18/11/2015 The Wales Report

Major changes on the way to the curriculum

in Wales, but are teachers getting enough support to implement them?

As Paris mourns those killed in the attacks on

the city last weekend, we ask what can be done to tackle terrorism?

Should there be more female statues in our towns and cities?

Good evening and welcome to The Wales Report.

On tonight's programme - the world's attention this week has been

on Paris, following the attacks on the French capital on Friday night.

We'll be discussing what can politicians do to prevent more

massacres, with Lord Carlile, a former independent reviewer

You too can join the conversation tonight on social

But first, major changes are on the way to Welsh classrooms.

After the Donaldson Review into the curriculum, the Welsh Government

has decided to ditch the current system and give teachers far greater

The profession is broadly supportive of the reforms,

but unions are warning the Education Minister will have to invest

in better training and support if these changes are to be a success.

Welsh schools are on the cusp of great change. Teachers are being

given more freedom in the classroom. They will be deciding not just how

to teach, but also what to teach. For the past 15 years Welsh schools

have spun around in a whirlpool of reform. First league tables were

abolished, then a dismal performance in league tables -- in exams led to

government intervention and the publishing of school performance

data. The Donaldson reforms look like they will give teachers more

autonomy. Teachers say the Welsh government needs to stick to these

reforms for the long-term. I think most headteachers in most

establishments would tell you that we are bombarded with reform and

changes, and it can be quite baffling at times to know where the

emphasis should be. With the Donaldson Review, it is clearly

something that has direct impact on the quality of children's lives and

learning, and to a great extent, I welcome that clarity. What we cannot

have is, in five or six years' time, someone saying we will change

direction again and go back. That would knock the stuffing out of the

education community. In February, Professor Graham Donaldson came to

this school to launches curriculum review. It was radical. He proposed

abandoning the National Curriculum in favour of a more proactive

approach. There will be more creative in lesson content, while

focusing on the key areas of literacy, numerous ceasefires and

technology, the arts, and health and well-being. Although the profession

is positive about the new approach, teachers unions warned there are

challenges. One of which is the need to introduce sufficient support to

teachers to adjust to a very different way of teaching. This is a

huge change. What teachers will need to deliver this is time for

training, investment in the sufficiency of teachers to deliver

it, they will need professional develop into, and timetabled time

for that training, in order to make it successful. It could think

teachers to perform well under the new system is important, but there

is a big question over the ability of Welsh teacher training to do this

for new entrants. Shortly after the curriculum review was published, a

different report said the quality of teacher training in Wales was

falling short of test practice around the UK and internationally.

The report said the system had deteriorated, and it was at a

critical turning point. Everyone has concerns about teacher training in

Wales, and that came out clearly in the furlong report. One thing there

was it said there was a decline in the quality of teacher training in

the last few years, and I think the Welsh government took their eye off

the ball. The minister has said we will have an in-depth shake-up of

the whole system. We now need to see some concrete detail about how we

will go forward, because there are many concerns that need to be

addressed. Poor teacher morale is also flagged up by the unions as a

potential problem. Funding is another sore point. Teaching unions

have long complained about Welsh pupils receiving less per head than

their English counterparts. They feel the government spending squeeze

could undermine the Donaldson reforms. For too long, we have been

doing education on the cheap. When England was spending loads of money

on education, we were not. We have fallen behind, and the next

government needs to prioritise education, and we need to spend more

money on our children, as they are the future. The new curriculum is

already being designed, and the plan is it will be piloted by a group of

pioneer schools from 2018. In 2021, it will be rolled out to schools

across Wales. Felicity Evans reporting. Earlier, I

spoke to the Education Minister, Huw Lewis, in

the Senedd. The Welsh government has admitted

taking its eye off the ball when it comes to education, but all of these

changes coming in now, doesn't that suggest that you didn't just take

your eye off the ball, you got it completely wrong? No. This is a

recognition that the world doesn't stand still. What we need is a

curriculum for our schools, and professional development for our

teachers, that addresses the needs of the 21st-century. We need to

equip our young people with the skills they need for a New World. So

they haven't had those skills? We need to look at a new curriculum

that addresses things like digital competence, up there with literacy

and numerous seats in terms of the priority we will place on it. That

is the world they operate in and those are the skills they need. Have

you got all of the changes in the right order? The GCSE changes are

happening before the curriculum? I think it has. In terms of the

curriculum and the new skills that teachers will need to deliver it,

everything comes together now in the magical year of 2018, when we have

teachers that will be skilled up with the new curriculum, and clarity

about what is to be delivered in the classroom. Will teachers be ready?

