English: Could I begin by thanking Suzy Davies for that series of questions? First of all, can I say that the Member referred to the assessments on a number of occasions in her contribution as 'tests'? These are not tests; they are assessments. There is a difference between a high-stakes test and an assessment that is used for the purposes of informing teaching and learning going forward. If I might say, there is a slight contradiction in the issues that the Member raised. On one hand, the Member said that she would want to see the results of these tests being made publicly available. What we do know is that it is exactly creating a high-stakes public accountability around assessment that has led to some of the concerns about the quality of teachers' own self-assessment. If they feel that these assessments are going to be used to publicly assess their abilities as an individual teacher or in a school, there is the human temptation - there is human temptation - not to do that correctly. So, the issue here is - we have to be clear - these are not tests. These are assessments that are there to assess where a child is in their learning, to be able to provide feedback to that child and, yes, crucially, to parents. Suzy, I couldn't agree with you more: I'm sure all of us who have been parents in the system have been aware of that envelope coming home on the very last week of term with previous test scores in it, leaving parents no time to have the opportunity to go back into school and discuss with the classroom teacher the results of those tests. The great thing about these tests is that they are tailor-made for individual children. No two children's tests will be exactly the same, because the questions that will be asked will be responding to their ability to answer them. The results will be instantaneous, and those results will be available to parents within a day or two of that child taking the test. The Member asks how often the children will take the test. You're absolutely right: Graham Donaldson did say that frequency of testing should be kept to a minimum, but Donaldson also recommended an innovative approach to assessment, including interactive approaches. So, actually, we've taken on board the advice of Graham Donaldson, and it will be up to individual classroom teachers to decide when a child should take a test, or take an assessment - I'm doing it now - and how frequent that assessment could be, because it could be the decision of a teacher that this assessment is carried out at different points in the year to feed back on whether progress has been made, but that is left to the discretion of the individual classroom teacher knowing those children the best. Again, the good thing about this system is rather than all schools having to do the test within a week's period at the same time of the year, this is allowing the individual teachers to decide when best to employ this strategic tool to assist their children. But, of course, it is just one part of assessing where a child is and self-evaluation will continue to be, and teacher evaluation will continue to be, a very important part of our education system. At present, Estyn are working with practitioners and schools and the OECD to develop a self-evaluation toolkit so that schools become much, much better at understanding how they are performing and what they're delivering in their school is impacting on their learners. And it is that self-evaluation that will become the bedrock of our accountability system. We are working with Estyn to look at the prospect of Estyn accrediting schools' self-evaluation. If Estyn are convinced that a school is doing this correctly and properly, then they will be, in a way, licensed to carry on to do that for a number of years. If Estyn has concerns - if Estyn are not convinced about the school's ability to self-evaluate - it could