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Education in Wales since Devolution: Three Waves of Policy, and the Pressing and Reoccurring Challenge of Implementation

Andrew James Davies Orcid Logo, Alexandra Morgan Orcid Logo, Mark Connolly Orcid Logo, Emmajane Milton Orcid Logo

Cylchgrawn Addysg Cymru / Wales Journal of Education, Volume: 26, Issue: 2, Pages: 23 - 38

Swansea University Author: Andrew James Davies Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.16922/wje.26.2.3

Abstract

On the occasion of 25 years since the advent of devolution to Wales, this article explores the three distinct waves of Welsh education policy and practice which have been identified and explored by the authors of this article and other commentators as having occurred since 1999 (Egan, 2017; Connolly...

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Published in: Cylchgrawn Addysg Cymru / Wales Journal of Education
ISSN: 2059-3708 2059-3716
Published: University of Wales Press/Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru 2024
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa68433
first_indexed 2024-12-03T13:48:30Z
last_indexed 2025-01-31T20:26:42Z
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spelling 2025-01-31T15:30:36.0174776 v2 68433 2024-12-03 Education in Wales since Devolution: Three Waves of Policy, and the Pressing and Reoccurring Challenge of Implementation 0f10dbd0f6e292e5ee4e1801ae95137e 0009-0008-1324-3913 Andrew James Davies Andrew James Davies true false 2024-12-03 SOSS On the occasion of 25 years since the advent of devolution to Wales, this article explores the three distinct waves of Welsh education policy and practice which have been identified and explored by the authors of this article and other commentators as having occurred since 1999 (Egan, 2017; Connolly, et al., 2018; Titley et al., 2020; Evans, 2022; Milton et al., 2023). It starts by tracing the early days of the devolved settlement, and the experimental approach to new policy piloted between 1999 and 2010 (Moon, 2012). It then looks at the policy turn towards greater accountability and challenge signalled in 2010 following the disappointing 2009 PISA results (Davies et al., 2018), which constituted the start of the Second Wave. It then critically examines the Third Wave of policy from around 2015, which is characterised by Wales’s ambitious reform journey (OECD, 2017) embodied in the national mission for education (Welsh Government, 2017a). It proposes that Wales has, since around 2021, entered a distinctive and challenging phase within this transformative Third Wave of policy. The current situation, we argue, is characterised by uncertainty and unprecedented levels of system upheaval which have arisen from the reach, scope and the complex practical implications of implementing the post-2015 reforms. This article concludes that to realise the ambitious curriculum reform agenda it has set itself, Wales now needs to ask searching questions about the implementation and the clarity of curricular guidance; to re-evaluate its approach to subsidiarity; and to heed the warnings from other jurisdictions where similar curriculum reforms have negatively impacted learner outcomes and exacerbated inequalities. Without this there may be implications for realising the Curriculum for Wales, teacher retention and learner experiences in Wales. Journal Article Cylchgrawn Addysg Cymru / Wales Journal of Education 26 2 23 38 University of Wales Press/Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru 2059-3708 2059-3716 education policy, Wales, devolution, curriculum for wales 29 11 2024 2024-11-29 10.16922/wje.26.2.3 COLLEGE NANME Social Sciences School COLLEGE CODE SOSS Swansea University 2025-01-31T15:30:36.0174776 2024-12-03T09:15:33.3594293 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies Andrew James Davies 0009-0008-1324-3913 1 Alexandra Morgan 0000-0002-0689-9470 2 Mark Connolly 0000-0003-4278-1960 3 Emmajane Milton 0000-0001-8065-9857 4 68433__33471__3410df07222b43edb2b5f380eb318ef5.pdf 68433.VoR.pdf 2025-01-31T15:29:16.3658710 Output 281422 application/pdf Version of Record true Released under the terms of a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND licence. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
title Education in Wales since Devolution: Three Waves of Policy, and the Pressing and Reoccurring Challenge of Implementation
spellingShingle Education in Wales since Devolution: Three Waves of Policy, and the Pressing and Reoccurring Challenge of Implementation
Andrew James Davies
title_short Education in Wales since Devolution: Three Waves of Policy, and the Pressing and Reoccurring Challenge of Implementation
title_full Education in Wales since Devolution: Three Waves of Policy, and the Pressing and Reoccurring Challenge of Implementation
title_fullStr Education in Wales since Devolution: Three Waves of Policy, and the Pressing and Reoccurring Challenge of Implementation
title_full_unstemmed Education in Wales since Devolution: Three Waves of Policy, and the Pressing and Reoccurring Challenge of Implementation
title_sort Education in Wales since Devolution: Three Waves of Policy, and the Pressing and Reoccurring Challenge of Implementation
author_id_str_mv 0f10dbd0f6e292e5ee4e1801ae95137e
author_id_fullname_str_mv 0f10dbd0f6e292e5ee4e1801ae95137e_***_Andrew James Davies
author Andrew James Davies
author2 Andrew James Davies
Alexandra Morgan
Mark Connolly
Emmajane Milton
format Journal article
container_title Cylchgrawn Addysg Cymru / Wales Journal of Education
container_volume 26
container_issue 2
container_start_page 23
publishDate 2024
institution Swansea University
issn 2059-3708
2059-3716
doi_str_mv 10.16922/wje.26.2.3
publisher University of Wales Press/Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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department_str School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies
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description On the occasion of 25 years since the advent of devolution to Wales, this article explores the three distinct waves of Welsh education policy and practice which have been identified and explored by the authors of this article and other commentators as having occurred since 1999 (Egan, 2017; Connolly, et al., 2018; Titley et al., 2020; Evans, 2022; Milton et al., 2023). It starts by tracing the early days of the devolved settlement, and the experimental approach to new policy piloted between 1999 and 2010 (Moon, 2012). It then looks at the policy turn towards greater accountability and challenge signalled in 2010 following the disappointing 2009 PISA results (Davies et al., 2018), which constituted the start of the Second Wave. It then critically examines the Third Wave of policy from around 2015, which is characterised by Wales’s ambitious reform journey (OECD, 2017) embodied in the national mission for education (Welsh Government, 2017a). It proposes that Wales has, since around 2021, entered a distinctive and challenging phase within this transformative Third Wave of policy. The current situation, we argue, is characterised by uncertainty and unprecedented levels of system upheaval which have arisen from the reach, scope and the complex practical implications of implementing the post-2015 reforms. This article concludes that to realise the ambitious curriculum reform agenda it has set itself, Wales now needs to ask searching questions about the implementation and the clarity of curricular guidance; to re-evaluate its approach to subsidiarity; and to heed the warnings from other jurisdictions where similar curriculum reforms have negatively impacted learner outcomes and exacerbated inequalities. Without this there may be implications for realising the Curriculum for Wales, teacher retention and learner experiences in Wales.
published_date 2024-11-29T05:25:28Z
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