Adnodd, the new arm’s-length body which will oversee the provision of educational resources in Wales, has appointed Emyr George as its first new chief executive.
Established earlier this year, Adnodd will be the one-stop shop for bilingual education resources. It will oversee the commissioning and provision of high-quality teaching and learning materials to support the Curriculum for Wales, and the roll-out of new qualifications for learners aged 14-16.
Emyr will be joining Adnodd in early 2024 from his current role as Qualifications Policy and Reform Director with Qualifications Wales. He brings a wealth of experience from across the education sector, including eight years at Qualifications Wales and prior experience at Ofqual – the qualifications and exams regulator for England.
More recently, Emyr has been leading on high-profile reforms of qualifications to support the new Curriculum for Wales, including a brand-new set of ‘Made-for-Wales’ GCSEs.
The Curriculum for Wales Framework guidance is updated annually in January. A consultation on some of the proposed changes for 2024 is open until 13th November, and your feedback is welcomed.
The revised section of guidance under consultation has been developed by practitioners and other partners and is aimed at making the guidance clearer and more user-friendly. The changes make it shorter and more focussed, using hyperlinks to related areas of guidance and supporting materials rather than repeating information that’s available elsewhere. It is intended to support schools, PRUs and other education settings with the practical steps of designing, implementing, and maintaining the ongoing review of their curriculum.
Significantly, the ‘Journey to curriculum roll-out’ section is proposed to be replaced by ‘Continuing the journey, reflecting that all schools are now using Curriculum for Wales. This will become statutory guidance in line with the rest of the Framework guidance.
We’ve made significant progress over recent years. The removal of summative judgements; the increased focus on professional dialogue – including through the well-established nominee model; increased discussion with classroom teachers and our inspection reports accompanied by an explanatory version for parents are just a few examples of how we’re evolving our approach.
You can learn more about how these changes are making a difference by clicking on our Changes to Inspection YouTube playlist.
With a new inspection cycle starting in September 2024, we’re keen to hear your views on how we can best design and deliver our arrangements. The changes we adopt will build on the work we’ve already undertaken to evolve our practices.
Our aim is to bring external inspection and providers’ internal evaluation processes closer together. Better alignment of these processes will help support our ambition to improve the quality of education and training for children, young people, and lifelong learners.
We’ve made significant progress over recent years. The removal of summative judgements; the increased focus on professional dialogue – including through the well-established nominee model; increased discussion with classroom teachers and our inspection reports accompanied by an explanatory version for parents are just a few examples of how we’re evolving our approach.
You can learn more about how these changes are making a difference by clicking on our Changes to Inspection YouTube playlist.
New resources designed to help practitioners explore assessment arrangements within Curriculum for Wales are now available on Hwb.
The resource ‘playlists’ are a suite of professional learning modules aimed at supporting practitioners, schools and clusters to develop classroom assessment practice.
The first tranche of the new playlists will focus on ‘Creating the Culture’ to enable evolution of assessment practice. More playlists will be developed over the year to explore other aspects of assessment.
The playlists were developed by George MacBride, Honorary Research Fellow at Glasgow University who helped develop the CAMAU Workshops. They include references to academic studies and research that will help schools and settings in their thinking around the way assessment arrangements fit alongside their curriculum.
The materials, focusing on creating the culture for assessment, draw from the same principles as the recently-published Camau i’r Dyfodol practical materials. They provide a further lens for practitioners to consider and develop their assessment arrangements in Curriculum for Wales.
Bethan Moore, Crownbridge Special School said “The playlists are an appropriate and relevant resource the I can use within my school context and share with others across the cluster and beyond. The idea is great to share effective practice in order to secure professional learning and I believe it can promote communication between schools.”
Curriculum for Wales is asking the teaching profession to think differently about curriculum design – moving from a model of lesson planning and delivery to a more sophisticated approach of designing learning with purpose. To help practitioners make the change, work is underway to create case studies and resources through co-construction.
As part of this, Welsh Government facilitated a curriculum design pilot between January and June this year. Schools used a ’backwards design’ approach to see if it could be helpful in a Curriculum for Wales context.
Two practitioners from 30 schools attended 12 x 2.5 hour online sessions, working together to understand the principles of the backwards design approach. Also working alongside Initial Teacher Education leads, regional and local professional learning leads and advisors, they used the online Eduplanet21 – The Understanding by Design (UbD)™ Institute to develop their understanding.
Using a model of appreciative enquiry, the group then reflected on what can be applied to their own context and what might be more broadly useful to support practical application of our principles of curriculum design in Wales.
