Lynne Neagle MS, Cabinet Secretary for Education
I want to support practitioners in Wales to be lifelong professional learners who enhance their own practice to motivate and inspire the children and young people in their schools.
Recent reports on the implementation of the Curriculum for Wales and our Additional Learning Needs reforms have been clear that our practitioners need more time to plan, to work collaboratively and to undertake professional learning. The recent Estyn annual report also referred to the quality of teaching and assessment.
In 2019 we introduced this additional INSET to support practitioners to prepare for the new curriculum. Since then, our education system has faced significant challenges, not least the disruption and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our learners. I know that school leaders are calling for more time to work with their staff and clusters and we have seen first-hand how they have used the additional INSET to plan, collaborate and enable our practitioners to develop their practice in order to impact positively on our learners.
Today, I want to share my intention to lay regulations to continue to provide a sixth INSET day for the 2025/26 academic year. I am announcing this today at our headteachers conference so that local authorities and schools across Wales have time to plan purposefully.
During the summer and autumn terms we will undertake a comprehensive evaluation of INSET, including discussion with parents, carers, learners, and practitioners, to better understand the impact of INSET on the education of our children and young people and in providing supportive conditions for our practitioners. This work will inform our longer-term Strategic Education Workforce Plan.