Welsh language in schools: Teachers’ funding fears over expansion

Teaching unions have raised concerns about government plans to increase the number of pupils who learn Welsh at school.

The Welsh language and Education Bill will put into law the target of achieving one million Welsh speakers by 2050 and aims to ensure all pupils leave school able to speak Welsh.

But unions have called for clarity on funding and support and worry about their ability to increase Welsh language provision considering the current “staffing and recruitment crisis”.

The Welsh government said its plan outlines how to increase the number of teachers able to teach Welsh as a subject or teach in Welsh.

In written evidence to a Senedd committee, unions broadly welcomed the aims of the bill but many are worried that no assessment has been made of the impact of the changes on teacher’s workload, nor of the extra funding required to support the proposals.

NAHT Cymru said the majority of its members were “making significant cuts to resources, cutting support and teaching staff hours and in some cases, employees in order to balance their budgets”.

It argued the “existing crisis issues must be addressed before we can begin steps towards increasing the Welsh language offering in schools”.

It is a view echoed by a number of other teaching unions, with ASCL Cymru saying it would be “extremely challenging when considering the staffing and recruitment crisis”.

NASUWT called for a “binding commitment” that no members of staff could lose their jobs if they could not teach in Welsh.

It said there was “real fear among English monoglot teachers on possible pressures which may be placed on them or on threats to their livelihood and job retention”.

The Welsh government said it aimed to give every child “a fair opportunity to speak Welsh independently and confidently, whatever their background or schooling”.

Schools would be put into different categories, depending on whether they teach in Welsh, are bilingual, or hold lessons mainly in English.

Each school will have language targets depending on its category, including minimum acceptable levels.

NEU Cymru said minimum targets on English-medium schools could have an “adverse effect on staff, especially if staff aren’t confident in teaching through the medium of Welsh”.

There are also concerns the plans could have an adverse effect on Welsh-medium schools

UCAC called the one million speakers target “commendable” but worried some parents could assume children would become fluent speakers in English-medium schools, “raising the risk of limiting the development of Welsh-medium schools”.

Estyn, the schools inspector, called it “troubling” that increasing Welsh provision across the board could “impede the move towards establishing new Welsh-medium schools in a few authorities”.

The Welsh government said legislation was “only part of a number of actions” it was taking to increase the number of Welsh-medium teachers.

It added: “Our Welsh in Education Workforce Plan sets out the steps we will take to increase the number of teachers who can teach Welsh as a subject, or teach through the medium of Welsh.”