Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg
Welsh Government’s Education Improvement Team (EIT) is still new – but our first year has been a busy one.
We were established to strengthen collaboration across the system, create space for high-quality professional dialogue, and ensure national priorities are shaped by the realities of schools and local authorities. Since then, our focus has been simple: listen carefully, connect insight across Wales, and ensure that we feed local intelligence into Welsh Government.
We have operated in this initial year as a very small team, with Alun Jones as Head of the team and our permanent Welsh Government lead, supported by secondees with experience in schools, local authorities and Estyn. We are currently recruiting for 2 additional secondees to join the team.
Here’s what we’ve been doing so far and what comes next.
Listening first: workshops with every local authority
Our spring workshops with local authorities were a crucial starting point. These sessions were designed as conversations, not briefings. They gave us a rich picture of local priorities, pressures and opportunities – and that intelligence is already shaping national work.
Two key themes stood out.
First, the feedback directly influenced the finalisation of the new school improvement guidance, published on 5 January 2026. The professional discussions around local improvement models were honest and practical. What was shared fed straight into the final guidance and helped ensure it reflects real system experience.
Second, our focused conversations about literacy revealed common challenges across Wales. Colleagues highlighted issues around speech and language on entry, reading skills across the curriculum, and the increasing recognition that strong literacy underpins learner wellbeing. These discussions reinforced something important: improvement priorities are interconnected. Literacy, wellbeing, inclusion and curriculum development cannot be tackled in isolation.
We fed this intelligence directly to relevant policy teams and discussed it in detail with Dysgu, the new professional learning and leadership body. This ensures that what schools and local authorities told us informs their next steps and future support. Your voice is actively shaping national responses.
Building a clearer engagement cycle
Alongside this, we’ve been putting structure around how we engage with the system. The aim is to create a predictable, purposeful cycle that reduces duplication and focuses time on meaningful professional dialogue.
This includes annual spring workshops with each local authority and a named EIT link officer to support ongoing local conversations and to keep national and local work connected. A key part of our engagement is supporting the twice‑yearly Education Improvement Network, where local authorities come together with Welsh Government and national partners to share learning and shape a coherent, joined‑up approach to school improvement within an inclusive education system.
We are also working closely across Welsh Government policy teams and with other national partners to keep engagement joined up and manageable.
Strengthening the national voice of school leadership
We have been supporting the Ministerial Headteacher Advisory Group – a group of serving headteachers who advise the Cabinet Secretary and ensure school leadership is represented at national level.
Over the course of the year, members of the team have also been happy to engage with a range of local and national school leader networks, something which we value greatly.
This engagement keeps national discussions grounded in current school practice and ensures policy is informed by professional expertise.
What happens next
We’re about to begin the next round of workshops with local authorities. These will build directly on last year’s learning and focus on shared priorities, emerging challenges and system improvement.
We are a new team, but the direction is clear. Our role is to connect local insight with national action and support sustainable improvement that is grounded in practice.
Thank you to everyone who has engaged with us so far. The first year has been full and we’re really excited about what’s to come.