Minister ‘delighted attitudes to Welsh have changed’
A WELSH Government minister has recalled how stones were thrown at her school bus by people objecting to the first Welsh medium secondary school being created in Cardiff.
Launching a new plan detailing how schools will help deliver the Welsh Government’s target of one million Welsh speakers by 2050, Eluned Morgan, the minister for Welsh language and lifelong learning, said she was “delighted attitudes towards the language have changed”.
Launching the plan today at her former school, Ysgol Glantaf, she remembered how different things were when it was the only Welsh-medium secondary school serving Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan. There are now three.
“I was one of a handful of children from my estate in Cardiff who had my education through the medium of Welsh and distinctly remember having stones thrown at our bus full of primary school children as they objected to having a Welsh language school in their neighbourhood,” Ms Morgan said.
“I am delighted that the attitude towards the language has changed fundamentally from when I was a child.”
Her multi-million pound plan outlines how Welsh-medium and Welsh language education will develop over the next four years to 2021. It says it aims to ensure all young people, from all backgrounds, leave school “ready and proud to use the language in all contexts”.
A new Welsh language curriculum and better training for teachers are among a raft of measures – many of which have already been published – drawn together in the document, Welsh in Education Action Plan 2017-2021.
Today’s paper focuses solely on compulsory education stages.
The report admits Welsh in Englishmedium schools is inconsistent and too often leads to low attainment. It also says there are too few teachers able to teach in Welsh and better provision for students with additional learning needs is needed.
The plan says that by 2021, the Welsh Government aims to:
Develop a new Welsh language curriculum to inspire learners to learn and use the Welsh language.
Increase opportunities for children and young people to use Welsh in various contexts and embed use of Welsh from an early age.
Support teachers to develop Welsh language skills so they have the knowledge and expertise to deliver the new curriculum through the medium of Welsh and teach Welsh as a subject.
Increase numbers of pupils in Welshmedium schools.
Ensure all children have equal access to Welsh-medium education.
Writing in the report, Ms Morgan and Education Secretary Kirsty Williams say: “We know that the development of Welsh-medium education over the last half a century has been extraordinary, particularly in attracting parents/ carers and learners from both Welshspeaking and non-Welsh-speaking backgrounds.
“However, we also know that the teaching and learning of Welsh in Englishmedium settings is inconsistent and too often leads to low attainment.”
Research will be commissioned early next year to investigate children and young people’s attitudes towards the Welsh language.
Over the next four years, increasing value will also be put on Welsh as a subject in schools and as a medium for teaching and learning.
Future curriculum planning and teaching methods will be more informed by research and evidence about effective language teaching and learning, including language immersion, and how bilingualism can boost learning.
But the report warns “the supply of teachers for the Welsh-medium sector continues to be a cause for concern”.
A range of measures have already been taken to try to address this shortfall including a £5,000 cash incentive to undertake training as a Welsh medium secondary teacher.
Welsh Government targets are to increase the numbers of primary school teachers who teach in Welsh from 2,900 to 3,100 by 2021 while the numbers of secondary teachers who teach Welsh as a subject would rise from 500 to 600 by 2021 and secondary teachers who teach through the medium of Welsh would increase from 1,800 to 2,2000 in the next four years.