Rally calling for Welsh education for all to ‘take the message to Cardiff Bay’
A rally calling for all schoolchildren in Wales to leave school with the ability to speak Welsh is set to take place on the steps of the Senedd this month.
Ahead of Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s rally for Welsh education for all, Mabli Siriol, one of the rally’s speakers, has said that anyone who wants Welsh education for all needs to “take the message to Cardiff Bay” to ensure that the Government’s plans for Welsh language education are strengthened.
The rally for Welsh education for all will take place on Saturday 15 February, calling on the Senedd to significantly strengthen the Government’s Welsh Language and Education Bill, in line with Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s goals.
Among the speakers will be Mabli Siriol, the poet and writer Hammad Rind and Kiera Marshall from Plaid Cymru.
Welsh medium school goals
Mabli Siriol said: “Cymdeithas yr Iaith has been calling for almost ten years for a Welsh Education Act that will ensure that all pupils – wherever they live, whatever the language of the family – leave school able to speak Welsh.
“On the fifteenth of February, we have to take our message to Cardiff bay. The Government’s Welsh Language and Education Bill, which is currently on its way through the Senedd, is far too weak to give the Welsh language to all children.
“It doesn’t include statutory targets on growing Welsh-medium education or training the workforce. It does not take advantage of the opportunity to remove second language Welsh as a subject.
“And it does not include a long-term goal of turning every school into a Welsh medium.
“There is, therefore, a great risk that the bill as it stands will be passed without being strengthened, and that it will continue the fundamental injustice that 80% of young people in Wales are deprived of the language they should be entitled to.”
Opinion poll
In a recent opinion poll by YouGov, commissioned by Cymdeithas yr Iaith, 59% of people asked believe that schools should aim to educate all pupils to become confident Welsh speakers, with 29% disagreeing and 12% answering ‘don’t knows’.
Excluding those who answered ‘don’t know’, the percentage in favour rose to 67%.
Mabli Siriol added: “We know that the people of Wales support us, a recent opinion poll showed that the majority of people in Wales agree that every young person in Wales should leave school able to speak Welsh.
“The only way to ensure that, to reverse the decline of the language and give every child the same opportunity – is with legislation that ensures that everyone receives Welsh-medium education.
“We call on everyone who shares that goal to join us on the fifteenth of February.”
Welsh Government response
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Our Welsh Language and Education Bill aims, by 2050, to give all children in Wales, a fair opportunity to become independent and confident Welsh speakers by the time they reach the end of compulsory school age.
“This aim is regardless of their background and whichever language category school they attend.”
“The bill also reinforces the importance of growing the percentage of young people entering Welsh-medium education.”
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I believe it’s far more important Wales does much, much better with numeracy and literacy first. We are so far behind in the PISA league tables.
Agreed, those who want to speak Welsh, will do so, but let’s not get hung up on this minority issue at the expense of the majority.
“those who want to speak Welsh, will do so”
How can someone who’s never been given the ability to speak Welsh, just speak Welsh? That’s the point, everyone should have the chance to make that choice.
The sooner all our children have the gift of the language the better
Well believe it or not Cardiff girl, children in Welsh-medium education have better literacy and numeracy skills! That’s literacy in both languages. Meanwhile children in English-medium education have 10+ years of Welsh lessons and still leave school unable to string a Welsh sentence together, how can that be fair? If the language belongs to us all like they say, the solution is obvious.
But you need the education workforce across whole of Wales to be proficient in the language first so that they can teach these subjects in Welsh, I fear that will take a while.
At present Welsh medium education hovers around 22% what percentage of teachers in Wales that can teach their subject in Welsh, at last workforce census 3O% said their language skills was at a level to teach their subject.
Some work to be done.
https://www.gov.wales/school-workforce-census-results-november-2023-html#:~:text=in%20their%20work.-,10%2C060%20teachers%20(39.1%25)%20reported%20having%20Welsh%20skills%20at%20intermediate,or%20above%20%5Bfootnote%205%5D.
Yes if we wait for the whole education workforce to be proficient in the language “first”, it will certainly take a while! Before that just happens we’ll all be dead and the language with us.
The only realistic option is to set out a vision now, set some targets, get to work with what we have, put the investment in, train and upskill people, and build as we go on.