{"id":6304,"date":"2015-04-24T06:41:56","date_gmt":"2015-04-24T06:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=6304"},"modified":"2015-04-24T06:41:56","modified_gmt":"2015-04-24T06:41:56","slug":"election-manifestos-take-4-plaid-cymru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2015\/04\/24\/election-manifestos-take-4-plaid-cymru\/","title":{"rendered":"Election Manifestos \u2013 Take 4; Plaid Cymru"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I eventually stumbled\u00a0across\u00a0PC's election <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=6304&amp;action=edit&amp;message=10\">manifesto<\/a>\u00a0on their muddled website, but couldn't find a version\u00a0to download, and so had to make do with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.partyof.wales\/easy-read-manifesto\/\">easy read<\/a>\u00a0text. \u00a0It says this:<\/p>\n<p><strong>We want\u00a0better education<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Better teacher training.<\/li>\n<li>No schoolchild to be left behind \u2013\u00a0more schools having more say on how they are run, the best of which will act as benchmark schools; those less successful to get the help they need.<\/li>\n<li>\u2018On the spot\u2019\u00a0inspections for failing schools.<\/li>\n<li>An independent examination regulator\u00a0to guarantee high standards.<\/li>\n<li>Better child protection provision.<\/li>\n<li>A \u2018healthy relationship\u2019 education\u00a0emphasis\u00a0focussing on tolerance and respect for all.<\/li>\n<li>A new National Curriculum\u00a0which would feature much better grounding in Welsh history.<\/li>\n<li>Better \u2018key skills\u2019 education\u00a0for all children \u2013 literacy, numeracy, IT skills and thinking skills,<strong> and a crucial understanding of climate change from an early age.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>A\u00a0compulsory modern language GCSE.<\/li>\n<li>All children to remain in education or training until they are 18.<\/li>\n<li>More help\u00a0for\u00a0poorer children\u00a0with our\u00a0Pupil Deprivation Grant.<\/li>\n<li>Better Welsh language education\u00a0at a local level.<\/li>\n<li>Better special needs education.<\/li>\n<li>New\u00a0or\u00a0modernised school buildings.<\/li>\n<li>NO free schools in Wales.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>We want\u00a0better, fairer university education<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We believe in free higher education\u00a0and will continue to look at ways to provide it.<\/li>\n<li>Financial help for Wales students and\u00a0no tuition fees\u00a0for those studying subjects crucial to our economy such as science, technology and healthcare.<\/li>\n<li>Special help\u00a0for students from difficult backgrounds.<\/li>\n<li>Increased research capacity and funding\u00a0for Welsh universities.<\/li>\n<li>Long-term sustainable funding for the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol\u00a0to guarantee more higher education in Welsh.<\/li>\n<li>More Higher Level Apprenticeships.<\/li>\n<li>More vocational and non-academic qualifications\u00a0to increase the skills of our workforce.<\/li>\n<li>Our\u00a0Citizens\u2019 Service\u00a0to help young people prepare for the world of work.<\/li>\n<li>Better\u00a0gender equality and understanding\u00a0throughout higher education.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>No mention of ESDGC, I note, though that might not be in the 'easy read' version.<\/p>\n<p>There is much to agree (and disagree) with in this, and it's clear that Plaid understands just how dire Welsh school education has become over recent years. \u00a0I highlighted the only 'easy read' reference to sustainability, although there is more in the 'We want more international equality', and 'We want a greener Wales' sections. \u00a0I particularly liked:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\"<em>We will oppose artificially imposed limits on our resources.\"<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>... although I've absolutely no idea what this means. \u00a0I confess that I gave up when I got to the section headed: \"<em>We want everyone to be equal<\/em>\". \u00a0Indeed; but as the American proverb has it, not\u00a0before the grave.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I eventually stumbled\u00a0across\u00a0PC's election manifesto\u00a0on their muddled website, but couldn't find a version\u00a0to download, and so had to make do with the easy read\u00a0text. \u00a0It says this: We want\u00a0better education Better teacher training. No schoolchild to be left behind \u2013\u00a0more...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6304\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}