A teacher shortage threatens to de-rail the Welsh Government’s target of one million Welsh speakers by 2050. A Senedd committee report published today says the ambitious goal won’t be met “without a substantial increase in Welsh speaking teachers”.
There’s a lack of staff to support growth needed in Welsh medium schools as well as a shortage of Welsh medium teachers in English medium schools. The report by the Senedd’s Communication, Culture, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee found shortcomings in how local authorities are planning and expanding Welsh language education across the country.
The number of children able to speak Welsh has fallen in the last 10 years, particularly in the three to 15 age group, according to latest data from the Office for National Statistics.
Read more: Welsh Government publishes ambitious plans to boost Welsh language provision in schools
One of the primary ways the Welsh Government is attempting to improve this is by increasing the numbers of Welsh speaking teachers by providing free lessons to those wishing to develop their language skills.
The Senedd committee’s inquiry looked at the effectiveness of various training programmes including The Sabbatical Scheme, which encourages existing teachers to learn or improve their Welsh and the Iaith Athrawon Yfory scheme providing grants to encourage new teachers into Welsh medium education.
Dyfodol i’r Iaith, who campaign to increase the numbers of Welsh speakers, estimate the need for 17,000 teachers to be enrolled on the Sabbatical Scheme if the Welsh Government is to hit its one million Welsh speakers target by 2050. The committee recommends the Welsh Government “invest substantially” to make ensure more teachers, teaching assistants and lecturers enrol on the Sabbatical Scheme to increase their Welsh proficiency.
The inquiry also suggests that the scheme could expand to include early-years practitioners working with younger children in nurseries.
Delyth Jewell MS, Chair of the Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee, said, “Welsh is a language that belongs to all of us in Wales and it should concern us deeply that the number of speakers isn’t increasing. This committee is supportive of the target of one million Welsh speakers by 2050, but that ambition is in serious jeopardy if things continue as they are.
“It’s clear that having enough teachers who can speak Welsh is crucial to addressing this issue and we need the Welsh Government to show real ambition over the next few years. More teachers should be encouraged to learn Welsh and those working in early-years education should also be able to access the same opportunities.
“We should also recognise that the linguistic map of Wales is quite varied and that a one-size fits all approach might not always work. We would like the Welsh Government to explore a training and accreditation system for Welsh-medium teachers so that each child has the best opportunity to learn our language.”
The latest census shows the number of Welsh speakers in Wales has fallen by 24,000 over the last decade The 2021 census, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) at the end of last year, en showed that in 2021 an estimated 538,000 usual residents, or 17.8% of people in Wales aged three years and over, reported being able to speak Welsh.
This was a decrease from 19% of the population that could speak, read, and write in the language in 2011. The ONS said one of the main contributing factors was a fall numbers of children and young people aged three to 15 years who reported being able to speak Welsh.
The Welsh Government is currently consulting on a Welsh Language Education Bill White Paper. Campaign group Cymdeithas yr Iaith said today’s report shows the Bill “needs to ensure that Welsh medium education is given to everyone”
Mabli Siriol Jones, Chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s education group wants statutory targets for all local authorities to increase the number of pupils who receive a Welsh education.
“Welsh language needs to be part of teachers’ initial training, and statutory targets included in the Welsh Education Bill to increase the proportion of the workforce that can teach through the medium of Welsh,” she said.
“Instead of making minor changes to a system that is not working there is an opportunity through the Welsh Language Education Bill to go further than the recommendations of this report, and transform the system.
“We will be responding to the Government’s consultation, and encourage others who want to see everyone leaving school able to use the Welsh language, to respond by calling for an Education Act which will:
Set a goal placing every school on a journey to become a Welsh-medium school by 2050
Creating a single continuum of learning and assessment for Welsh.
Creating a national framework that sets targets for each local authority in order to reach the goal.”
Welsh Conservative Shadow Welsh Language Minister, Samuel Kurtz MS said teacher recruitment must be addressed: “With uncertainty over the deliverability of the one million Welsh speakers by 2050 target, this report highlights the fundamental flaw in achieving this goal.
“Teacher recruitment, be that Welsh or English medium, isn’t at the level that’s required.
“While hardworking educational staff try their very best, it’s fundamental now that the Welsh Government redoubles its focus on their Cymraeg 2050 ambition.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We recognise the challenge of increasing the number of Welsh-medium teachers. We have published the Welsh in Education Workforce Plan which sets out a number of ambitious steps we will take with our partners to develop the workforce over the next 10 years. We will respond to the committee’s report in due course.”
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