A number of Caerphilly County Borough schools will be part of the design and development of a new national curriculum for Wales.
Last month Education Minister Huw Lewis AM announced that the new curriculum would be rolled out across Wales by 2021 in a major education shake-up by the Welsh Government.
The new curriculum will see an end to key stages, and will instead embrace “progression steps”.
There will be no formal exams until GCSEs, which along with A-levels, will be kept. There will also be a larger emphasis on IT, health and wellbeing.
Mr Lewis has since announced 68 ‘pioneer schools’ that will take part in developing the curriculum before the national roll out.
These include Phillipstown Primary School, Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni, Blackwood Comprehensive, Hendredenny Park Primary School and Lewis School Pengam.
Lewis School and Ystrad Mynach Primary School will also be among 60 schools that will work to ensure teachers are supported to deliver the new curriculum – a project labelled the New Deal by the Welsh Government.
Mr Lewis said: “I am delighted to announce the schools that will be part of Pioneer Schools Network.
“They will work alongside our already selected Digital Pioneers to design and develop our new curriculum, support schools in preparing for its implementation and ensure our practitioners are offered high quality, professional learning opportunities throughout their careers.
“All our pioneer schools will have a crucial role in ensuring that our ambitious and exciting future for education in Wales is realised.”
David Evans, Wales Secretary of the NUT said: “We are delighted to note that the minister has asked those schools charged with leading on the New Deal for the profession to consider specifically the issue of workload which is in urgent need of being addressed.
“Giving opportunity to teachers themselves to find solutions to workload matters sends a clear signal that we have been listened to and action is being taken.
“We look forward to working with our members in these schools and with the Welsh Government to ensure that those solutions are realistic and will be implemented across Wales for the benefit of all.”
I suggest the WAG look to England for a curriculum; England continually outperforms Wales. Even better, ask some private schools to draw one up.
Welsh people are being subscribed to a lifetime of low paid work, after graduating from education factories that produce a defective product. The messiahs at Cardiff Bay have fewer skills than Britain does economic migrants wanting to enter. Taking mediocre schools to develop a curriculum to impose on unsuspecting sheep is the equivalent of approaching Katie Hopkins for advice on being tactful, or CCBC for advice on money management. It is a disaster waiting to happen.
I look forward to another year of seeing the turkeys line up for Christmas when re-electing their Gods at the polling station.