News: Wales Education lacks “Long Term Vision”

A major review of the schools system in Wales says the Welsh government lacks a long-term vision for education and does not do enough to support teachers, reports the BBC.

The OECD review said: “From an international perspective, the performance of 15-year-olds in Wales on Pisa is low overall, and there are too many students performing at low levels.

“The Pisa 2012 reading and science assessments showed that almost one in five Welsh students did not achieve level two which is considered the baseline of proficiency at which students begin to demonstrate competencies to actively participate in life.

“For mathematics this proportion was even higher, almost 30%. These levels are among the lowest in OECD countries.”

[pullquote]Wales offers positive learning environments with good teacher-student relations[/pullquote]But the report said that schools in Wales offered positive learning environments with good teacher-student relations and classrooms conducive to learning.

It also praised Welsh schools because they “do well when it comes to minimising the gender difference in student performance”, adding that Pisa showed there were “relatively small differences in student performance between boys and girls in Wales”.

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