Jeremy Miles, MS, Minister for Education and Welsh Language
The impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on children and young people has been unprecedented. Throughout this time, education settings across Wales have worked tirelessly to support our children and young people through this incredibly difficult time.
The Welsh Government is committed to ensuring that disruption on this scale is never experienced by our learners again. Our expectation is that all schools and childcare settings should be proactively planning for future disruptions, irrespective of the cause, and ensuring that the learning and well-being of all learners is prioritised.
In order to support this, I have today published new guidance https://gov.wales/learning-continuity-guidance and https://gov.wales/emergency-planning-and-response-guidance-education-and-childcare-settings for education, childcare and children’s settings, which has been co-produced with our key partners, including education unions, Estyn, WLGA, ADEW, Regions and Partnerships, and representatives of Higher Education/Further Education and childcare organisations.
The Learning Continuity Guidance will be supported by the development of a wide range of resources and professional learning which will be developed by the Welsh Government and the Regions and Partnerships. This will include resources for learners in exam years that will be developed by the WJEC, alongside a range of case studies, blended learning resources, research synthesis, international best practice and practitioner led professional learning.