Education and skills are at the heart of our vision for a fairer and more prosperous Wales, and our plan is for every child and every adult to have the opportunity to realise their full potential.

The best start in life

• The Labour Assembly Government is leading the way within the UK on the introduction of the innovative Foundation Phase for 3 to 7 year olds, which places the emphasis on learning through play. The scheme is being piloted in 41 schools and nurseries
• More than 23,000 more childcare places in Wales since 1999.
• Free part-time early years provision for all three year olds.
• Nearly 16,000 children to benefit from Labour’s ground-breaking Flying Start initiative. At the heart of the Flying Start scheme is free, part-time high quality childcare for two year olds. Labour is investing £46m in the scheme.
• Expansion of Welsh-medium early years provision. There are 450 more Welsh medium practitioners working today than in 1999. A further 300 are in training.
• 45 Integrated Children’s Centres either opened or on the way..

World-class schools

• 1,700 more teachers and 5,700 more classroom assistants than in 1998.
• Class sizes are down. Virtually all infant and junior classes are now 30 or under. Increased funding for schools now means that the average class size is 25.
• In the last three years more than £630 million has been invested in 1,400 school building projects across Wales. This is part of the largest ever school investment programme in Wales.
• Free breakfast scheme launched for primary schools. By the end of our second term, nearly 600 schools will be participating. Results show that the scheme is helping children to concentrate in class and improving results.
• The Welsh Baccalaureate launched, providing a new, broader Welsh qualification for 16 year olds. The scheme is being rolled out to more and more schools across Wales.
• The Educational Maintenance Allowance launched. This provides young people with an incentive to stay on at school after the age of 16. Over 25,000 pupils are benefiting from the scheme in Wales.
• The Computer Clubs for Girls project being rolled out across Wales.
• Extra help for families to meet the costs of buying a school uniform. The School Uniform Grant is providing an additional £750,000 to help low income families buy uniforms for their children.
• Action taken to improve attendance and to tackle bullying in schools.
• School Councils in place in every school to ensure that pupils have a real voice in how their schools are run and in the decisions that affect them.
• Action to promote schools as resources for the wider community.
• Extending the number of school nurses across Wales.

Rising standards

• Since 1999, standards across all age groups have risen significantly.
• At the age of seven, standards have risen in all subjects. Over 80% of children are meeting the target standards set.
• 74% of 11 year olds achieve the expected levels in English, Maths and Science. This is an increase of 14% since 1999.
• Standards at GCSE are up. 52% of all pupils achieve five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C – up 4 per cent on 1999.
• 82% of primary schools and 76% of secondary schools rated as having good or very good quality of teaching.
• The £15m RAISE programme launched to improve outcomes for children in the 550 schools across Wales.

Raising skills in the workplace

• Developed and implemented a Skills and Employment Action Plan to boost skills in the workplace and to make our workforce more competitive.
• Wales is out-performing other parts of the UK in the attainment of key skills. With Labour, our performance has been so rapid that Wales has a larger share of skills awards than any other region. 16% of all key skills awards are in Wales.
• With Labour, Wales is leading the way in the take-up of modern apprenticeships. Since 2002, the number of modern apprenticeships in Wales has increased by 4,000 – taking the total to 14,500.
• Launched the Wales Union Learning Fund to boost workplace learning. Since 1999, a total of £4 million has been invested to support 97 projects.
• Developed and implemented a Basic Skills Strategy to ensure that everyone, at all ages, has basic literacy and numeracy skills. This is supported by a £40m investment.
• 7,000 Individual Learning Accounts established to help give more people the opportunities to learn.

Further and Higher education

• Developed a 14 – 19 year old pathway and strategy to give greater options and more flexibility to young people.
• No top-up fees for Welsh students studying in Wales.
• Launched major review of further education provision in Wales.
• Assembly Learning Grant introduced, benefiting students in both further and higher education.
• Investment and support to put Merthyr Tydfil and Ebbw Vale on the map as university towns.
• The overall number of 5-star departments in Wales has quadrupled since 1996.
• European aid funding used to bring about £100 million of investment in the Institute of Life Sciences and Institute of Advanced Telecommunications as Swansea University, the School of Management at Bangor and the 3-D Visualisation Centre in Aberystwyth