The pilot will continue in the autumn with 30 more schools being invited to join. An update will be provided in Dysg, the schools newsletter. Use the links below if you don’t already receive Dysg:
We are excited to announce the release of the resources from the Camau i’r Dyfodol Phase 2 project. These resources have been developed to support the ongoing realisation of Curriculum for Wales, in particular to provide practical support for developing progression and assessment arrangements.
The resources are based on the work of a co-construction group that brought together 67 education professionals from across the system. The group met over a 7-month period to think through some of the opportunities and challenges involved in realising Curriculum for Wales.
Curriculum for Wales has been developed by teachers for teachers. It’s imperative that we continue to develop and support Curriculum for Wales together. But how do we make sure practitioners working in different contexts across Wales have their voices heard? Through a new Practitioner Policy Group.
A series of workshops took place last summer term with practitioners who’ve been part of the National Network, the Hwb resources review, Camau i’r Dyfodol and Understanding by Design projects and other Welsh Government Curriculum for Wales co-construction groups, to establish the new Group’s terms of reference. Now a call is out for more members to join, so please complete the expression of interest form if you’re interested!*
Below, Bethan Jones talks about her nervousness about joining the first meeting, the rewards from taking part, and why she feels it’s so important that the practitioner voice is heard.
‘Okay so I will confess, when I first considered becoming a member of the Practitioner Policy Group, I was not entirely sure what it was all about, or what we would be doing during those four days in the summer term. Would they want me – a curriculum lead for a special school in rural mid Wales? What would I bring to the table?
The evaluation plan sets out an extensive range of research and monitoring to be undertaken over the coming years. It will involve talking to hundreds of schools, learners and parents in a range of contexts.
The Curriculum for Wales, now being used in all schools across Wales, is of course subject to extensive evaluation.
Two initial annual reports have provided a solid snapshot of progress, but as Minister Jeremy Miles announced in July, structured, long-term evaluation will be carried out – starting this year – to understand how the reforms are working and the extent to which they are having the desired impact for all learners, regardless of their background or needs.
It will also investigate areas which are not progressing as expected, and why, so that support and guidance can be provided in the right areas.
The evaluation plan sets out an extensive range of research and monitoring to be undertaken over the coming years. It will involve talking to hundreds of schools, learners and parents in a range of contexts.
In 2022, 484 learners from state schools in Wales applied to study at Oxford or Cambridge Universities. 87 received offers, compared with 65 the previous year, a 33% rise and part of a rising trajectory.
The increase in applications to top universities and top university schools in Wales, the UK and abroad has been significant in recent years. That success has been powerfully influenced by our ‘Seren Academy’, which helps more able learners from across Wales from any background, economic status or personal situation, to fulfil their academic potential.
Funded by Welsh Government, ‘Seren’ works with partners to provide an extensive programme that goes beyond the curriculum, helping learners widen their horizons, and develop a passion for their chosen field of study at no cost to the learner. It is open to years 8 to 13.
Jeremy Miles, Minister for Education and Welsh Language, visiting a Seren Summer School
One of the most exciting and life-changing activities run by ‘Seren’ are the residential summer schools, which give learners a sense of what studying and life will be like at university. The schools also aim to develop learners’ critical thinking and academic skills to support their GCSE and A level studies. They’re underway now, and Seren would like to share some great examples below:
Cardiff University School of Medicine summer school
In July, 55 year 12 learners from across Wales had first-hand experience of a career in medicine and what it’s like to be a medical student, by participating in case-based learning and communication skills workshops based on year one medical student teaching.
The highlight of the summer school was ‘Hope Hospital’, where the university set up wards for learners to manage where they had to assess and treat ‘patients’ (actors with ‘symptoms’) with the support of clinical staff and medical students.
Learner comments: ‘all of the activities were much more engaging and immersive than I ever thought they would be’…’ one of the male actors genuinely made me tear up’.
Earlier this year, the Welsh Government established Adnodd, a new arm’s-length body to coordinate and oversee the provision and commissioning of education resources, in Welsh and English, to support the Curriculum for Wales and its qualifications. Its remit will include the commissioning of new materials and quality assurance of resources.
One of Adnodd’s core values is that it is a listening and responsive organisation. In developing a new commissioning model and quality assurance framework, Adnodd wants to hear from its stakeholders.
We are inviting you to share your thoughts on the commissioning and quality assurance of education resources for ages 3 through 19 in Wales in light of the continued rollout of the new Curriculum for Wales (CfW) and revised qualifications.
