Pisa: Welsh curriculum not full answer to improve school tests - minister

Jeremy Miles says the new curriculum "puts trust in the hands of teachers"

Wales' new curriculum is not the "full answer" to improving performance in international maths, reading and science tests taken by 15-year olds, according to the education minister.

Jeremy Miles said Wales' Pisa results falling to their lowest level ever was "really disappointing".

Mr Miles said long-term reforms, including the new curriculum, are a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to revolutionise" education in Wales.

He was speaking to BBC Radio Wales.

Scotland has seen long-term decline in Pisa performance, having introduced similar curriculum changes over a decade ago.

Lindsay Paterson, professor emeritus of education policy at Edinburgh University, said the decline in Scottish performance corresponds with the implementation of the Curriculum for Excellence schools model.

He said: "The longer-term decline may be seen clearly for Scotland if we go back a full decade to 2012.

"2012 is around the time that the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) was beginning to impinge significantly on children's learning."

'Key difference is excellent teaching'

Lucy Crehan, an education consultant, said on X, formerly Twitter: "While you may argue that we don't know whether the CfE is related to Scotland's Pisa decline, it's clear that it has not improved pupil progress."

The overhaul of Wales' curriculum has been based on the recommendations of Professor Graham Donaldson who was also involved in the development of the Scottish curriculum.

The new curriculum has been rolled out in primary schools and is starting its full introduction in Welsh secondary schools.

In the first international Pisa assessments since Covid, Welsh scores remained the lowest performing within the UK for all subjects, with Scotland second lowest in both maths and science.

Asked on BBC Radio Wales Breakfast whether he was concerned about Welsh curriculum changes. given Scotland's decline, Education Minister Jeremy Miles said the new curriculum was "not the full answer, but no-one has ever claimed it's the full answer."

He added: "What it does is provide a way for teachers to be able to provide a curriculum which works for the group of young people in front of them in the classroom and is much more bespoke and puts trust in the hands of teachers and what we do know from the OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] is the key difference is excellent teaching."

"There are other parts of the OECD, of the Pisa countries, who've taken a similar approach [in terms of curriculum], which has seen their results be very strong."

The curriculum changes have been described as the biggest to Welsh education in a generation

Asked to name the countries pursuing a similar curriculum to Wales which had seen strong Pisa results, Mr Miles said: "There's a number of countries, right across the world, that have taken approaches based on OECD principles."

The minister said changes around teacher training, school improvement, inspection and accountability would also make a difference, adding he was "confident that that will have a positive effect and that our results will increase again".

But Mr Miles said school "budgets are under significant pressure" and an "increased level of public spending right across the UK" was needed to help raise performance.

On Monday, Sir Keir Starmer said anyone expecting an incoming UK Labour government "to quickly turn on the spending taps" would be disappointed.

The education minister said a Labour government would inherit the "same economy on the day after the election as it was the day before election".

"But the Labour Party is committed to supporting public services", he said.

"It will want to do that [find extra money] and it will find ways of doing that as soon as it is able to do that," he added.