As both a teacher and a parent, I have seen firsthand what many already know: our education system is failing too many children.
Standards have slipped, classroom behaviour has worsened, teachers are drowning in bureaucracy, and too many young people are leaving education without the skills or confidence they need to succeed.
Wales once took pride in opportunity through education. We must do so again. The official statistics are dire. Wales recently recorded the UK’s lowest PISA scores in maths, reading, and science, as well as the steepest decline in results.
A fifth of primary school leavers are considered functionally illiterate. Attendance problems remain stubbornly high. Teachers face growing disruption in classrooms, while parents increasingly feel shut out of decisions affecting their children.
At the same time, employers tell us they cannot find enough skilled workers. Reform Wales has a credible and costed plan to turn this around, and we must start by getting the basics right again.
First, we will reform the Curriculum for Wales so that essential knowledge takes precedent. Core subjects should be at the centre of every child’s education.
For reading, we will ensure that there is a much greater emphasis placed on the phonics method of teaching, unlike Plaid and Labour, who would prefer to stick with the demonstrably poorer cueing method, because they like to do things differently from other parts of the UK for the sake of it. Cueing was effectively banned in England back in 2006, following a detailed inquiry. We must follow best practice.
League tables should return so parents can clearly compare school performance, and schools are properly accountable. We will also ensure a greater focus on physical education.
Second, discipline must be restored. I know from experience that no child can learn in a disruptive environment, and no teacher can work to the best of their ability if they fear abuse in the workplace.
We will introduce clear behaviour standards, take a zero tolerance approach to violence and ban mobile phones in school.
Attendance rules will be strengthened, too, with earlier intervention where absence becomes a pattern. Third, parents deserve transparency and trust.
As both a teacher and a parent, I can confirm your worst fears about schools are real - Helen Jenner
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With Reform, schools will share curriculum materials openly with parents as a matter of course, and sex education will be age-appropriate, factual and focused on safeguarding.
We must remove political bias from classrooms and return teaching to its proper purpose: helping children think critically and to make their own minds up, based on the facts.
Fourth, we need structural reform. Reform will break the WJEC’s de facto monopoly on qualifications, giving schools more choice over exam boards and reducing the overuse of coursework that burdens teachers and creates inconsistency.
Reform will also pilot academies and free schools, supporting schools that wish to make the change, particularly where existing provision is clearly failing.
This will give parents real alternatives. We will protect the right of Catholic Schools and Church in Wales schools to deliver the Christian faith-based Religious Education and provide collective worship in accordance with their traditions.
Fifth, we must support our teachers properly. Too much time is spent on paperwork, box-ticking and bureaucracy rather than teaching.
Reform will cut unnecessary admin and redirect resources to frontline support. We will also review the Additional Learning Needs system to end the postcode lottery of unequal support across Wales. Sixth, we must realise the full economic benefit of higher education.
Our colleges and universities are central to our economic future. Courses must offer value for money and equip graduates for real careers.
They need sustainable funding alongside investment in modern buildings, labs and digital infrastructure. Reform will legislate to defend free speech, because universities should be places of open debate - not censorship.
We want universities to contribute directly to national projects such as the Anglesey Freeport, Wylfa, and emerging AI growth zones.
We will expand funded training places for doctors, dentists, and nurses so Wales can grow its own NHS workforce, rather than continuing to rely on immigration as Plaid and Labour would and have done.
Finally, further and vocational education will have parity with university routes. Every secondary school should offer clear technical pathways in digital skills, manufacturing, creative industries, and the trades.
Stronger employer links, apprenticeships and college partnerships will get young people into skilled work and help those not in education or employment back into the job market. This is not about ideology. It is about common sense.
It’s the Plaid-backed Labour Government that has been at fault for 27 years, not our hardworking teachers. Many schools are getting the basics right, but too many are not.
Reform will end the postcode lottery for pupil success and raise school standards across the board, so that parents no longer have to worry about the catchment area that they live within.
It would be my honour to bring my direct experience from the classroom to the Senedd, working with our Leader in Wales, Dan Thomas, as his newly appointed Deputy Leader.
Wales deserves safe schools, high standards, respected teachers, informed parents and real opportunities for every young person. Wales needs Reform.