They want to know if they will be ready to deliver this. They say they

are bombarded with change. Are they? We will have the new system of

support for teachers being designed and, in part, delivered by teachers.

This is the new aspect of the way we are operating here in Wales. It will

be those pioneer schools that look at the new Deal for teachers that

will design the support packages. So they have not been designed yet? No.

We are not dictating the way they should be. That is a big difference

with how it has been done in the past. Teachers will take the lead.

So if they demand six months off to prepare for the curriculum, will you

agree? I am sure we will all take a common-sense approach to what ever

demands that are made. But there are boundaries, aren't there? There are

always boundaries on time, resources and finance. What is realistic? A

reliance and a common-sense approach on our professionals to do the very

best for us and for our young people. It is that extension of

trust from me to them that marks this out as a different type of

reform. What is the deadline for this? 2018. I will be tasking those

new Deal schools, which have just been identified, those pioneer

schools, with working with schools right across the system between now

and next July, to scope out exactly what teachers need, in terms of new

training, time and so on. We start to deliver from the middle of 2016.

You are very familiar with the curriculum. What you think teachers

need? We have taken advice internationally on this. The advice

points to us being in a position to have the curriculum up and running

in autumn 2018. We know that. What do teachers need, though? Do they

need time or different skills? They need our trust. They also need to

operate a wholly new level. What we are looking to is a system where

initial teacher training takes teachers to a much higher level of

competence than at the present time. Will they need a four-year degree?

It is conceivable. We will be looking at a new course in terms of

initial teacher training. By 2018? Yes. We will be looking for first

delivery of that new teacher training by 2018. What about the

teachers already imposed? That will be led by the high end near schools

in terms of relating back to us what is required. This all needs to

happen at a postgraduate level. That is the level of training we are

talking about here, consistently across the board. Teachers are

already graduates, and their training should be pitched at that

postgraduate level. As a minister, you say, you have to deliver this by

2018. Up to you how you do it? We have advice networks for teachers to

call on expert advice when they need it, and ourselves as government

setting a framework around it. What about money. You have said 3 million

for the initial stage to deliver in the first year. Is that guaranteed?

I want to see that continue, and I will be working towards that in the

election campaign, and hopefully in a new Welsh government in May next

year. Nothing is guaranteed. It all depends on the People's choice. I

will be campaigning to sustain that support around our teachers, and

Welsh Labour will be that. To deliver these broad changes,

presumably you are expecting a big bill from teachers in terms of what

they want for training. Can you deliver, whatever the cost? I will

deliver what our system needs in order to get to those goals, that

new curriculum, a new level of operation in terms of teacher

professionalism. What is the vision here? The new curriculum, the new

GCSEs... What is the vision for education in Wales? A self improving

system. A system that has within itself the means and professionalism

to drive towards continual improvement. A system that is proud

of our educational attainment in Wales, but never satisfied with it,

and a system that doesn't need politicians like me to come in from

the outside and drive change. That goes up the rankings, with teachers

attaining better grades? Is there a benchmark kit? What we see across

high achievers is a communality in terms of the systems we have looked

to for advice and guidance. A teaching profession, critically,

that shifts for its self in terms of up-to-date research, operating at a

very high level of teaching and learning, in terms of knowing and

understanding what the best looks like, and committing to deliver

that. As a minister and as a father, can you look every parent and every

child in the eye and say, I am doing my utmost to deliver the best?

Everyday. This commitment we have made is the biggest package of

reforms since 1944. It will set the trend for our children's prospects

for a generation at least, and a great deal hangs upon it. We have to

work as a team across the educational workforce in Wales in

order to make it work. Thank you very much.

It's been five days since Friday night's deadly attacks in Paris

A concert hall, a major stadium, restaurants and bars,

were attacked almost simultaneously, leaving at least 129 people dead

The attacks have been described by President Francois Hollande

as an "act of war" organised by the so-called Islamic State

militant group, and have prompted condemnation the world over.

But what can be done to tackle terrorism?

And can we expect similar events here?