result in more frequent visits from Estyn to a particular school. So, self-evaluation will become one of the core principles of how we actually hold schools accountable for their performance, but that is not the same as using individual children's data and individual children's performance, because that leads us into the conundrum I've talked about earlier about high-stakes tests. With regard to professional development, you'll be aware that money has been made available both in this year, which has gone out via consortia, and for the next financial year, which will be used in conjunction with our partners in local government. The consortia will be reporting back on how that money has been used to support professional learning and, of course, all of our consortia are subject to Estyn inspection and ongoing review by Welsh Government itself. With regard to infrastructure, obviously the £1.7 million has been given to the WLGA, and they as a group of local authorities are working out how best that they want to distribute that money. That's just one part of the investment that we are making in IT infrastructure. We continue to work to ensure that all schools are connected to superfast broadband and are able to receive superfast broadband speeds. So, that is the infrastructure outside the school, and we continue to work with our partners in local government to understand some of the constraints within local government's own systems and individual schools systems that mean that they can't avail themselves of the opportunity of those speeds if the fibre has been connected. And we will continue to work with our Learning in Digital Wales programme to look at ongoing investments to support schools and local authorities to ensure that all of our institutions have broadband speeds and technology within their school that will meet the needs, not just for the ability to deliver online adaptive assessments, but also the curriculum as a whole.
Welsh: A gaf i ddechrau trwy ddiolch i Suzy Davies am y gyfres hon o gwestiynau? Yn gyntaf, a gaf i sôn bod yr Aelod wedi galw'r asesiadau yn 'brofion' sawl gwaith yn ystod ei chyfraniad? Nid profion mo'r rhain; asesiadau ydyn nhw. Mae prawf â llawer yn y fantol yn wahanol i asesiad a ddefnyddir at ddibenion llywio addysgu a dysgu wrth symud ymlaen. Os caf i fentro dweud, ceir ychydig o groes-ddweud yn y materion a godwyd gan yr Aelod. Ar y naill law, dywedodd yr Aelod y byddai hi'n dymuno gweld canlyniadau'r profion hyn ar gael i'r cyhoedd. Gwyddom mai hyn yn union sy'n cynyddu'r perygl o ran atebolrwydd cyhoeddus ynglŷn ag asesiadau ac mai dyna sydd wedi arwain at rai o'r pryderon ynghylch ansawdd hunan-asesiad yr athrawon eu hunain. Pe bydden nhw'n teimlo bod yr asesiadau hyn yn cael eu defnyddio'n gyhoeddus i asesu eu galluoedd nhw fel athrawon unigol neu mewn ysgol, ceir y demtasiwn ddynol - ceir temtasiwn ddynol - i beidio â gwneud hynny yn y ffordd iawn. Felly, y mater yn y fan hon yw - mae'n rhaid i ni fod yn eglur - nid profion mo'r rhain. Asesiadau yw'r rhain sydd yno i asesu sefyllfa plentyn o ran ei addysg, i allu rhoi adborth i'r plentyn hwnnw ac, ie, yn bwysig iawn, i'r rhieni. Suzy, gallaf gytuno'n gryf â chi: rwy'n siŵr ein bod ni i gyd sydd wedi bod yn rhieni yn y system wedi bod yn ymwybodol bod yr amlen honno'n cyrraedd y tŷ yn ystod wythnos olaf y tymor gyda sgoriau profion blaenorol ynddo, heb roi dim amser i'r rhieni gael y cyfle i fynd yn ôl i'r ysgol a thrafod canlyniadau'r profion hynny gydag athro'r dosbarth. Y peth gwych am y profion hyn yw eu bod nhw wedi eu teilwra'n benodol ar gyfer plant unigol. Ni fydd profion dau blentyn yn union yr un fath â'i gilydd, oherwydd bydd y cwestiynau a ofynnir yn ymateb i'w gallu i'w hateb nhw. Bydd y canlyniadau yn dod ar unwaith, a bydd y canlyniadau hynny ar gael i rieni o fewn diwrnod neu ddau i'r plentyn sefyll y prawf. Roedd yr Aelod