Decision details
Welsh Liberal Democrats Debate
Decision Maker: Plenary - Fourth Assembly
Status: Recommendations approved
Is Key decision?: Yes
Purpose:
Debates are one of the
most frequent items of business on the Plenary
agenda. Many types of debate are brought forward in Plenary, including:
- Opposition party debates on a topic of their choice;
Other than in the case of Government debates, the time allocated for all other types of debates and their frequency are determined by the Business Committee
Decision:
The item started at 16.51
Voting on the motion and amendments under
this item was deferred until Voting Time.
A
vote was taken on the motion without amendment:
NDM5906 Aled Roberts (North Wales)
To
propose that the National Assembly for Wales:
1. Regrets that Wales lags behind the rest of
the UK in educational outcomes, particularly in key areas of reading,
mathematics and science.
2. Believes that educational policies should
help foster strong leadership and governance, excellent teaching, high aspirations
and opportunities to innovate.
3. Calls on the Welsh Government to empower
teachers and school leaders who have shown capacity and innovation with the
freedom to excel, by:
a)
reducing infant class sizes to 25 to give teachers more time for individual
learning with pupils;
b)
introducing a talented headteachers programme to encourage top leaders to use
their expertise to support underperforming schools;
c)
ensuring that teachers are given protected time to undertake continuous
professional development;
d)
introducing elected representation of peers from the teaching profession to the
Education Workforce Council to ensure proper accountability; and
e)
introducing a system of individual pupil monitoring, so that teachers can focus
on the experiences, achievements and outcomes for individual pupils.
For |
Abstain |
Against |
Total |
5 |
0 |
43 |
48 |
The motion without amendment was not agreed.
The following amendments were tabled:
Amendment
1 - Elin Jones (Ceredigion)
Insert
as new point 2 and renumber accordingly:
Believes
that investing in early education is the most effective way of raising
educational attainment.
A vote was taken on Amendment 1:
For |
Abstain |
Against |
Total |
38 |
10 |
0 |
48 |
Amendment 1 was agreed.
Amendment
2 - Paul Davies (Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Delete
point 3 and replace with:
Calls
on the Welsh Government to empower teachers and school leaders who have shown
capacity and innovation with the freedom to excel, by:
a)
introducing a comprehensive headteachers programme that provides continual
professional development and ongoing support to all headteachers;
b)
working with the teaching profession to develop and offer a suite of continuous
professional development programmes that delivers for the needs of teachers and
schools;
c)
ensuring that teachers are given protected time to undertake mandatory
continuous professional development; and
d)
removing the bureaucratic burden from teachers to enable them to practise a
system of individual pupil monitoring.
A vote was taken on Amendment 2:
For |
Abstain |
Against |
Total |
10 |
0 |
38 |
48 |
Amendment 2 was not agreed.
Amendment
3 - Elin Jones (Ceredigion)
In
point 3, delete sub-point a).
A vote was taken on Amendment 3:
For |
Abstain |
Against |
Total |
33 |
0 |
15 |
48 |
Amendment 3 was agreed.
Amendment
4 - Elin Jones (Ceredigion)
Add
as new sub-point at end of point 3:
introducing
compulsory continuous professional development for teachers.
A vote was taken on Amendment 4:
For |
Abstain |
Against |
Total |
24 |
0 |
25 |
49 |
As required
by Standing Order 6.20 the Deputy Presiding Officer exercised his casting vote
by voting against the amendment. Therefore, the amendment was not agreed.
Amendment
5 - Paul Davies (Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Adds
new point at the end of the motion
Calls
on the Welsh Government to undertake a review of teaching capacity and training
needs in order to enable accurate workforce planning.
A vote was taken on Amendment 5:
For |
Abstain |
Against |
Total |
24 |
0 |
25 |
49 |
As required
by Standing Order 6.20 the Deputy Presiding Officer exercised his casting vote
by voting against the amendment. Therefore, the amendment was not agreed.
A vote was taken on the motion as amended:
NDM5906 Aled Roberts (North Wales)
To
propose that the National Assembly for Wales:
1.
Regrets that Wales lags behind the rest of the UK in educational outcomes,
particularly in key areas of reading, mathematics and science.
2.
Believes that investing in early education is the most effective way of raising
educational attainment.
3. Believes that educational policies should
help foster strong leadership and governance, excellent teaching, high
aspirations and opportunities to innovate.
4. Calls on the Welsh Government to empower teachers
and school leaders who have shown capacity and innovation with the freedom to
excel, by:
a) introducing a talented headteachers programme
to encourage top leaders to use their expertise to support underperforming
schools;
b)
ensuring that teachers are given protected time to undertake continuous
professional development;
c)
introducing elected representation of peers from the teaching profession to the
Education Workforce Council to ensure proper accountability; and
d)
introducing a system of individual pupil monitoring, so that teachers can focus
on the experiences, achievements and outcomes for individual pupils.
For |
Abstain |
Against |
Total |
24 |
0 |
25 |
49 |
As required by Standing Order 6.20 the Deputy
Presiding Officer exercised his casting vote by voting against the motion as
amended. Therefore, the motion as amended was not agreed.
Publication date: 09/12/2015
Date of decision: 09/12/2015
Decided at meeting: 09/12/2015 - Plenary - Fourth Assembly