English: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your statement, and for giving me advance notice of it. I think we'd all agree in this Chamber that we want to see a rigorous assessment process here in Wales that is fair to the learner, that helps to inform teachers about how best to respond to their needs, but that also acts as a benchmarking system across the whole of Wales, so that we can compare and contrast performance both between pupils within schools and, indeed, compare and contrast performance between different schools as well. We know that the current system isn't perfect. There's far too much self-evaluation, if you like, within the current system and not enough in terms of standardisation, and so that's why I was very pleased to welcome the shift to more responsive and personalised testing online when the Cabinet Secretary announced it earlier this year, and I think that that's absolutely a step in the right direction. But I will say, Cabinet Secretary, that what we must also not be afraid to do is to continue to put our children and our young people in examination-type situations with paper tests. Because, at the end of the day, those high-stakes paper tests that they'll be doing when they get to GCSE age and when they get to AS and A-level age, they're going to be less phased by those if they've had lots of experience of being sat in a test-like situation. They're not going to be sat on computers doing those tests, so it's important that they have the experience of those tests both in the classroom and in the schools at different points. Now, I know that you say - and you like to draw the big distinction between the SATs tests in England and the tests that we've had traditionally here in Wales, and you say that that's not something where we're going to rank schools. But, at the end of the day, they do need to be things that are used to manage performance within schools, and to manage local authority attention to schools and regional consortia's attention to schools if weaknesses are identified in those outcomes. I think it's only right that the outcomes of that testing are shared with parents, because, at the end of the day, parents should be empowered to be able to make decisions about which schools they want to see their children educated in. I think that the more information they can have, including information on tests and outcomes from those tests, the better. I appreciate that you can swing the pendulum too far and just use markers on things like the achievements in these sorts of tests and overemphasise them, if you like, and not consider properly other things in schools. That's why we've been, as a party, supportive of the green, amber and red system that has been developed by the Welsh Government, and it's important that that is also a robust system. I know, Cabinet Secretary, that you want that to be a robust system that truly reflects, in an all-round and holistic sense, the performance of schools. But let's not forget that the results that children and young people have in tests like the ones that we're talking about today - this assessment for learning - are an important indicator in terms of school performance, and we must not ignore them. We know that the OECD told us that there are many teachers at all levels who lack the skills to implement quality formative assessments and to use those assessment data to support students in their learning. I think that it's only right to pick up on that point, and I was pleased that you made reference to the OECD and the work that they're doing to oversee some of the implementation of this work in the future. We know, also, of course, from the recent Education Workforce Council survey of the education workforce in Wales, that one of the other problems we have is communicating to our teachers about the changes that are taking place here in Wales in our education system. So, I wonder, Cabinet Secretary, whether you'll be able to tell us how you're going to ensure that there's an appropriate response from the teaching workforce to these new testing regimes as they're being rolled out here in Wales, what you're going to do to monitor the way that the teaching workforce is using the information in a confident way to change their practice so that they can support learners better, and what assurances you can give us as an Assembly that we're not completely ditching the paper tests in literacy, in numeracy, and all those other subjects, so that our children can still be well prepared as they get on into later life to take those high-stakes tests that will come down the line.
