We believe that all learners have the right to world-class education, delivered in a safe, diverse and inclusive setting and within a sector which supports the wider community, employers and the economy.
ColegauCymru Learner Experience Strategic Group
Chaired by Bridgend Chief Executive Viv Buckley, and NPTC Group of Colleges Principal, Catherine Lewis, the ColegauCymru Learner Experience Group promotes, supports, and embeds the highest standards of advice, support and guidance for every individual in colleges across Wales. The focus of the group is to ensure that every learner is supported, heard and able to thrive, while promoting and facilitating Mental Health, Wellbeing and Active Wellbeing initiatives, and advocating for the health and needs of learners and the wider community.
Cynefin Charter
Colleges across Wales have signed the new Cynefin Charter, a sector‑wide commitment led by ColegauCymru to strengthen belonging, equity, diversity and inclusion in further education. All FE colleges in Wales have pledged to embed these commitments into leadership, teaching, culture and community engagement. The Charter also reinforces the sector’s commitment to anti‑racism and requires colleges to set measurable EDI objectives, monitor progress, and use data and lived experience to drive improvement.
Tackling Misogyny and Promoting Respectful Relationships
Cardiff and Vale College and Coleg Cambria held major events bringing together over 500 young male learners to confront misogyny and promote respectful relationships, featuring powerful talks and collaborative workshops. This was part of a Taith‑funded project focused on tackling misogyny and improving relationship education in FE colleges. The initiative aims to drive long‑term cultural change across Wales’ FE sector through collaboration, open dialogue, and international partnership.
Be More than a Bystander training
Following the success of these events, ColegauCymru secured £40,000 in new funding to expand its work tackling misogyny in FE colleges across Wales. The Be More than a Bystander training aims to equip young men - especially those on vocational courses - with practical tools to challenge misogyny and promote respectful relationships, responding directly to concerns raised in Estyn’s report on peer‑on‑peer sexual harassment.
Supporting Welsh Government on its journey to becoming an Anti-Racist Wales by 2030
The FE sector in Wales is showing real leadership in its journey towards anti-racism, and supporting the Welsh Government’s ambition of on creating an anti-racist Wales. We are not complacent about the scale of the challenge or that strategies alone can prevent the experience of racism that learners and staff face. ColegauCymru, on behalf of our member colleges, is therefore committed to making tangible strides to be the leading sector to support Welsh Government in achieving the ambitious goal of an anti-racist Wales by 2030, including:
- All 13 of our FE member institutions have developed their own Anti-Racism Action Plans to take this work forward at a local level. They have each developed and shared resources to support both learners and staff, along with the delivery of bespoke training.
- We’re working with a range of specialist organisations including the Black Leadership Group, to help achieve our shared vision of an anti-racist Wales.
- We submit responses to consultations published by Welsh Government and other organisations to ensure that the voice of learners and staff across the sector is heard.
- We give evidence as part of a scrutiny sessions to various Senedd committees highlighting how FEIs are leading the way in their commitment to creating a safe and inclusive environment for all learners. We also use these platforms to highlight inequality and to call for additional support.
Women and girls
- ColegauCymru sits on the Welsh Government’s Period Dignity Roundtable, which provides guidance on issues that impact period dignity in Wales.
- We support the Welsh Government’s Period Proud Wales - providing funding to FEIs and other groups via the period dignity grant to ensure free access to period products, in the most dignified way possible. All learners and staff across the college community now have access to free period products, with a focus on supporting those from low-income households.
- ColegauCymru and all our member institutions are committed to supporting women through the menopause and have signed the Menopause Workplace Pledge.
- ColegauCymru has since been successful in securing Taith Pathway 2 funding to partner with Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) to establish a Community of Practice between colleges in Wales and Canada to address some of the issues raised in Estyn’s report. The project’s aim is to build a transnational Community of Practice, which will bring together FE staff from Wales and our Canadian partner, CICan, with a common interest in this field, to share knowledge, develop new learning, and collate examples of best practice through case studies.
Welsh language
- Our FEIs are supportive of the ambitious Welsh Government vision for 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050 and are committed to broadening the Welsh language offer across the FE sector.
- We work closely with Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol who deliver the Cymraeg Gwaith scheme which supports over 400 staff across 11 colleges annually to increase the use of their Welsh in the workplace.
We’re proud that our FEIs are:
- Disability confident employers - part of a UK Government scheme designed to encourage employers to recruit and retain disabled people and those with health conditions.
- Committed to supporting mental health and have signed the Time to Change Pledge, which seeks to tackle mental health stigma and discrimination.
- Supportive of LGBTQ+ rights - ColegauCymru sits on the Welsh Government Transgender Practitioner Advisory Group, which supports advancing LGBTQ+ equality and implementing the LGTBQ+ Action Plan for Wales.
Further Information
Amy Williams, Policy Officer
Amy.Williams@ColegauCymru.ac.uk
