Plaid Cymru has repeatedly criticised the Labour-led Welsh Government over standards, funding, staffing and outcomes in Welsh education during Labour’s 27 years in office.
That history is particularly relevant following the publication of the 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment—PISA—results, which show Wales behind England, Scotland and Northern Ireland in maths, reading and science.
Wales scored 456 in maths, compared with 492 in England, 473 in Northern Ireland and 467 in Scotland. In reading, Wales scored 459, against 497 in England, 482 in Northern Ireland and 488 in Scotland. Wales’s science score was 476, compared with 516 in England, 492 in Northern Ireland and 491 in Scotland.[conservatives.
The 2025 findings also show Wales’s maths score falling from 466 in 2022 to 456. Reading fell from 466 to 459, while science rose from 473 to 476, although the changes in reading and science were not statistically significant. Wales remained below the OECD average in maths and science.
The Welsh Conservatives said the results demonstrated that Wales was falling further behind. Sam Rowlands MS, the party’s Shadow Minister for Education, said the figures should be “a wake-up call for the Welsh Government”.
He said:
“Wales is being left behind by every other part of the UK in maths, reading and science and the gap with England is particularly stark.
“Decades of socialist rule by Labour and Plaid Cymru have driven down Wales’ educational standards and are failing this generation of young people.
“Every child in Wales deserves an education that gives them the best possible start in life.”
Mr Rowlands called on the Welsh Government to raise classroom standards, support teachers and ensure pupils acquire the skills needed to succeed.[nation.
However, Plaid Cymru itself has made repeated and often severe criticisms of the Labour-led Welsh Government’s management of education. A review of publicly available statements, Senedd proceedings and media reports identifies at least fourteen clear, dated interventions between 2016 and 2026.
Plaid Cymru’s criticisms: key dates
Date
Plaid Cymru criticism
Main issue
6 December 2016
Following PISA results, Plaid said the Welsh Government had “failed again” over educational performance.
International attainment and PISA
13 November 2018
Plaid told the Labour administration there was “no ambition, no drive and no desire” to create an internationally competitive education system.
Leadership and standards
22 November 2019
Plaid described Welsh schools as facing a funding emergency and proposed an additional £300m annually for schools and colleges.
Education funding
11 March 2021
Plaid criticised the Welsh Government for not publishing a plan to help children and young people recover educationally after COVID disruption.
Pandemic education recovery
2021
Plaid opposed legislation which, it argued, did not make Welsh history—including Black and ethnic-minority history—compulsory for every pupil.
Curriculum and Welsh history
16 June 2023
Plaid said the education system was failing too many young people by not giving them a proper opportunity to learn Welsh.
Welsh-medium education
1 January 2024
Plaid said the Welsh Government lacked ambition and commitment towards reaching one million Welsh speakers by 2050, highlighting concerns about Welsh-medium school places and teacher numbers.
Welsh-language education
6 February 2024
Plaid criticised reductions in apprenticeship opportunities and further-education funding.
Apprenticeships and FE
13 May 2024
Plaid’s Heledd Fychan MS called for an emergency review of the higher-education sector amid financial pressure and possible job losses at Welsh universities.
Universities and financial sustainability
17 September 2024
Rhun ap Iorwerth referred to a fall in educational standards after 25 years of Labour government in Wales.
Overall education record
9 October 2024
Plaid led a Senedd debate on what it described as a deepening school-funding crisis, citing the 2022 PISA outcome, falling real-terms spending per pupil and persistent secondary-teacher recruitment difficulties.
Funding, recruitment and attainment
4 February 2025
Plaid criticised the Welsh Government’s budget approach, including a limited education-budget increase, within wider concerns about pressures across public services.
Education funding
23 August 2025
Plaid said Labour had let young people down by allowing standards to fall, referring to Wales’s poor comparative position in educational league tables.
Attainment and skills
28 February 2026
Rhun ap Iorwerth said that, under Labour, Welsh education was failing too many young people in essential reading, writing and maths skills.
Literacy and numeracy
A difficult political question
The evidence shows that Plaid Cymru has not merely made occasional objections about education. It has repeatedly argued that the Labour-led Welsh Government has failed on core issues:
• International educational performance.
• School funding.
• Teacher recruitment and retention.
• Literacy, numeracy and basic skills.
• Welsh-medium education.
• Post-16 education, apprenticeships and further education.
• The financial sustainability of universities.
• Recovery from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
That record makes it difficult for Plaid Cymru to deny that it has publicly criticised the Labour Government’s handling of education over a long period.
At the same time, critics are entitled to point out that Plaid Cymru entered the Labour–Plaid Co-operation Agreement in November 2021. The agreement continued until May 2024 and included education-related commitments, including making Welsh history mandatory in the Curriculum for Wales. Plaid maintained that the deal allowed it to support agreed measures while remaining free to criticise Labour on issues outside the agreement.[nation +1]
Therefore, the most accurate description is not that Plaid Cymru has been wholly responsible for Welsh education policy, nor that it has been wholly outside government influence. Rather, Plaid has been an opposition party which repeatedly condemned Labour’s education record, while also choosing to work with Labour on selected policies between 2021 and 2024.
Mobile-phone consultation
The latest PISA figures have been published as the Welsh Government launches a 12-week consultation on new guidance aimed at restricting pupils’ use of mobile phones during the school day.
The Government says the guidance is intended to help schools introduce clearer and more consistent mobile-phone policies. It expects use to be restricted during the school day, but proposes allowing individual schools flexibility to reflect local circumstances. Final guidance is expected in early 2027.[itv +1]
Sam Rowlands MS has criticised the consultation approach and called for an immediate national ban. He said:
“We don’t need a consultation to tell us the obvious. The entire education profession is clear that mobile phones are a distraction in the classroom, contribute to bullying and are making it more difficult for teachers to do their jobs.
“Mobile phones must be banned in schools and instead of dithering and delaying, the Welsh Government should take a lead and introduce a Wales-wide ban on mobile phones in schools.”
The two developments raise a wider question for Wales: whether a consultation on phones, with guidance not expected until 2027, is a proportionate response at a time when international evidence shows Wales at the bottom of the four UK nations in all three PISA subjects.
Suggested conclusion
The PISA results do not prove that mobile phones are the cause of Wales’s educational performance, and the Welsh Government’s consultation should not be presented as if it were the principal answer to longstanding problems in standards, funding, recruitment and attainment.
But the timing is politically uncomfortable. For at least a decade, Plaid Cymru has repeatedly accused Labour of failing Welsh pupils. The latest PISA results now give the Welsh Conservatives fresh evidence to argue that neither Labour’s long period in government, nor Plaid Cymru’s periods of influence and co-operation, has delivered the improvement in international educational performance that pupils, parents and teachers have a right to expect.
Related Posts
Labour to blame for widening unemployment gap, says Eluned Parrott AM
Wales falling further behind rest of UK in damning PISA results
Road widening at Club Street in Aberaman will benefit developer when work starts on the old Blaengwawr Comprehensive School
