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Teachers say costly school improvement consortia, a cornerstone of Wales’ education policy in recent years, have failed and should be replaced with a body devised by the profession.

The four consortia, created by the Welsh Government and launched in 2012, operate on hundreds of millions of pounds which come to them via Welsh Government through the Pupils Development Grant, and other grants, and the 22 local education authorities they assist, the union said.

But a motion going to the National Education Union Cymru’s first annual conference – which was due to be held last weekend, but was cancelled thanks to the weather – says the money is not being well spent at a time when budgets are so squeezed teachers are being made redundant. The motion will now go to a re-scheduled conference later this year.

The motion, moved by Vale of Glamorgan NEU division, seconded by the Monmouth division, asks delegates to agree: “Conference Cymru calls on the union to demand that the Welsh Government undertakes an impact assessment of the costs, benefits and risks associated with each of the regional consortia.

“This should not just be an Estyn report but a complete in depth analysis possibly under the auspices of the Wales Audit Office and the Children, Young People and Education Committee.”

It goes on to ask the conference to note how pressure from the consortia affects teachers’ health and moves members to agree: “Conference Cymru is of the view that we have to “call time” on the regional consortia as presently constituted, for the health of our members, and resolves that the union in Wales shall: Set up a working party made up of serving teacher/headteacher members, with the brief to formulate an alternative more cost-effective structure to Regional Consortia which respects teacher professionalism and seeks to make the Welsh Government’s “self-improvement agenda” reality.”

The lengthy motion adds: “Conference Cymru has significant concerns whether the existence of the four regional education consortia, established in 2012, has achieved the stated aims of improving standards in all schools, increased capacity for schools to work collaboratively or developed education provision in any of the areas that they serve.

“Conference Cymru notes with dismay that education in Wales is short of money and likely to become more so. Conference Cymru believes that the cost of operating regional consortia is significant and will impact directly upon monies available for schools.”

It goes on: “Conference Cymru further believes that the level of expenditure on challenge advisor salaries and the bureaucracy of regional consortia, at a time when the underfunding of schools in Wales is leading to teacher redundancies, is unacceptable. Wales’ local authorities are not getting value for money from the consortia.”

The four school improvement providers are:

Central South Consortium Joint Education Service which works with Bridgend, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taff and Vale of Glamorgan councils

GwE (Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Wrexham and Anglesey councils)

South East Wales Education Achievement Service (Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen councils)

ERW (Carmarthenshire, Neath and Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire, Powys and Swansea councils)

They have received mixed reviews since their inception in September 2012. Separate reports published in 2015 by education watchdog Estyn and the Wales Audit Office uncovered a number of shortcomings but Estyn reports since then point to improvements.

Ahead of the Assembly election, three of Wales’ main political parties – the Welsh Lib Dems, Welsh Conservatives and Plaid Cymru – all pledged to scrap consortia if they won power.

After that election Liberal Democrat Kirsty Williams became Education Secretary and indicated soon afterwards that the consortia may have a future, despite her party pledging to scrap them in its previous Assembly manifesto.

Estyn inspections in 2016 concluded the South East Wales consortium had “developed into a well-led company that provides good education services on behalf of the five local authorities that commission it” while the CSC had “a clear vision and strategy to improve schools” that was understood by most stakeholders and there was “strong improvement” in pupil outcomes.

ERW was found to be good in four categories and adequate in one in a 2016 inspection with an Estyn monitoring visit in 2017 saying it had been slow in progressing inspectors’ recommendations for improvement.

In 2016, inspectors judged that GwE’s school improvement service, its leadership, its processes for improving quality and partnership working to be adequate and its value for money was judged to be unsatisfactory.

An Estyn monitoring inspection in 2017 found GwE had made strong or very good progress against all six recommendations following the 2016 inspection.