| Party purpose, Public Debate, Parties Non-representative, Plans for Government, Education |
A Political Diary |
| Interesting Things In First Quarter of 2026 , Political Life of Wales , April 2, 2026 |
Signal and noise: the latter outnumbers the former a thousand to one. In the first quarter of 2026 five news items looked to be more like signal than noise. * * * * 31st January The Economist reviews “The Game Changer” by Jon Ralston. “Politics, at root, is not about the public performance of virtue or rigidly enforcing a party line; it is about assembling coalitions to achieve tangible, practical goals.” * * * * 10th February "Bangor University has distanced itself from a decision by its student debating society to refuse a question-and-answer session with Reform UK. "The society said it had rejected a request by Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin and campaigner Jack Anderton to address students, citing "zero tolerance for any form of racism, transphobia or homophobia displayed by the members of Reform UK". "The Bangor Debating & Political Society said it had rejected the request from Reform UK "in line with our values", adding: "We stand by this decision as a committee." "Their approach to the lives of others is antithetical to the values of welcoming and fair debate that our society has upheld for 177 years," the society said. "We are proud to be the first of the debating unions to take a stand against Reform UK. "We strongly implore our fellow societies to join us in keeping hate out of our universities." "Dan Thomas, Reform Wales leader, said: "It's a sad state of affairs when a university debating society wants to de-platform a leading political party. "Universities should be a place of free discussion and engagement with different ideas, but too often groups within universities want to wrap themselves in cotton wool. "We will safeguard free speech on campus, and ensure basic liberties are protected." "Founded in 1849, Bangor Debating & Political Society is the oldest student society in Wales." Source: https://nation.cymru/news/uproar-as-reform-policy-chief-threatens-to-defund-welsh-university/ * * * * 17th February: Neil Schofield-Hughes “It feels increasingly that Welsh Labour’s attitude is not that it’s there to serve the electorate, but that it’s the electorate’s job to support Welsh Labour.” Source: https://nation.cymru/opinion/how-one-cardiff-district-has-become-a-metaphor-for-welsh-labours-decline/ * * * * 22nd February BBC Radio Cymru “Sunday Supplement” Vaughan Roderick: “Labour and Plaid Cymru. What's surprising about them is how similar they are.” Joe Allen, researcher: “Labour, Plaid, the Liberal Democrats and, where there are declared candidates, the Greens, you see a huge cross-over in professional background. If you take what I refer to in the research as political jobs, that's jobs either working for a party at the moment or working in public affairs or being a lobbyist or a charity that orbits the Senedd, that's 26% overall of candidates that come that group, from political jobs. “If you look at that, as part of the wider Welsh work-force it's maybe 0.1%. 1500-2000 people do those jobs. 1 in 4 of the candidates and that's true across Plaid, Labour. The next big category is you have people who work in education, in academia, or in support roles, or in schools, or in the third sector. If you take Plaid and Labour, as you say, take those groups together and it's 50% of the candidates.” Vaughan Roderick: “This has never really been brought up.” Joe Allen: “It's under-discussed. The reasons for that are partly because it's slightly embarrassing. Ultimately it does have detrimental effects on how the Senedd performs.” “...One of the detrimental impacts on the Senedd is that it leads to a perception, at least, that it is an institution that's there to serve a small group of people and not being straightforward about people's professional backgrounds is part of it.” * * * * 8th March: Jonathan Edwards “While many of the initiatives might be worthy aims, most of the pledges refer to launching consultations, commissioning reports, developing strategies and roadmaps, convening summits, beginning plans, examining options and convening task and finish groups. In other words, there are hardly any concrete proposals for immediate action with deliverable outcomes – the complete antithesis of what a first 100-day plan should be about: instantaneous impact. “For those immersed in the Cardiff Bay bubble, a consultation blitz might look like a hive of activity. I am afraid that the vast majority of the people of our county will probably lose interest. “You would think that a national party such as Plaid on the cusp of leading the Welsh Government for the first time would be bouncing with ideas ready for instant implementation. “Shadow Ministers would by this stage be in competition about who would be making the first big announcements of the new government. Instead, the published document leaves the impression that the party lacks any definitive plans, is afraid of its own shadow and will govern by baby steps. “I am sure that the party leadership will retort that they aim to govern based on evidence, consensus and collaboration. However, it isn’t unreasonable to ask if they don’t know what they want to do with the levers of power after all these years in opposition then further