yn gofyn pa mor aml y bydd y plant yn sefyll y prawf. Rydych chi'n llygad eich lle: dywedodd Graham Donaldson y dylid cyfyngu ar amlder y profion hyd y gellir, ond roedd Donaldson yn argymell dull arloesol o asesu hefyd, gan gynnwys dulliau rhyngweithiol. Felly, mewn gwirionedd, rydym wedi ystyried cyngor Graham Donaldson, a phenderfyniad yr athrawon dosbarth unigol fydd pryd ddylai'r plentyn sefyll prawf, neu gael ei asesu - rwyf innau'n cymysgu'r ddau nawr hefyd - a pha mor aml y gallai'r asesiad hwnnw fod, oherwydd gallai'r athro benderfynu cynnal yr asesiad hwn ar adegau amrywiol yn y flwyddyn i adrodd yn ôl ar gynnydd sydd wedi bod neu beidio. Ond caiff yr athro dosbarth unigol sy'n adnabod y plant hynny orau wneud fel y gwêl yn dda yn hynny o beth. Eto, y fantais fawr i'r system hon yw, yn hytrach na gorfodi pob ysgol i gynnal y prawf o fewn cyfnod wythnos yr un adeg o'r flwyddyn, y bydd hyn yn caniatáu i athrawon unigol benderfynu'r amser gorau i ddefnyddio'r adnodd strategol hwn i gynorthwyo eu plant. Ond, wrth gwrs, un agwedd yn unig yw hon ar asesiad o sefyllfa plentyn a bydd hunanwerthuso yn dal i ddigwydd, a bydd gwerthuso athrawon yn parhau i fod yn rhan bwysig iawn o'n system addysg. Ar hyn o bryd, mae Estyn yn gweithio gydag ymarferwyr ac ysgolion a'r OECD i ddatblygu pecyn cymorth hunanwerthuso fel y bydd ysgolion yn dod i ddeall yn llawer, llawer gwell sut y maen nhw'n perfformio a sut y mae'r hyn sy'n cael ei gyflawni yn eu hysgol yn effeithio ar eu dysgwyr. A'r hunanwerthuso hwnnw fydd yn gonglfaen i'n system atebolrwydd. Rydym yn gweithio gydag Estyn i edrych ar y posibilrwydd o gael Estyn i achredu hunanwerthuso'r ysgolion. Os yw Estyn yn argyhoeddedig bod ysgol yn gwneud hyn yn iawn ac yn briodol, yna caiff yr ysgol drwydded, ar ryw ystyr, i barhau i wneud hynny am rai blynyddoedd eto. Pe byddai pryderon gan Estyn - pe na fyddai Estyn yn sicr o allu'r ysgol i hunanwerthuso - yna gallai hynny arwain at fwy o ymweliadau gan Estyn i ysgol benodol. Felly, daw hunanwerthuso yn un o'r egwyddorion craidd o ran y modd y byddwn yn dal ysgolion i gyfrif am eu perfformiad. Ond nid yw hynny yr un peth â defnyddio data plant unigol a pherfformiad plant unigol, gan fod hynny'n arwain at y broblem ynglŷn â phrofion â llawer yn y fantol y soniais i amdani'n gynharach. O ran datblygiad proffesiynol, byddwch yn ymwybodol y rhoddwyd arian ar gyfer y flwyddyn hon, sydd wedi mynd allan drwy gyfrwng y consortia, ac ar gyfer y flwyddyn ariannol nesaf, a gaiff ei ddefnyddio ar y cyd â'n partneriaid mewn llywodraeth leol. Bydd y consortia yn adrodd yn ôl ar sut y cafodd yr arian ei ddefnyddio i gefnogi dysgu proffesiynol ac, wrth gwrs, mae pob un o'n consortia yn ddarostyngedig i arolygiad gan Estyn ac adolygiad parhaus gan Lywodraeth Cymru ei hun. O ran seilwaith, mae'n amlwg fod yr £1.7 miliwn wedi cael ei roi i CLlLC, ac maen nhw fel grŵp o awdurdodau lleol yn datrys sut y gellir dosbarthu'r arian hwnnw yn y ffordd orau yn eu barn nhw. Un rhan yn unig yw honno o'r buddsoddiad a wnawn ni yn seilwaith TG. Rydym yn parhau i weithio i sicrhau y bydd pob ysgol wedi cael ei chysylltu â band eang cyflym iawn ac yn gallu cael cyflymderau band eang cyflym iawn. Felly, dyna'r seilwaith y tu allan i'r ysgol, ac rydym yn parhau i weithio gyda'n partneriaid mewn llywodraeth leol i ddeall rhai o'r cyfyngiadau o fewn systemau'r llywodraethau lleol eu hunain a systemau'r ysgolion unigol sy'n golygu na allant ddefnyddio'r cyflymder hyd yn oed os yw'r ffibr wedi cael ei gysylltu. A byddwn yn parhau i weithio gyda'n rhaglen Dysgu yn y Gymru Ddigidol i edrych ar fuddsoddiadau cyfredol i gefnogi ysgolion ac awdurdodau lleol i sicrhau bod ein holl sefydliadau â chyflymder band eang a thechnoleg yn eu hysgolion i ddiwallu eu hanghenion, nid yn unig i allu cynnal asesiadau ymaddasol ar-lein, ond i ddarparu'r cwricwlwm yn ei gyfanrwydd hefyd.