JANE Davidson likes to consult. Ask anyone involved in education in Wales to summarise the approach of the Welsh education minister, and they will tell you that she does her research.

“She’s a listening minister ... a welcome change in Wales,” said Gethin Lewis, Welsh secretary of the National Union of Teachers.

Indeed, the ex-teacher herself is keen to point out that, since becoming education minister in October 2000, grassroots consultation has been at the top of her agenda. “We’ve got a strong commitment to collaborative working, bringing all stakeholders together,” she said. “We want to think local where it’s appropriate, think regional where it’s appropriate, think national where it’s appropriate.”

In her first year as minister, she spent a lot of time travelling throughout Wales, visiting an average of three schools, colleges or universities a week, talking to parents’ and governors’ associations. She holds regular meetings with teachers’ unions, both on an individual basis and in joint policy discussions.

The outcome of these various meetings was The Learning Country, a comprehensive strategic statement on education in Wales. Published in September 2001, it formed the basis of primary and secondary legislation issued by the Welsh National Assembly.

In it, Ms Davidson outlined her vision for education and training through to 2010. “One of the things that became very clear to me very quickly was that we already had a great deal that was different in education in Wales. And it seemed to me that what I could do best as minister was to bring all the aspirations of people together in a very clear statement about how we wanted to work together.”

Wales has only a handful of grammar schools and, acknowledging the attachment to comprehensive schools, Ms Davidson rejected the English plan to encourage specialist and faith-based schools. She abolished secondary - league tables (there had never been any primary tables in Wales) and testing at key stage 1, instead proposing a new foundation programme for three to seven-year-olds.

She will also preside over the launch of the Welsh baccalaureate, a broad curriculum with Welsh elements. “We want to learn from wherever is best in the world,” said Ms Davidson.

“We want to learn from countries of similar size, similar experiences. Some of the work that’s going on in Finland at the moment, which is considered right at the cutting edge of early years, may be particularly applicable to us because they have similar language issues, rural issues. And they’re also closer to us in size than some other comparable countries.”

She recently travelled to Canada to observe their approach to bilingual education. And she has drawn inspiration from the Basque country in Spain, where teachers are sent on one-year language-learning sabbaticals and qualify to teach in both regional languages.

Progress in Wales, however, may yet be slow, as there is a serious shortage of Welsh-language teachers. To encourage the development of essential skills, the minister has set up an independent all-age advice and guidance service - the only one of its kind in the UK.

A credit-transfer system will be implemented from April next year. If, for some reason, a pupil is not able to sit an exam, this will enable him or her to receive credit and recognition for work completed.

While these are plans specifically for Wales, Ms Davidson hopes that innovative programmes may be picked up in England as well.

“We’re not marketing ourselves outside Wales effectively enough. We’re very keen that Wales is seen as a learning country, not only by people who live here, but by people in other parts of the world as well.”