Part 6 Supplementary
Section 63 - Duty to have regard to mental health and emotional well-being of children and young persons
141.This section places a duty on the persons listed in subsection (2). The duty is to have regard to the mental health and emotional well-being of children and young people, when exercising functions conferred on them by or under the Act, for instance in relation to assessment arrangements. The duty applies in relation to children and young people who are likely to be affected by the exercise of the function concerned.
142.This duty will ensure that all decisions relating to the development and implementation of a curriculum will need to be taken having regard to the impact on mental health and emotional well-being of learners. These decisions will include, for instance, decisions about the content of the curriculum, and progression.
143.The duty applies in relation to children and young people receiving EOTAS as well as in relation to children and young persons at maintained schools and maintained nursery schools, and children receiving FNNE.
Section 64 - Duty to promote knowledge and understanding of UN Conventions on the rights of children and persons with disabilities
144.Section 64 imposes various requirements in respect of the UNCRC (the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) and the UNCRPD (the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities).
145.Subsection (1) requires the head teacher and governing body of a maintained school or of a maintained nursery school to promote knowledge and understanding of the UNCRC, and the UNCRPD, among people who provide teaching and learning in respect of the school’s curriculum. This would include (but not necessarily be limited to) teachers employed at the school.
146.But this duty will not apply in relation to (for instance) people who provide teaching and learning at the school that has nothing to do with the curriculum, such as in evening classes open to the local community.
147.Subsection (2) imposes an equivalent duty in the context of FNNE; in this context the duty is placed on the provider of the FNNE.
148.Subsections (3) and (4) impose equivalent duties in respect of PRUs and other EOTAS. In the context of a PRU, the duty is placed on the local authority, the management committee (if there is one) and the teacher in charge of the PRU. In the context of non-PRU EOTAS, the duty is placed upon the local authority that makes arrangements for the EOTAS.
Section 65 - Duty to co-operate
149.This section requires the persons specified in subsection (2) to seek to enter into “co-operation arrangements”, either with another person specified in subsection (2), or with the governing body of a further education institution. The duty applies only if the person concerned considers that making the arrangements would facilitate the exercise of a function conferred on the person by or under the Act. If a person seeks to make arrangements with another person in compliance with this section, the second person must consider the request.
150.Co-operation arrangements under this section could for instance involve providing financial assistance, or sharing information, or exercising functions jointly (see section 5 of the Education (Wales) Measure 2011).
Section 66 - Welsh Ministers’ duty to facilitate the performance of functions
151.This section requires the Welsh Ministers to exercise their functions in a way that supports the persons listed in subsection (2) in performing functions conferred on them by or under Parts 2 to 4 of the Act.
152.The reference to Parts 2 to 4 means that this duty does not apply in relation to functions conferred on a person by or under the provisions of the Act relating to post- compulsory education in maintained schools, or under Part 6 itself.
Section 67 - Local authorities’ duty to facilitate the performance of functions
153.This section requires a local authority to exercise its functions in a way that supports the persons listed in subsection (2) in performing the functions conferred on them by or under Parts 2 to 4 of the Act. In the case of a maintained school, maintained nursery school, PRU or FNNE, the persons listed in subsection (2) are defined by reference to whether the school or PRU is maintained by the local authority, or the FNNE secured by it.
154.The section also imposes a further duty on a local authority that applies where the authority makes arrangements for a child to be provided with EOTAS, but not at a maintained school, or a maintained nursery school, or a PRU, that is maintained by the authority. The duty requires the local authority to exercise its functions in a way that supports the persons listed in subsection (5) in performing their functions conferred by or under Parts 2 to 4. This further duty reflects the fact that EOTAS may not be provided at a maintained school or PRU at all, or may be provided at a maintained school or PRU maintained by another local authority.