I'm joined now from our Milbank studio by Lord Alex Carlile,

a former independent reviewer of terrorism laws.

What can be done immediately here to make us feel safer? The first thing

is that we must have proper borders for Europe and the Schengen

agreement is now finished. France has closed its borders, the bridge

between Sweden and Denmark has been closed. Nobody can go through those

borders without going through proper security checks. And that will cause

some difficulty for innocent travellers, but it is a safe

precaution to take. The second thing we should do is ensure the Security

Services in the United Kingdom and elsewhere have the tools they need

and that means expediting the Investigatory Powers Bill, for at

least that part of it that requires internet service providers and

mobile phone companies to retain data for at least 12 months. The

third thing is ensure that there is top quality co-operation between the

best intelligence agencies and some of the other intelligence agencies

and I think we can do a lot to help the Belgian intelligence services in

particular become more efficient and effective in preventing terrorism.

So you would scrap Schengen and on the Investigatory Powers Bill, David

Cameron and Theresa May don't want to rush this, they want proper

scrutiny, because of civil liberties concerns, you know that rushed

legislation isn't always the best. We saw that with control orders that

had to be scrapped. Well they were scrapped wrongly, they worked well

and some of the scrapped parts have been reintroduced, particularly

forcing people to relocate to live away from those they planned

terrorist attacks. To the suggestion the Investigatory Powers Bill is

being rushed that is not correct. We have been talking about the

Investigatory Powers Bill for the last two years, a parliamentary

programme lasting over a year was introduced before the Paris events.

I am and across party group including former Defence Secretary

Tom King are of the view that at least the parts of Investigatory

Powers Bill that the Security Services need quickly should be

enacted. Possibly with a sun set clause. Otherwise we are not going

to have this piece of legislation on the statute back until the end of

next year. What about the concern of civil liberties campaigners, Shami

Chakrabarti said it would be an attack on the security of every man,

woman and child in our count are. They would monitor everything we do

and keep it for a year. That is Twaddle I'm afraid. Shami

Chakrabarti has offered absolutely no alternative, if she believes that

there is an alternative to the Investigatory Powers Bill, let her

show us her alternative. The notion that Security Services agencies are

idly going to look at your Amazon account or my credit card

transactions is simply an absurdity. They only look at those about whom

some suspicion has been raised. And it is time that Shami Chakrabarti

and liberty simply stopped telling the untruths about what the Security

Services are doing. She is not here to defend herself, but I was quoting

her. She often says things without giving people the opportunity to

defend themselves, so I don't think you should defend her. Let's look at

the source of the trouble, Syria. David Cameron seems to be foep

Cussing on -- focussing on expediting attacks on Syria, do you

want us to bomb Syria? I don't want us to bomb Syria, but I believe

until we destroy Isil we will not resolve the situation. So wherever

Isil is, we must deal with Isil and deal with them decisively. Does that

mean attacking? Yes. Would you join in the offensive led by the French

and the Americans? Yes and the Russians. It is a sensible offensive

and we have involved. The issue is the extents to which we are

involved. Are we really going to say Britain is going to put less efforts

into this than France? Is your party leader wrong, Tim Farron. Iej I'm

not the leader of the Liberal Democrat and not held back by the

view of Liberal Democratsches I believe I want is absurd to suggest

we can deal with this without destroying Isil. We're not going to

do it by the use of notelets. Are we safe as we can be in Wales? Wales is

as staf as any part of -- safe as any part of Europe for a few

reasons. One reason is because this for the whole of Wales the Wales

extremism unit which is as good as any antiterrorism police unit in

Europe. The second thing is it is very difficult to obtain

Kalashnikovs and other firearms in the United Kingdom. Because we have

such strict laws against them. And because we have a border force which

is pretty rigorous at the moment in ensuring that people who might be

terrorists do not enter the United Kingdom. So we live in a reasonably

safe country. But in a perilous world. I want it to remain a

reasonably safe country with Security Services is only giving the

proportionate tools they need, don't damage civil liberties. Is an attack

on the UK inevitable? The threat level is severe so, an attack is

highly likely and we have to bear in mind that terrorists tend to go for

soft targets. So I fear that the possibility of an attack in Wales is

maybe less likely than an attack in London, but you can't say it won't

happen. It remains likely. Lord Carlile thank you.

Should the achievements of Welsh women get more public recognition?

