Ministering to Education A Reformer Reports

The first book by a former Welsh government minister since the creation of the National Assembly in 1999, this is an enlightening and frank account of the education reforms initiated in the early years of Carwyn Jones’s period as first minister. It addresses the complex challenges that still lie ahead to make the Welsh education system as good as any in the world. Offering the inside story on the reform journey Wales embarked upon, Andrews controversially reveals how he deliberately brought the media into the debate on school ranking. He debates the decision to regrade exam results when English Language GCSE exams came under fire in 2012, and the effect such decisions have had in setting the education systems of England and Wales on diverging paths. Andrews led Wales in a different direction from England with regard to student tuition fees. Following Michael Gove’s departure as Westminster education secretary, Andrews questions whether Wales or England has fared better and suggests what should happen next.

Leighton Andrews has been the assembly member for the Rhondda since 2003. A former head of public affairs at the BBC in London, he has been a visiting professor at the University of Westminster and an honorary professor at Cardiff University. He was Carwyn Jones’ campaign manager in the Welsh Labour leadership election in 2009, and convened the steering group for the Yes campaign in the 2011 referendum. Sir Michael Barber is the chief education advisor for Pearson publishing company. He is a former partner and head of the global education practice at McKinsey & Company consulting firm, advisor to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and a global expert on education reform and implementation of large-scale system change.