Welsh Government pauses controversial plans to shorten school summer holidays

The Welsh Government has paused controversial plans to shorten the length school summer holidays.

It comes after a mixed response from the largest Welsh Government education consultation on record.

More 16,000 responses were received on plans to change the school calendar to spread school holidays out more evenly across the year.

Proposals suggested moving a week from the start of the summer break into the autumn break creating a two-week half term.

The Welsh Government argued that the move would help to improve the education experiences of young people – especially the most disadvantaged and align more effectively with how families live and work.

But the proposals were met with a mixed response from the public, opposition parties and unions which argued that there was no need to reform the existing term system.

According to the Welsh Government whilst a “narrow majority of responses were in favour of changing school holidays, the findings from the consultation were equivocal and contradictory which highlights more discussion and exploration is needed to ensure any future amendments benefit everyone.”

Today Cabinet Secretary for Education Lynne Neagle confirmed that plans to change the school holidays will not happen this Senedd term to give teachers and staff space and time to deliver other reforms.

This will allow other reforms such as the New Curriculum for Wales and reforms of Additional Learning Needs to be fully implemented and rolled out before other changes are introduced.

The decision on the timing of implementation of the plans will also be deferred to the next Senedd term.

Education Secretary Lynne Neagle

The Education Secretary Lynne Neagle said: “My starting point is always the best interests of children and young people. This means ensuring reforms are properly planned out and have the time and space to succeed.

“Opinion was hugely divided on this. To ensure we get this right, we need to continue listening to and engaging with schools, teachers, unions as well as children, young people and parents on how best we can implement any changes in the future.

“I am acutely aware we are asking a lot of teachers and schools.

“They are supporting our ambitious transformation of education in Wales and they need the time and the space to ensure these reforms deliver for children and young people.

“I want to prioritise ongoing school reforms and improving attainment and therefore, no changes will be made to the school year this Senedd term.

“In the meantime, our priority will be to maximise the support available to learners during the summer holidays including doing more to target that provision towards the poorest communities through a range of policies and activities including the School Holiday Enrichment Programme and Community Focused Schools.”

Response

Today’s announcement has been welcomed by the National Education Union Cymru (NEU), which argued that the priority should be supporting staff and pupils in schools with existing issues in the education system.

Nicola Fitzpatrick, Interim Wales Secretary for the National Education Union Cymru, said: “NEU Cymru members will be pleased that the Welsh Government has seen sense and decided not to change the pattern of the school year.

“We were clear in our response to their consultation that there was no clear rationale for reform and that any changes needed to be evidenced based to show how they would benefit children and young people in their learning whilst also
ensuring the wellbeing of the workforce.

“We’re pleased that the Welsh Government have listened to us and our members.

“It remains a really difficult time in education and the education workforce have seen significant periods of change including implementing the new curriculum and significant additional learning needs reform.

“We also have a funding crisis, major workload issues, pupil behaviour and attendance issues, and mental health challenges for both staff and students.

“These should be the Cabinet Secretary’s main priorities and we look forward to discussing these with her as part of her commitment to listening and working in partnership with the workforce.”

Tom Giffard MS, Shadow Education Minister, has called on the Welsh Government to scrap its school holiday reform plans.

He said: “Education in Wales is in crisis with soaring absenteeism, a shocking decline in education standards, the worst PISA results in the UK and rising incidences of violence plaguing our schools.

“We have long called for the Labour Government to scrap this distraction and get on with tackling the problems they have created in education over the past 25 years.

“Kicking this into the long grass is not good enough, Labour cannot ignore every teacher’s union, let alone the tourism and business sectors, who are against the plans, the policy needs to be scrapped completely.”

Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said: “I am pleased to hear that the Welsh Government has listened to the serious concerns raised over these proposals.

“Changes of such a seismic scale risked adding further pressure onto the shoulders of teachers and schools that are already being weighed down by the long-lasting impact of Covid on education.

“Any future reforms must be seriously scrutinised, and stress tested so that we know our children are receiving the very best education possible”.