Bill to boost learners in schools passes key stage

A bill which aims to ensure all pupils in Wales finish school as “independent Welsh language users” has passed its final detailed stage in the Senedd.

The Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill is intended to contribute to the target of one million Welsh speakers by 2050 and is expected to pass a final Senedd vote later this month before becoming law.

Finance and Welsh Language Secretary Mark Drakeford said this target had “galvanised efforts by so many organisations and individuals across Wales to join us on this journey”.

About 23% of pupils are educated in Welsh and the government’s ambition is to increase that to 30% by 2030-31 and 40% by 2050.

Members of the Senedd (MSs) did not pass an amendment by Plaid Cymru MS Cefin Campbell who wanted to add to the bill that half of school children should be in the “primarily Welsh language” category of school by 2050.

Cymdeithas yr Iaith (the Welsh Language Society) called on MSs to support that “insufficient but essential” amendment, but 39 voted against and 12 in favour.

Spokesman Toni Schiavone said: “We are clear that the aim should be Welsh-medium education for all and we are disappointed that politicians have not pursued this path.”

Campbell told the Welsh Parliament it was “disappointing” that the majority of children were “deprived of the opportunity to learn Welsh in our education system”.

Conservative Tom Giffard said he supported the target and several of his party’s amendments to the bill were passed.

These seek to “support parents and guardians in helping their children with schoolwork and homework if they cannot speak Welsh themselves”.

For “primarily English language, partly Welsh” schools, at least 2.5 hours a week will be taught in Welsh and the bill allows schools to apply for a three-year exemption, with the chance of a further three, if they need more time to hit the minimum standards.

The Welsh government said the bill needed “a degree of mitigation… to avoid any potential negative impacts for some groups of children and young people”.

Responses to the consultation on the bill included concerns that the teaching of Welsh should not overshadow or diminish the quality of teaching of key subjects such as maths, science and English.

The Welsh government said that was “a low risk, with low impact that can be mitigated”.

It also recognised the need to better understand why people from black, Asian, minority ethnic and gypsy and Traveller communities were “under-represented in Welsh-medium education”.

It also argued this bill could help tackle poverty by giving more children new skills, “thereby enabling them to benefit from more opportunities within the labour market which might otherwise have been closed to them”.