to the education crises in both Monmouthshire and Merthyr Tydfil, Plaid Cymru Education spokesperson, Simon Thomas AM, said: “These reports confirm the emerging picture of a dysfunctional and unequal education system in Wales. To date, not one local education authority has been judged “excellent” and three are in special measures already.

“The whole saga underlines the sorry state successive Labour education ministers have left Wales in since 1997, and in many cases equal failure by Labour local education authorities.”

11:55am

NUT Wales Policy Officer, Owen Hathway, said:

"It is important to recognise that the Estyn report did note the county was above average in all areas, particularly at primary level, where schools were judged to be some of the best in Wales. The council has accepted that given the low levels of deprivation in Monmouthshire it should be performing better. The challenge now is how to take what is relatively good performance and make sure that it reaches the highest standards possible.

"It is crucial that any future interventions are made on a collaborative basis with the teaching profession. The last thing we would want to see is a process undermining the good work that has been done in classrooms in the county. It is essential that as well as scrutiny of standards, teachers are given the right levels of support. One thing that was evident in the Estyn report, that can make a difference, is the need to ensure more access to training for practitioners. We need to help encourage those delivering in classrooms and providing on-going professional development is vital to that. Something Estyn identifies as lacking at present in Monmouthshire."

11:54am

Powers could be given to outside body - minister

MONMOUTHSHIRE'S responsibility over education could be passed to another body in the wake of a damning Estyn report into the authority.

11:53am

EDUCATION CRISIS: We’ll use failure report to improve - Monmouthshire leader

COUNCIL leader Peter Fox said he was disappointed with the findings but said the authority would use the recommendations to move forward.

11:53am

EDUCATION CRISIS: ‘Some problems already addressed’ - council chiefs

MONMOUTHSHIRE council chiefs gave their reaction to today’s damining education report and vowed to make improvements.

11:52am

Report slams 'failing' Monmouthshire education

A DAMNING report into Monmouthshire's education department today sees it placed into special measures.