Ambition for our Children

School budgets have been stretched to breaking point, and by securing fair funding for Wales, we will ensure schools are resourced to provide both the education and support our learners require in order to leave education equipped for their futures. This includes investing in additional learning needs provision and investing in mental health support.

Crucially, it also means investing in our workforce, ensuring both teachers and support staff are supported and valued in order to improve both recruitment and retention.

We would do this by:

  • Reviewing all bursary schemes available to incentivise teachers, to ensure they attract applicants and help to fill recruitment gaps.
  • Working with the teaching unions to reduce bureaucracy and workload.
  • Recruiting and retaining 5000 teachers and support staff.
  • Conducting a review of Initial Teacher Education and Continuing Professional Development to ascertain their relevance to the demands of the new curriculum.
  • Appointing more non-teaching staff to deal with pupil needs beyond education.
  • Develop a more attractive and formalised role for teaching assistants who currently do not have a clear career pathway.

Plaid Cymru also believes that all learners should leave school able to speak both Welsh and English fluently, as well as at least one other language. The decline in the number of learners taking Welsh as an A level, or studying a modern language, is of concern, and doesn’t reflect the fact that Wales in a multi-lingual and diverse nation.

View other Education and Early Years policies