In Powys and across Wales as a whole scores of adolescents have been rewarded for their hard work with good passes and can pause to congratulate themselves and take a deep breath before they leap onto the future path they have chosen. But all this is despite a very tough year for education in Wales. The recent NASUWT 'end of term report' rated WAG's education policy and performance as failing across the board from the Foundation Phase through to the 14-19 pathways through to teachers working conditions and was a devastating critique from the frontline.

Since the Plaid Labour Government came to power more than a year ago we have seen a funding fiasco spread through the Education department – from the Foundation Phase debacle to the Higher Education funding crisis. The WAG is however continuously let off the hook for its F-grade performance in education policy and funding by the top performance in class rooms across Wales – we have seen increases in A level results and the FE sector has been highly praised by Estyn despite a funding shortage that is leading to redundancies across the board.

Despite chronic funding shortages for improving school buildings and essential resources across the land the WAG is managing to misdirect and waste education money – from £700,000 for free lap tops to £7.5 million on training teachers who are surplus to requirement – money is being misspent at a time when the purse strings are tight and we need to invest strategically to ensure the basics are covered.

The WAG is hoping that the Foundation Phase fiasco has been pushed into the long rass by extending the roll out; it is delaying addressing the different levels of achievement between boys and girls at A level and GCSE by dragging its heels on its inquiry; it is postponing action on the poor condition of school buildings across Wales by trying to drop its commitment to make them all fit for purpose by 2010. We need education to be made a funding priority with a move away from the One Wales Government's gimmicky freebies and instead an emphasis on early years investment for long term benefit. The Foundation Phase must be properly funded; the funding gap between English and Welsh pupils addressed; our HE and FE institutions must likewise be properly financed – if this is done the reimbursement will spread across society and the economy as a whole.