We are now having guest lectures for the what is education module which I am going to blog about in order to reflect on the lectures and what I think about the guest speakers. Our first guest speaker was Ken Jones. He spoke to us about the Welsh Assembly Government and what they are currently doing with eduaction and the role of the local authority in education. He told us that the current education minister in wales is Leighton Andrews, which I did not know. He also went on to talk about the difference in local authorities now and in the past. He told us some interesting facts about this including that there used to be 8 local authorities in Wales and following the reorganisation in 1999 there are now 22 unitary authorities, these smaller but increased number of authorities are now causing issues for some schools as there has been an increased number of school closures due to the number of LA'S.
We were also spoken to about PISA (Programme for International Students Assessment) testing. PISA tests are for testing pupils in English, Maths and Science. Ken showed some alarming figures of where Wales is in the rankings, we shared thoughts about this and how this was going to change.
I found this lecture very interesting as it provided us with information that as Education Studies students we need to know. I feel that I know alot more about what is currently happening in the education system in Wales. I also liked Ken as a speaker. I felt that he got everything across clearly and made the session quite interactive through discussion. I also liked his use of the powerpoint he had prepared and the extra sources for information he gave us. Overall a good first guest speaker.
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