Over the years, men who have contributed to Welsh life

and culture have been immortalised with statues - Aneurin Bevan, Owain

But there's a considerable lack of women statues in Wales.

Guardian Journalist Elena Cresci returned to her home city of Cardiff

to hunt for female statues in the capital.

If statues could talk they would tell great stories. After all, that

is why they're there, to remind us of wonderful Welsh people. Walking

around the city I see plenty of stone men and animals. But where are

all the women? Aneurin Bevan deserves to stand here. Without him

there wouldn't be an NHS. But there were other marvels of medicine.

There was our own Florence Nightingale who could stand here too

rather than making headlines for being in special measures. But we

have some statues of women. Only they're not real. They're anonymous

figures with no real identity and little to say. Is that really the

message we want to send out? It is almost as if we are short of

inspiration. If it is a modern counter part to Gareth Edwards we

are after, what about Dame Shirley Bassey or Tanni Grey-Thompson. Here

you will David Lloyd George. His daughter Megan, became Wales's first

female MP in 1929 at just 27. Tell me she doesn't deserve a statue.

City Hall is guarded by stone figures. Inside there are more. The

marble home is home to the heroes of Wales. And you will find Boudica. It

gives the impression the women's stories are not worth telling. It is

so important we don't forget Nair stories. There are plenty of women

in Welsh public life making a difference. It is up to them and us

to commemorate real women of achievement and put them on a

pedestal. I'm joined now by Deidre Beddoe

and Emeritus Professor of women's history and Dr Jasmine

Donahaye from Swansea University. Why so few women? It is not at all

surprising. There is a one word answer to this. That word is

patriarchy. It is changing, but all power has been in the hands of men

and men commission the statues and they only saw the value of male

contribution to society. And I mean why more women in public life, maybe

there will be a lead time and in time they will influence decision

and more will be commissioned. In the past there hasn't been a woman

there championing the cause for female statues. Yes that I true. I

hope more women in public life would mean it would result in more public

Scottish Conservative sculpture of women. But we are not in the great

age of commissioning sculpture. There is diminishing public art. We

have seen that with passports and the stamp and back notes. To get

women recognised is such a battle. Why do you think that is? I was

taken aback by the opposition to women being on the noepts. It seemed

-- notes, it seemed an overreaction. We have been so underrepresented and

we have owned less of banknotes. It seems churlish to oppose that. #i9d

is important to link the two things. The lack of female statues and the

lack of female representatives in Parliament. Yet Wales seems to be OK

with female representation in politics with 26FMs. Is Wales

getting there slowly? We seem to have fallen back a lilt. Initially

we had more than 50% in the Assembly. So we have gone back. I

think there is a great improvement and obviously there is a lag before

that is depicted. But even where women are perhaps in a position to

do the commissioning, whether it is visual culture or literature or

other domain. It is still challenges F you don't know who the women are

you can't depict them. It's easy to blame men. Are we not forceful

enough. I don't think it is up to women only to make that change. It

is for men too. It is for the entire population to see the breadth of

human experience depibgtd. You're right. Wales has a very poor record

of having women in Parliament. It starts with Megan Lloyd George in

1929. She is on her own until 1950 and then huge spans of time without

women. Not a single MP until Ann Clwyd. You mentioned time, this is

not the time for commissioning public art. Maybe statues are out of

date. Is a blue plaque the future? I hope not. We navigate by sculpture

and even if it is sub conscious we take in this woman is on a pedestal,

although in this case it is the men. It becomes part of our every day

consciousness. If women are in prominent positions and recognised,

it filters down and you have to then acknowledge that contribution. Let's

give you some cash now and you can have one statue immediately. Who

would it be? That is a terrible thing to do to me. Let me take...

I'm torn between two. Crongwin the scholar. She was a qualified sea

captain and a brilliant lecturer. But maybe more controversial, I

admire that larger than life woman Betsy Cadwallader. I hate her name

has been tarnished. Wrote a biography of Lily Tobias. I would

love to see her recognised. That's it for tonight,

we'll be back next week. And if you'd like to be

in the audience of a special programme on December 2nd and get

the chance to put your questions to The e-mail address is

[email protected] or we're on social media

the hashtag is thewalesreport. The first illustration

shows Hitler and Himmler It became clear that this porcelain

was actually made