Welsh students “now have a tough fight on their hands” – Darren Millar AM respond to “frustrating” A-level results

Commenting on today’s A-level results, Welsh Conservative Shadow Secretary for Education, Darren Millar AM, said:

“While our students and teachers are due congratulations, the First Minister and his Cabinet Secretary for Education deserve no such praise.

“Their failure to close the gap on educational standards is a damning indictment of their ability to properly govern the nation.

“It is frustrating to see that the number of students achieving the highest A-level grades is down, marking a consistent year-on-year decline – and yet again we are being outperformed by the rest of the UK.

“The results today will do little do bolster Wales’ standing on the international stage, and less still to the prospects of our students as they progress to the next stage of their education or enter the world of work.

“In a growingly competitive job market and HE sector, our students will have a tough fight on their hands to beat off the stiff competition posed by students in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

“While the AS-level pass rate and maths scores give some cause for encouragement, we are still lagging woefully behind in English, and are seeing a troubling drop on the take up of foreign languages.

“Achieving excellence should be at the heart of any educational strategy, but the Labour-led Welsh Government have consistently failed to deliver this.”