English: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I welcome very much the opportunity to respond to this motion and to clarify the need for these regulatory amendments. I appreciate that the progress of education reform in Wales, as set out in our national mission, is moving at pace, and I always welcome scrutiny at every stage. Over the past year, I have made no fewer than five oral or written statements on matters relating to our new system of school accountability. These have provided updates on policy changes that form part of the implementation of the recommendations arising from 'Successful Futures', something that has received mostly - I'm not quite sure what the Brexit Party feels about it - cross-party support in this Chamber. Let me first be clear that annulling these regulations will not reverse the changes I actually announced in May 2018 to key stage 4 performance measures, which were developed through collaboration with headteachers and key stakeholders. It would, however, create an unreasonable situation in which schools would be expected to set targets for achievement measures that will no longer be reported upon. The target setting regulations, as they currently stand, do not align with the key stage 4 performance measures that we will be reporting on - quite rightly, Suzy - from this year. The outcome of the consultation on these amending regulations showed that stakeholders, which included schools, local authorities and teaching unions, are generally in support of the proposals and the policy intentions. Requiring schools to set targets based on a narrow set of highly prescriptive indicators has generally been deemed unhelpful by schools and those that have scrutinised our education system, and has driven a very specific focus on elements of quality at the expense of more rounded self-evaluation and reflection. Mr Reckless might be quite happy with that focus on the C/D boundary, and I don't have any argument with him if a child is on that boundary - a C, of course, is helpful to them. But what about the progress of the child who should have been getting an A* or an A, whose school perhaps had said to that parent, 'I'm going to enter your child for a certain tier of maths paper or English paper', knowing that the maximum that they could get was a C? Now, that's fine for the school's performance measures, but if that child could have gone on to get a B or an A or an A*, they have been denied that chance, and the system that has helped the school achieve what it wants, but doesn't necessarily help the child achieve - [ Interruption. ] I'll give way.
Welsh: Diolch yn fawr iawn, Ddirprwy Lywydd. Croesawaf yn fawr iawn y cyfle i ymateb i'r cynnig hwn ac i egluro'r angen am y gwelliannau rheoliadol hyn. Rwy'n derbyn bod cynnydd diwygio addysg yng Nghymru, fel y nodir yng nghenhadaeth ein cenedl, yn symud yn ei flaen yn gyflym, ac rwyf bob amser yn croesawu craffu ar bob cam. Dros y flwyddyn ddiwethaf, rwyf wedi gwneud pum datganiad llafar neu ysgrifenedig ar faterion sy'n ymwneud â'n system newydd o atebolrwydd ysgolion. Mae'r rhain wedi darparu diweddariadau ar newidiadau polisi sy'n rhan o'r broses o roi'r argymhellion sy'n deillio o 'Dyfodol Llwyddiannus' ar waith, rhywbeth sydd wedi cael, ar y cyfan - nid wyf yn hollol siŵr sut y mae Plaid Brexit yn teimlo amdano - cefnogaeth drawsbleidiol yn y Siambr hon. Yn gyntaf, gadewch i mi ddweud yn glir na fydd dirymu'r rheoliadau hyn yn gwrthdroi'r newidiadau a gyhoeddais ym mis Mai 2018 i fesurau perfformiad cyfnod allweddol 4, a ddatblygwyd drwy gydweithio â phenaethiaid a rhanddeiliaid allweddol. Fodd bynnag, byddai'n creu sefyllfa afresymol lle byddai disgwyl i ysgolion osod targedau ar gyfer mesurau cyflawniad na fyddant yn adrodd arnynt mwyach. Nid yw'r rheoliadau gosod targedau, fel y maent ar hyn o bryd, yn cyd-fynd â'r mesurau perfformiad ar gyfer cyfnod allweddol 4 y byddwn yn adrodd arnynt - rydych yn llygad eich lle, Suzy - o eleni ymlaen. Dangosodd canlyniad yr ymgynghoriad ar y rheoliadau diwygio hyn fod rhanddeiliaid, a oedd yn cynnwys ysgolion, awdurdodau lleol ac undebau athrawon, yn gyffredinol yn cefnogi'r cynigion a'r bwriadau polisi. Yn gyffredinol, mae ysgolion a'r rheini sydd wedi craffu ar ein system addysg o'r farn nad yw gofyn i ysgolion osod targedau yn seiliedig ar set gul o ddangosyddion rhagnodol iawn yn ddefnyddiol, a bod hynny wedi arwain at ffocws penodol iawn ar elfennau o ansawdd ar draul myfyrdod a hunanwerthuso mwy cyflawn. Efallai fod Mr Reckless yn ddigon hapus gyda'r ffocws hwnnw ar y ffin C/D, ac nid oes gennyf unrhyw ddadl gydag ef os yw plentyn ar y ffin honno - mae C, wrth gwrs, yn ddefnyddiol iddynt. Ond beth am gynnydd y plentyn a ddylai fod wedi cael A* neu A, lle'r oedd eu hysgol efallai wedi dweud wrth y rhiant, 'Rwyf am gyflwyno eich plentyn i sefyll haen benodol o bapur mathemateg neu bapur Saesneg', gan wybod mai'r uchafswm y gallent ei gael oedd C? Nawr, mae hynny'n iawn ar gyfer mesurau perfformiad yr ysgol, ond os gallai'r plentyn hwnnw fod wedi cael B neu A neu A*, maent wedi colli'r cyfle hwnnw, ac mae'r system sydd wedi helpu'r ysgol i gyflawni'r hyn a ddymuna, ond nad yw o reidrwydd yn helpu'r plentyn i gyflawni - [ Torri ar draws.] Fe ildiaf.