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Peter Black and South Wales West Liberal DemocratsRepresenting Aberavon, Bridgend, Gower, Neath, Ogmore, Port Talbot, and Swansea |
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Welsh Baccalaureate has a huge potential for our young people says AM
August 24, 2006 3:37 PM
Peter Black at Bishop Gore School, Swansea
Young people, who are getting their GCSE results today, are being urged to embrace the Welsh Baccalaureate as part of their further education studies.
Welsh Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson, Peter Black, has made the call in response to figures that show that one in four 16-18 year olds do not stay on in education. That figure has stayed stubbornly static since 1997.
Left-leaning think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has recently called for the phasing out of A levels in favour of a 'British Baccalaureate', but Mr. Black believes that Wales has got the balance right and that England need to catch up with our achievements. In Wales students study the Welsh Baccalaureate alongside their A-levels.
"Thanks to the Welsh Liberal Democrats championing of the Welsh Baccalaureate when we were in the last partnership government, Wales is already ahead of England in this respect," said Mr Black. "The great strength of the Welsh Baccalaureate is the mix of vocational and academic teaching that it offers and which the IPPR thought so important in their report. In addition, teachers in Wales have said that our Welsh 'bac' is better at preparing students for higher education."
"The Welsh Baccalaureate has a huge potential in bringing out the best in young people. It gives us much-needed variety in the educational pathways that we can offer students without compromising on quality or excellence. It makes it possible to argue for the retention of A-levels whilst developing other qualifications for the less-academically inclined to sit alongside them."
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