Mr Lewis was responding to concerns that uncertainty about the future of Wales’ local authorities was making planning difficult for the consortia.
Wales’ 22 local authorities have been working through four regional education consortia, directly answerable to elected members, since September 2012. But there are plans to reduce the number of councils in Wales to just eight or nine.
Appearing before the National Assembly’s Children, Young People and Education Committee, Mr Lewis said: “No-one here is in a position to say precisely what the local government map might look like in two or three years’ time. (But) I can’t see a short or medium-term future which can do without consortia.
“There may be, for practical reasons, some adjustment to consortia ... It could make geographical sense to rearrange things a little around the edges, but I think if you took a poll of key people in the education and schools system at the moment and you ask them ‘would you like to do away with consortia?’, I think the answer would be a resounding ‘no’.
“I think people are beginning to see the worth and the value and, even given local government reorganisation, I see a role for the consortia continuing pretty much as they are.”
Mr Lewis’ comments represent a commendation for the consortia, whose performance in improving Wales’ schools has been seen as patchy. In June, separate reports by the Wales Audit Office and education inspectorate Estyn uncovered a number of shortcomings. The reports suggested the bodies were beginning to take effect but a lack of medium-term planning, insufficient focus on value for money, and weaknesses in governance were holding them back.
However, Mr Lewis said he was confident that the consortia were having a positive impact, adding: “The uplift in standards that we’re seeing, particularly through the GCSE results of this summer, has not happened by accident.
“There is a definite causal connection between what’s happened in terms of the implementation of the national model and the uplift in standards.”