Welsh: Diolch i chi, Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet, am eich datganiad, ac am fy hysbysu yn ei gylch ymlaen llaw. Rwy'n credu y byddai pawb ohonom yn y Siambr hon yn cytuno ein bod am weld proses asesu drylwyr yma yng Nghymru sy'n deg i'r dysgwr, sy'n helpu i roi gwybod i athrawon sut i fynd ati yn y ffordd orau i ymateb i'w hanghenion, ond sydd hefyd yn gweithredu fel system feincnodi ar hyd a lled Cymru gyfan, fel y gallwn gymharu a chyferbynnu perfformiad disgyblion o fewn ysgolion ac yn wir, cymharu a chyferbynnu perfformiad gwahanol ysgolion hefyd. Gwyddom nad yw'r system gyfredol yn berffaith. Mae llawer gormod o hunanwerthuso, os mynnwch, yn y system gyfredol ac nid oes digon o safoni, ac felly dyna pam roeddwn yn falch iawn o groesawu'r newid tuag at brofion ar-lein mwy ymatebol wedi'u personoli pan gyhoeddodd Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet hynny'n gynharach eleni, a chredaf fod hwnnw'n sicr yn gam i'r cyfeiriad cywir. Ond rwyf am ddweud, Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet, fod yn rhaid i ni hefyd beidio â bod ofn parhau i roi ein plant a'n pobl ifanc mewn sefyllfa arholiad gyda phrofion papur. Oherwydd yn y pen draw, y profion papur hynny lle mae llawer yn y fantol y byddant yn eu gwneud pan fyddant yn cyrraedd oedran TGAU a phan fyddant yn cyrraedd oedran Uwch Gyfrannol a Safon Uwch - ni fyddant yn eu dychryn cymaint os ydynt wedi cael llawer o brofiad o wneud prawf. Nid ydynt yn mynd i fod yn eistedd wrth gyfrifiaduron i wneud y profion hynny, felly mae'n bwysig eu bod yn cael profiad o'r profion hyn yn yr ystafell ddosbarth ac yn yr ysgolion ar wahanol adegau. Nawr, rwy'n gwybod eich bod yn dweud - ac rydych yn hoffi gwahaniaethu'n fawr rhwng y profion TASau yn Lloegr a'r profion rydym wedi'u cael yn draddodiadol yma yng Nghymru, ac rydych yn dweud nad yw hynny'n rhywbeth lle rydym yn mynd i restru ysgolion. Ond yn y pen draw, mae angen iddynt fod yn bethau a ddefnyddir i reoli perfformiad mewn ysgolion, ac i reoli'r sylw y mae awdurdodau lleol yn ei roi i ysgolion a sylw consortia rhanbarthol i ysgolion os nodir gwendidau yn y canlyniadau hynny. Rwy'n credu ei bod yn iawn i ganlyniadau'r profion hynny gael eu rhannu gyda rhieni, oherwydd yn y pen draw, dylid grymuso rhieni i allu gwneud penderfyniadau ynglŷn â pha ysgolion y maent am i'w plant gael eu haddysgu ynddynt. Gorau po fwyaf o wybodaeth y gallant ei gael, yn fy marn i, gan gynnwys gwybodaeth am brofion a chanlyniadau'r profion hynny. Rwy'n sylweddoli y gallwch wthio'r pendil yn rhy bell a defnyddio marcwyr yn unig ar bethau fel y cyflawniadau yn y mathau hyn o brofion a'u gorbwysleisio, os mynnwch, a methu ystyried pethau eraill yn briodol mewn ysgolion. Dyna pam rydym wedi bod yn gefnogol fel plaid i system y categorïau gwyrdd, melyn a choch a ddatblygwyd gan Lywodraeth Cymru, ac mae'n bwysig fod honno hefyd yn system gadarn. Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet, gwn eich bod am i honno fod yn system gadarn sy'n adlewyrchu perfformiad ysgolion mewn ystyr hollgynhwysol a chyfannol. Ond gadewch i ni beidio ag anghofio bod y canlyniadau y mae plant a phobl ifanc yn eu cael mewn profion fel y rhai rydym yn sôn amdanynt heddiw - yr asesu ar gyfer dysgu - yn ddangosydd pwysig o berfformiad ysgolion, a rhaid inni beidio â'u hanwybyddu. Gwyddom fod y Sefydliad ar gyfer Cydweithrediad a Datblygiad Economaidd wedi dweud wrthym fod yna lawer o athrawon ar bob lefel sydd heb y sgiliau i weithredu asesiadau ffurfiannol o ansawdd a defnyddio'r data asesu hwnnw i gynorthwyo myfyrwyr gyda'u dysgu. Rwy'n credu ei bod yn iawn inni fynd ar ôl y pwynt hwnnw, ac roeddwn yn falch eich bod wedi cyfeirio at y Sefydliad ar gyfer Cydweithrediad a Datblygiad Economaidd a'r gwaith y maent yn ei wneud ar oruchwylio peth o weithrediad y gwaith hwn yn y dyfodol. Gwyddom hefyd, wrth gwrs, o arolwg diweddar Cyngor y Gweithlu Addysg o'r gweithlu addysg yng Nghymru, mai un o'r problemau eraill sydd gennym yw cyfathrebu'r newidiadau sy'n digwydd yma yn ein system addysg yng Nghymru i'n hathrawon. Tybed felly, Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet, a allwch ddweud wrthym sut y bwriadwch sicrhau bod yna ymateb priodol gan y gweithlu addysg i'r trefniadau profi newydd hyn wrth iddynt gael eu cyflwyno yma yng Nghymru, beth a wnewch i fonitro'r ffordd y mae'r gweithlu addysg yn defnyddio'r wybodaeth mewn ffordd hyderus i newid eu hymarfer er mwyn iddynt allu cynorthwyo dysgwyr yn well, a pha sicrwydd y gallwch ei roi i ni fel Cynulliad nad ydym yn cael gwared yn gyfan gwbl ar y profion papur mewn llythrennedd, rhifedd, a'r holl bynciau eraill, fel y gallwn barhau i baratoi ein plant yn dda wrth iddynt wynebu'r profion hynny lle mae llawer yn y fantol a ddaw yn nes ymlaen yn eu bywydau.