New Education law receives Royal Assent

13 May 2014 10:12 AM

The Education (Wales) Act 2014 builds on the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013 by further strengthening and enhancing school standards, improving local accountability and reducing complexity and bureaucracy.

The Act will:

• Abolish the General Teaching Council for Wales and establish the Education Workforce Council. This will introduce a new, more robust registration and regulation system of teachers and the wider education workforce. It introduces a new requirement on Further Education teachers, Further Education learning support workers and school learning support workers to register with the Education Workforce Council.
• Bring greater coherence by changing the way that school term dates are set so that they may be harmonised across all maintained schools in Wales.
• Amend the process through which Her Majesty‘s Chief Inspector, and Inspectors, of Education and Training in Wales are appointed to Estyn.

A Bill receives Royal Assent when Letters Patent under the Welsh Seal signed with Her Majesty’s own hand signifying Her Assent are notified to the Clerk of the Assembly. The Bill then becomes an Act of the Assembly.

The First Minister, as Keeper of the Welsh Seal, applied the Seal to the Letters Patent in a ceremony in Cardiff earlier today [Monday 12 May].

First Minister Carwyn Jones said:

“We want to ensure better life chances for our learners by helping them achieve their full potential. Education is fundamental to building a just, inclusive and fair society.

“This Act will drive up standards of teaching and the quality of learning, while also recognising the valuable contribution of the whole education workforce to the education of all learners in Wales. It will also help those families who experience problems as a result of variations in school term dates throughout Wales.”

Minister for Education and Skills, Huw Lewis said:

“The introduction of this new law is another important milestone along the road of improving the overall education offer to learners in Wales.  

"The Act will provide the necessary legislative framework to strengthen and enhance standards, providing the platform for us to achieve a high performing education system where practitioners work collaboratively to improve standards of teaching and the quality of learning - this is what matters to learners, parents and practitioners.

"I am confident that these improvements will help pupils to fulfil their potential and assist parents in supporting their children’s education”.