The Welsh Government’s new curriculum has been widely criticised as confusing, with recent Estyn reports revealing that too many students are not reaching their full potential. Estyn highlighted poor teaching as a key factor limiting pupil progress and pointed to wide variations in the teaching of maths across Wales. Standards in core subjects such remain too low, reflecting Labour’s long-standing failings in education. The new curriculum follows a model recently introduced in Scotland, where evidence shows academic standards have fallen, yet Labour in Wales continues without learning these lessons.
While the recent U-turn on plans to cut a third of science teaching hours was welcome, the Welsh Conservatives reiterate concerns that the current approach does not follow the evidence needed to raise educational standards in Wales.
Ms. Asghar also highlighted Labour’s long list of failures over the past 26 years; 20% of students leaving primary school illiterate, maths standards dropping to worryingly low levels, poor PISA results, a confusing curriculum, a lack of support for teachers, a teacher recruitment and retention crisis, a discredited reading method being pushed in schools, soaring absenteeism, poor behaviour and violence in our classrooms, a £25,000 teacher training grant being dished out, but only if you are from an ethnic minority and completely skewed priorities with £12m of funding going to music and just £8.7m going to maths, literacy, science and technology.
Commenting, Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education, Natasha Asghar MS said:
“Labour can pat themselves on the back over their new curriculum, but the reality is school standards continue to fall.
“It’s no secret that our education sector is under immense pressure Welsh children aren’t getting the education they deserve, and that’s down to 26 years of Labour mismanagement.
“Labour’s continuing failure of pupils and parents across Wales points to an ‘I know better attitude’ and rather than follow the evidence and adjust accordingly, Labour continues to fail our children with no clear plan to fix their mess with any cohesive strategy to improve the falling standards in Wales.”
Face-to-face banking is a lifeline for older people – Dr Hussain MS
Wednesday, 24 September, 2025
During Spokesperson’s Questions, Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice & Equalities, Dr Altaf Hussain MS, raised a recent Age Cymru report on what matters to older people in Wales.
Related Posts
Welsh Labour refuses to answer parents’ questions about the new Relationships and Sexual Education (RSE) curriculum
Assembly Member warns of “major chaos” as Welsh Government delays curriculum reform
Welsh Conservatives react to Education Minister’s curriculum change statement