It has to be recognised that everyone learns differently, at a different pace and throughout their lives. Putting the learner at the centre of education means ensuring that everyone in society, in their own way, is enabled to have the ability and confidence to be an independent learner and indeed researcher. Learning in this sense is not just about receiving but about individually and collectively participating and adding to knowledge and understanding at every stage. And in the early years this should be particularly about enjoyment and learning through play. 

This requires the learner to have the right, ability, control and confidence to question existing knowledge and understanding, and for any unpredictable outcomes to be recognised. It requires a structure of support that allows for learner pathways that support their interests and questions, and for all outcomes to be equally credited at each stage through a form continuous assessment such as portfolios. Removing any remaining distinction between ‘academic’ and ‘applied’ and any notion of failure. Uniforms should go for the same reason. The system of Inspections is about policing the current system about selection, failure and league tables, instead there should be a collectively controlled system of sharing practice, support and development. 

Only free lifelong learning can start to achieve this aim.

A radical learner based and controlled approach to education is not only of central benefit to individuals but enables the release of creativity from all, benefitting society as a whole. It gives real meaning to the first part of the phrase from Marx: ‘from each according to their abilities…’ 

However, the history of education in the UK is one of being shaped not for the learning but capitalism, profit and sustaining the interests of the rich and ruling class. That is not only reflected in the provision of institutions from early learning through to Universities but also in the bias of the curriculum. As one who went to a secondary modern school in the late 1950’s I am acutely aware of how the 11+ selection worked to sustain class and privilege down into the early early years of primary school. 

The needs of capital and the defence of existing class power remain with us, through from the wealthy purchasing educational advantage through private schools, location – in England academies – through to the employment of graduates and the potential profitable application of research. The Starmer and the Tories see little reason to change this domination and the extreme right such as Reform, wish to go further and suppress any thinking that may challenge ‘British values’ as they define them. Cymru history and culture, as well language needs to be a key part of the curriculum.

So the fight for an ecosocialist education has to be clear about putting the learner at the centre and removing the deadweight of class and profit in every demand and policy. And of course in Cymru, that means defending education through the medium of Cymraeg, the suppression of which is and was an additional feature of how class works in Cymru.

Current Cymru provision, policy and funding.

Compulsory and pre-school education is provided by funding that comes through the 22 county councils in Cymru. Pre school provision increasingly includes Flying Start support from the age of two together with up to 30 hours of nursery and childminding support. From the age of four, there is a reception class provision for all. From the years 3-7 learning through play is central.

Compulsory education covers 5 – 16 in primary schools than comprehensives. 23% of school students are educated through the medium of Cymraeg. Free school meals are now available to all in primary schools. It appears there are 16 private schools in Cymru with various stage coverage amounting to around 2% of total student numbers. All provision for the compulsory period of education is covered by the new Curriculum for Wales which could provide the basis of moving toward learning pathways as suggested above.

Post compulsory the provision is mixed. Around 40% of year 11 attend a sixth form mostly linked to a school, the rest attend one of the 12 FE Colleges controlled by their governing bodies. Over 132,000 are enrolled on apprenticeships with pay. There is learning income related learning financial support for FE students. There are nine HE institutions in Cymru, including the Open University. HE institutions are controlled by their councils or boards and operate within an international and local context both in relation to students and research. Undergraduate students domiciled in Cymru receive a loan for fees and access to income related grants, which also apply to part time students. Despite this only 30% of 18 year olds enter HE as undergraduates.  

Research is funded through a Quality Research assessment exercise and income from other sources. HE in Cymru sustaining research in all QR disciplines that are offered is critical to both sustaining an international standing and contributing to social and economic innovation. Both FE and HE are now overseen by the Commission for Tertiary Education (MEDR) which allocates funding that is distributed in Cymru centrally. 

Challenges

Funding – as with all public services education in Cymru has been bit hard by what is now 15 years of austerity cuts and the knock on effects of the pandemic. The NEU estimates that 69% of schools in Cymru have less real terms funding than in 2010. The NAHT Cymru reports that in 2024 a third of all schools are struggling with deficits now and more than half will be in the coming year. School student / teaching ratios are worsening. There is a regular attack on Cymru schools when the very questionable PISA results come out, which in reality is about trying to force education into the ‘ three Rs’ straightjacket for employer needs. The recent NEU Cymru response to the latest Estyn report emphasises these points. 

Similarly Colleges Wales reports on the difficulties of coping with college inflation, rising student numbers and keeping qualified staff when wages are rising in the private sector reflected in the UCU Cymru campaign . 

HE budgets in Cymru are taking a serious toll under the combination of falling government support and the loss of overseas students. The proposed course cuts at Cardiff University are a disaster and if Cardiff is facing this financial situation  with possibly the strongest budget in Cymru, then other universities will soon be making similar announcements. Across the whole provision of education workloads, class sizes, lack of professional recognition, poor conditions and pay, are resulting in trained people leaving the service. 

Trade union recognition and contracts – pay and workloads are under pressure in all sectors of education, making it difficult to retain staff, and leading to widespread use of part time, assistant and agency staff and cheaper super exploitative contracts. The systematic use of agency staff in Cymru schools has been an ongoing scandal for over 15 years, with promise after promise being broken or implementation delayed. 

Democracy, control and accountability – if education institutions and support systems are to be effective in sustaining a learner orientation, then it is the elected professional staff and the students and their union representatives that need to have the main voice in governance. At the moment there is very little democracy or collegiality that means anything in terms of the learning and research processes, with governance being dominated by councillors in schools, and employer orientated boards and councils in colleges and universities. Collective bargaining remains central to the education workers’ voice, and is constantly bypassed and undermined. 

Education and support does not just take place in institutional settings and evidence has indicated that family and wider community support is essential. So support for families to enable them to make their choice about how children could be educated and supported, the stress on lifelong learning instead of grading and failure, and recognition of the part all can play in the education process is critical. 

Suggested demands and policies

1. Oppose all cuts in courses, budgets, staffing, education services, and the undermining of collective agreements. 
2. Support all staff and student trade union campaigns and actions to defend education and learning provision and for real pay increases and reductions in workloads. Staff student ratios need to be established through collective bargaining, published and made legally enforceable if broken. 
3. For a needs based comprehensive spending review for all education in Cymru.
4. Free Lifelong student centred and controlled learning covering all institutional support from home, early years, compulsory, further and higher education as well as other support as required, such ALN and free meals in schools and colleges. As part of this, a right to play needs to be recognised. 
5. All education in Cymru to be free from fee payment and students from the age of 16 to receive grant support based upon a minimum income.
6. Ensure open access to the highest quality inclusive local school for all children regardless of their special needs and circumstances, using a transparent admissions process without recourse to test or selection.
7. Learning to be available to all through the medium of Cymraeg, including bilingually.
8. Governance and internal management systems based on principles of local democratic accountability and co-operatives being an equal partnership between parents, staff, students, and the elected representatives of the local community.
9. All staff without exception to be employed on collective agreed contracts of employment negotiated with fully recognised trade unions and to have access to lifelong learning for professional and personal study.
10. Content of the curriculum and the processes of learning to be continually updated through a process of collective control of what is best practice as opposed to an imposed top down inspection regime. 
11. Research aimed at making an original contribution to a discipline is rightly systematically undertaken at university level however, the aim should be to allow for unpredictable outcomes at all stages of learning, enabling such a contribution to be made by all either as an individual or part of a group. 
12. It is critical in building and sustaining education in Cymru that is comparable to the best in the world that a full range of HE courses and research disciplines are sustained at our universities.