Section 68 - Welsh Ministers’ duty to promote access etc to Welsh medium courses of study
155.This section requires the Welsh Ministers to promote access to courses of study taught through the medium of Welsh, and to promote the availability of such courses of study. A “course of study” for this purpose is a course of education, for example mathematics, or training, that leads to a qualification or set of qualifications approved or designated under the Qualifications Wales Act 2015. The duty applies in relation to those children to whom the Act applies, i.e. those specified in section 1 of the Act. (In practice, a “course of study” as defined is generally taken by children aged 14-16, but other, younger, children may sometimes take one.).
Section 69 - Power to make provision for children receiving education in more than one setting etc
156.Section 69 enables the Welsh Ministers to make regulations which make provision about teaching and learning to be provided for children who are of compulsory school age and fall within a category specified in the section. The regulations may apply provisions of the Act in relation to those children, with or without modifications.
157.Subsection (2) provides that the power applies in relation to a child who is a registered pupil at a maintained school, if the child is also provided with education at another maintained school, or at a maintained nursery school. It also applies if the child, as well as being a registered pupil at a maintained school, is receiving education at a PRU; or education provided under section 19A of the 1996 Act, but not at a PRU, a maintained school or a maintained nursery school. So this would cover, for instance, a child who is a registered pupil at a maintained school, but is also provided with some education at a PRU, perhaps because the child is being eased back into mainstream education. It would also cover a child who is a registered pupil at a maintained school, but receives some EOTAS provision at home.
158.Subsection (3) duplicates this approach in relation to a child who is a registered pupil at a maintained nursery school.
159.Subsection (4) provides that the power applies in relation to a child who is a registered pupil at a PRU, if the child is also receiving education at another PRU, or (by virtue of arrangements made under section 19A of the 1996 Act) somewhere other than a PRU, a maintained school or a maintained nursery school. An example might be a child who is receiving part-time education at a PRU as a registered pupil there, and also part-time EOTAS at home, perhaps because the child is not yet ready to undertake full time education in the PRU.
160.The intention behind subsections (2) to (4) is to enable regulations to make provision about teaching and learning for children who are registered pupils at a maintained school, maintained nursery school, or PRU, but also receiving education somewhere else, perhaps at home or in another setting.
161.Subsection (5) confers the power to specify further descriptions of children to whom section 69 is to apply.
162.This power is needed to make provision for a further category of children: those who are receiving education at only one setting (whether a maintained school, a maintained nursery school, a PRU, or under section 19A of the 1996 Act, but not in a PRU or school) but whose education in that setting is not full-time. (This might for instance be because of illness, or because a child is being eased back into education.)
163.The power conferred by this section reflects the fact that, where a child is receiving education in more than one setting, or only part-time education in one setting, it would be inappropriate for the ordinary curriculum design and implementation duties to apply in relation to a school or a PRU or EOTAS or FNNE provider in respect of the child. This is because the child will not be receiving full-time education with any school or PRU or EOTAS provider.
164.In these circumstances, flexibility will be needed to ensure that the curriculum provided for the child is appropriate, taking into account the child’s needs and circumstances, and the range of providers involved – potentially any one or more of a school, a PRU, a provider of FNNE, a pupil referral unit, and another provider of education under section 19A of the 1996 Act. This will be achieved by provision in the regulations. The regulations could, for instance, require the head teacher of a maintained school and a person providing education through section 19A EOTAS at the child’s home to work together to ensure that a curriculum meeting certain requirements is implemented for the child.
Section 70 - Power to apply Act to detained children and detained young persons
165.This section enables the Welsh Ministers to make regulations applying, with or without modifications, provisions in the Act to detained children and detained young people in Wales. (These are children and young people detained by a court order, or by an order of recall made by the Secretary of State. An order of recall is an order recalling a young person to detention after initial release on licence.)
Section 71 - Duty to have regard to guidance
166.This section requires the persons specified in subsection (3), in exercising their functions, to have regard to any guidance issued by the Welsh Ministers about the exercise of functions conferred by or under the Act.
167.Guidance given as described in this section may relate to any function conferred by or under this Act.