procrastination is highly unlikely to yield results.” Source; https://nation.cymru/opinion/plaids-first-100-days-gamble/ * * * * 10th March: Luke Sibieta “High-performing education systems share one key feature: consistent, high expectations. In Wales, this is lacking. Pupils at the top of the attainment distribution perform notably worse in Wales, suggesting many are under-challenged. “This has been consistently seen over the last decade. The latest PISA results show that we are also seeing a worse levels of performance for disadvantaged pupils in Wales. “The new ‘Curriculum for Wales’ assesses pupils through ‘progression steps’, but the criteria are vague. Schools interpret them inconsistently, meaning some pupils’ attainment is overestimated, leaving them under-challenged and allowing wide disparities in skills to emerge, particularly when pupils transition from primary to secondary school. “Worse, there is no systematic way for the Welsh Government to check that progression steps are applied consistently. “Lucy Crehan, an international expert on education, has argued that a well-defined entitlement to knowledge at each progression step is essential if these steps are to support real progression. “Top education systems also make strong use of data and evidence. A vast amount of data on children’s skills in Wales is collected through annual tests in literacy and numeracy. Yet schools and government can’t use these for comparative analysis across similar schools, pupils and areas. “There is a total lack of clear benchmarks on what pupils are expected to achieve at different ages. That makes it harder than it needs to be for schools to understand their own pupils’ performance and judge the impact of changes they make to their practice. “This contrasts with previous practice in Wales and most high-performing systems elsewhere in the world, where data drives discussion, improvement, and learning across schools. “Providing schools with easy-to-use tools for comparative analysis would be straightforward and effective. This does not have to mean a return to school league tables or high-stakes accountability. “Estyn, the Welsh inspectorate, also operates with limited access to robust comparative data. As a result, inspections rely heavily on evidence gathered during relatively short visits rather than a consistent view of pupil outcomes over time. This can reduce consistency and make it harder for policymakers and parents to identify the most effective schools and spread successful practice. “This has been particularly evident in the recent controversy over reading instruction in Wales. A significant body of research shows that children learn to read most effectively through synthetic phonics, which teaches the relationship between letters and sounds and how they combine into words. “Until recently, however, Welsh Government guidance did not consistently promote this approach and appeared open to schools using cueing strategies that encourage pupils to guess unfamiliar words using context, pictures or other cues rather than decoding them through phonics. “Only recently has advice shifted more clearly toward evidence-based phonics. The episode highlights a wider disconnect between research and policy. “Absenteeism remains stubbornly high. In Wales, over a quarter of pupils were persistently absent – missing more than 1-in-10 school days per year –, with rates even higher for children from deprived backgrounds. “Increasing numbers of pupils have left the school system and are educated at home, where it’s harder to ensure quality. All these trends can be seen in England, but seem worse and more persistent in Wales. “Getting more children back into school on a consistent basis will require tackling the root causes of persistent absence. This includes high unauthorised absence (such as truancy), but also high levels of reported health-related absence. “Beyond the school gate, there have also been substantial declines in participation in post-16 education, with the share of 16 to 17 year olds in full-time education in Wales down from 78% in 2014 to 64% today. It is currently 84% in England. “There are particular concerns with regards to boys from working class backgrounds – a group significantly affected by labour market changes in recent generations. “The reasons for the fall in education participation are not well understood presently – research on the role of different factors is needed. But at face value the trend is concerning, given the positive benefits associated with post-16 education. “Above all, Wales needs urgency. Establishing clear and consistent progression standards, using data effectively, aligning practice with actual evidence, reducing absence, and reversing declines in post-16 education are all possible – if policymakers are willing to learn from experience elsewhere and challenge some long-standing taboos in Welsh policy.” “The problem is not primarily funding. As highlighted in a new report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, school spending per pupil has been comparable to England (where performance is higher) over the last 15 years, and has grown by 14% over and above inflation since 2019.” Source: https://nation.cymru/opinion/welsh-education-a-sleeping-dragon/ |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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