Plans for growth of Welsh language education ‘to fail’ without targets, campaign group claims

Welsh language campaigners have expressed concern that the Welsh Government’s plans for expanding Welsh-medium education will fail without firm targets that will bind future governments by law to deliver on those goals.

The aim of the Welsh Language and Education Bill, which will be debated in the Senedd next month, is to ensure that more young people receive Welsh-medium education over time.

But Cymdeithas ar Iaith has warned that the “pitifully slow” growth seen in Welsh-medium education will continue without statutory targets.

Little progress

In recent decades the percentage of primary children attending Welsh-medium schools has seen little progress, increasing from 19% to 22% over twenty years, with slower growth in the secondary sector over the same period.

The Welsh Language and Education Bill will require schools to draw up a ‘Welsh Language Education Delivery Plan,’ and deliver an amount of Welsh-language education congruent with categories to be set out in future regulations.

For ‘Primarily English Language, partly Welsh’ schools in Wales, the minimum Welsh education requirement will be 10% of curriculum time.

However, Cymdeithas yr Iaith is calling for the legislation itself to include a target for the number of children attending Welsh medium schools, along similar lines to the targets on the face of the Westminster Government’s Climate Change Act 2008, which places a legal responsibility on the government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 100% by 2050, in comparison to 1990 levels.

Failure

Toni Schiavone, Chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s Education Group, said: “We’ve been campaigning for legislation to ensure Welsh-medium language education for everyone for over a decade, so we’re glad that our Government and Senedd are legislating on this.

‘But at present we’re very concerned that these plans will fail because there are no clear, firm targets in the legislation itself. Without targets, what will drive the Bill forward? What will prevent the Welsh language education system from continuing as it is at the moment, a system for a small minority?

‘Current non-statutory targets to increase the number of children receiving Welsh-medium education are being missed repeatedly, so it’s clear that we need statutory targets in the Bill itself so that we no longer have 80% of our children leaving school without being able to speak the language confidently.

Transformation

‘The danger is that the majority of our young people will still be deprived of the Welsh language unless targets are included in the legislation to drive things forward.”

The Welsh Language and Education Bill will be discussed at the Senedd on 6 May and all parties will have the opportunity to submit amendments to the Bill.

Toni Schiavone added: “If the Government seriously wants to transform our education system and give the Welsh language to all children, it needs to include targets in the Bill itself, in order to legally bind future governments to its goals, and ensure that sufficient resources are allocated to achieving that.”

Cymdeithas ar Iaith is a voluntary organisation that operates independently of the Welsh government campaigning for Welsh-medium education, language policy and legislation, media in Welsh, and sustainable Welsh-speaking communities.