English: Can I just say, Michelle, that I am absolutely content and confident that the standards that we have provide a very clear baseline for teacher performance? Newly qualified teachers cannot successfully pass induction without demonstrating that they meet all the relevant descriptors, and those descriptors continue to act as a baseline throughout a teacher's career by setting out what is required of them to undertake their role effectively. We should actually make a distinction between these professional teaching standards and issues around competency and how one deals with competency in a classroom. The majority of teachers and leaders will reflect on their practice in relation to those five standards, and for those practitioners who wish to deepen their practice, the upper-level descriptors provide an aspirational focus for professional development going forward. We do need a national approach to ensure that there is a consistency across our nation, and I hope that, by September of this year, we will be able to be very clear to this Chamber, and to the profession, about what that national approach will look like. It will need to have an element of generic training with regard to the curriculum, but we will need to deep-dive below that for subject specialists and for stage specialists and by September I think we'll be in a position to do that. John, leadership is absolutely key to that. There is nothing more demoralising for a teacher than to be working in an institution with poor leadership. That adds to your workload and it adds to the stress that you may find in your institution. I was delighted last week to meet the first set of associates for our new leadership academy. I'm hugely inspired by them and the contribution that I think that they will bring. But accrediting training and support for those teachers who are asking to work in our toughest communities is something that I'm very keen that the new academy would look to explore. There are a number of areas where we need those specific skills, whether that's working in some of our toughest communities, whether that's the challenge of running a through school, whether that's the challenge of being an executive head, where maybe you are the head of three or four schools. So, there's a whole set of things that we need to look at in that regard. Presiding Officer, in the words of the curriculum scholar Lawrence Stenhouse, 'there can be no curriculum development without teacher development'. I am very clear on that. As far as I'm concerned, the two go hand in hand, and that's why this committee's report is very useful as we develop policy in this area.
Welsh: A gaf fi ddweud, Michelle, fy mod yn gwbl fodlon ac yn hyderus fod y safonau sydd gennym yn darparu llinell sylfaen glir iawn ar gyfer perfformiad athro? Ni all athrawon sydd newydd gymhwyso basio'r cyfnod ymsefydlu heb ddangos eu bod yn bodloni'r holl ddisgrifyddion perthnasol, ac mae'r disgrifyddion hynny'n parhau i weithredu fel llinell sylfaen drwy gydol gyrfa athro drwy nodi'r hyn y mae angen iddynt ei wneud i gyflawni eu rôl yn effeithiol. Mewn gwirionedd, dylem wahaniaethu rhwng y safonau addysgu proffesiynol hyn a materion sy'n ymwneud â chymhwysedd a sut y mae rhywun yn ymdrin â chymhwysedd mewn ystafell ddosbarth. Bydd y rhan fwyaf o athrawon ac arweinwyr yn myfyrio ar eu hymarfer mewn perthynas â'r pum safon, ac i addysgwyr sy'n dymuno gwella eu hymarfer, mae'r disgrifyddion lefel uwch yn darparu ffocws uchelgeisiol ar gyfer datblygiad proffesiynol yn y dyfodol. Rydym angen dull cenedlaethol o weithredu er mwyn sicrhau bod yna gysondeb ar draws ein cenedl, a gobeithio, erbyn mis Medi eleni, y byddwn yn gallu dweud yn glir wrth y Siambr hon, a'r proffesiwn, sut beth fydd dull cenedlaethol o'r fath. Bydd angen elfen o hyfforddiant cyffredinol mewn perthynas â'r cwricwlwm, ond bydd angen i ni dreiddio'n ddyfnach ar gyfer arbenigwyr pwnc ac arbenigwyr cyfnodau, ac rwy'n credu y byddwn mewn sefyllfa i wneud hynny erbyn mis Medi. John, mae arweinyddiaeth yn gwbl allweddol i hynny. Nid oes unrhyw beth sy'n fwy torcalonnus i athro na gweithio mewn sefydliad ag arweinyddiaeth wael. Mae hynny'n ychwanegu at eich llwyth gwaith ac yn ychwanegu at y straen a allai fod arnoch yn eich sefydliad. Roeddwn yn falch iawn, yr wythnos diwethaf, o gyfarfod â'r set gyntaf o swyddogion cyswllt ar gyfer ein hacademi arweinyddiaeth newydd. Maent hwy, a'r cyfraniad rwy'n credu y byddant yn ei wneud, yn fy ysbrydoli'n fawr. Ond mae achredu hyfforddiant a chymorth ar gyfer yr athrawon sydd eisiau gweithio yn ein cymunedau mwyaf anodd yn rhywbeth rwy'n awyddus iawn i'r academi newydd ei archwilio. Ceir nifer o feysydd lle rydym angen y sgiliau penodol hynny, pa un ai gweithio yn rhai o'n cymunedau mwyaf anodd, yr her o redeg ysgol bob oedran, neu'r her o fod yn bennaeth gweithredol, lle rydych, efallai, yn bennaeth ar dair neu bedair o ysgolion. Felly, mae yna set gyfan o bethau y mae angen i ni edrych arnynt yn hynny o beth. Lywydd, yng ngeiriau'r ysgolhaig cwricwlwm Lawrence Stenhouse, ni ellir datblygu cwricwlwm heb ddatblygu athrawon. Rwy'n glir iawn ynglŷn â hynny. O'm rhan i, mae'r ddau yn mynd law yn llaw â'i gilydd, a dyna pam y mae adroddiad y pwyllgor yn ddefnyddiol iawn wrth i ni ddatblygu polisi yn y maes hwn.