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Consultation display
Stakeholder event on ‘The teaching of Welsh history, culture and heritage in schools’
- This consultation has completed. It ran from Thursday, 21 February 2019 to Thursday, 21 February 2019
- View the background to this consultation
- View all current consultations
Purpose of the consultation
The
Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee will be holding a
stakeholder event to discuss ‘the teaching of Welsh history, culture and
heritage in schools’ at the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea.
The event will take place between 10:30 and 13:30 on Thursday, 21 February.
Background
The
Committee ran a public poll during summer 2018, inviting members of the public
to select from a list of potential inquiry topics. Nearly 2,500 people
participated in the poll, with 44% voting for ‘Teaching of Welsh history,
culture and heritage in schools’.
Many
of the proponents of the Committee undertaking this inquiry argue that the
history of Wales is not taught from a Welsh perspective and there is not enough
of it in the curriculum .
However,
there is an alternative view that there is already considerable coverage of it
within the current GCSE and AS/A level specifications and opportunities to
study it at previous stages of schooling. For instance, the Welsh Government’s
Cabinet Secretary for Education, Kirsty Williams AM, has said ‘in the new
A-level, AS-level and the new history GCSE [there] is a much greater emphasis
on the need to teach children aspects of Welsh history.
There
is therefore a range of views which the Committee would like to explore further
before agreeing the terms of reference for its inquiry.
Purpose of the session
The
Committee is holding a one-day stakeholder event to gather views and opinion to
enable it to explore the alternative premises: on the one hand that there is
insufficient focus in this area, and on the other that the situation has
improved in recent years and is secure in the new Curriculum for Wales. The
event will help the Committee decide how best to take its inquiry in this area
forward.
Discussion points
We
will focus on the following discussion points (which you may like to consider
prior to the session):
- To
what extent the current curriculum and GCSE and A/AS level History
specifications, adequately ensure
that a sufficient amount of history taught in schools is Welsh history
and/or from a Welsh perspective.
- Whether
the new Curriculum for Wales, under development following the Donaldson
Review, will enhance or constrain opportunities for Welsh history to be
taught and/or from a Welsh perspective.
- How
to strike the right balance between flexibility and discretion for
education professionals to deliver a local curriculum suitable to their
particular schools and ensuring consistency and sufficient coverage of
Welsh history and the Welsh perspective in what is taught.
- The
extent to which the wider Welsh public are aware of, and have
opportunities to learn about, the history, culture and heritage of their
nation.
How to respond
Please
confirm your interest by email to SeneddCWLC@Assembly.Wales
or in writing to:
Culture,
Welsh Language and Communications Committee,
National Assembly for Wales,
Cardiff Bay,
CF99 1NA.
We kindly ask that you
provide us with the following information:
1. Full name
2. Name of the organisation
you may be representing
Please confirm your
interest by Friday, 1 February.
Once you’ve confirmed we will be in touch with further details regarding the
practical arrangements.
Contact details
Should you wish to speak to someone regarding this consultation, please use the below contact details:
Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee
Welsh Parliament
Cardiff Bay
Cardiff
CF99 1SN
Email: SeneddCWLC@senedd.wales
Telephone: 0300 200 6565