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The Bevan Foundation has responded to a consultation by the National Assembly for Wales’ Children, Young People and Education Committee on their priorities for the Fifth Assembly.
In its response to the Committee, the Bevan Foundation highlights how inequality in attainment levels is a major barrier to social mobility and should be a key focus of the Committee’s work. It recommends that the Committee should explore what further efforts are needed to raise attainment for those at greatest risk of leaving school with fewer than 5 GCSEs at grades A*-C, including looking at the Pupil Deprivation Grant and the potential for mandatory professional development in ‘what works’ in closing the attainment gap.
On youth skills, the Bevan Foundation recommends that the Committee’s priorities in the next term should be to examine the adequacy of skills provision for young people leaving education without 5 good GCSEs. While this should take into account apprenticeships and other opportunities available through further education, the Committee should also explore the potential for a youth jobs programme and a youth volunteer programme which offers a ‘cost of living’ allowance.
The Bevan Foundation also recommends that the Committee should consider all the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s recommendations in regard to childcare for two, three and four year olds in all areas of Wales, in a variety of childcare settings, particularly in regard to low-income households, a national framework for children with SEN and disabilities, and the potential for a social enterprise business model for childcare providers in Wales.
