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The strategy meets the Assembly Government’s One Wales commitment to: “create a national Welsh-medium education strategy to develop effective provision from nursery through to further and higher education, backed by an implementation programme.”

The strategy builds on our commitments under Iaith Pawb outlining how the Welsh Assembly Government will work towards creating a truly bilingual Wales.  We want to develop and improve opportunities for young people to learn through the medium of Welsh and ensure that provision meets the growing demand for learning through the language.

Key areas highlighted for development within the strategy are:-

• Providing a national strategic direction to ensure an improvement in the planning of the provision of Welsh-medium education across all phases of education and training, on the basis of positive response to parental demand;
• Strengthening joint planning of Welsh-medium provision for early years by sharing data and strategic mapping
• Ensuring that there is a planned, highly skilled Welsh-medium education workforce to meet the demand for provision;
• Agreeing with local authorities the submission of Welsh in Education Strategic Plans, including targets for Welsh-medium education
• Ensuring that all pupils and students have the opportunity to develop their Welsh-language skills to their full potential, including providing effective progression in Welsh-language skills as they move through the education system and supporting Welsh-medium provision as an integral part of the 14-19 Learning Pathways and Skills agenda;
• Underpinning Welsh-medium education and training, in terms of qualifications and resources;
• Developing more opportunities for young people and families to speak Welsh outside the school environment.
• Planning the future development for Welsh-medium Higher Education provision in the light of report of the Chair of the Coleg Ffederal Planning Board.  

Jane Hutt said:

“We want to ensure that our education system makes it possible for more learners of all ages to gain a wider range of language skills in Welsh. This will enable them to use the language in their personal lives, socially and in the workplace.”

The Minister said that whilst some Local Authorities have taken a proactive approach in increasing opportunities for pupils to access Welsh medium education, and have sought to strengthen Welsh language policies with regards to education, provision is patchy and not consistent. In recognising that bi-lingual skills are important, provision must be planned to respond to parental demand for more Welsh-medium education.

“I want to make certain that there is access to Welsh-medium education in all parts of Wales for those who choose it for their children, but also continuity in the provision at all stages in the education process from early years through to higher education as well as in the workplace. We want to provide more opportunities for students to use Welsh as a medium of learning after the age of 16 or 18,” she said.

“We also need to make sure that opportunities are available in response to the requirements of the Learning and Skills Measure for 14-19 Learning Pathways, and that we contribute to a bilingual workplace by making opportunities for learning Welsh more accessible.”

“The recruitment and training of all teachers and those who work in the Welsh-medium education sector needs to be based on a better understanding of need across all areas. In order to plan more strategically for the future we need a better picture of the medium to long term requirements of the Welsh-medium education sector.”

The Minister acknowledged that training and education alone cannot guarantee that speakers become fluent in Welsh, with many factors having significant influence towards the language, attitudes and behaviour.

Jane Hutt said:

“Informal learning is vital in reinforcing Welsh-language skills learnt in formal classroom settings. Many of these opportunities are provided outside the school or college environment. This Strategy aims to contribute to the opportunities for informal learning opportunities in the community and the teaching of Welsh to families.

“Our vision of continuing growth of Welsh-medium education provision in response to demand cannot be realised in isolation and will only be achieved with the commitment of the Welsh Assembly Government, Local Authorities, providers and learners in Wales working together.”

Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones, who also attended the launch with the Education Minister, said:

“This strategy builds on our commitments under Iaith Pawb, which aims to promote and sustain the use of the Welsh language and provide the people of Wales with as many opportunities as possible to make sure that they can use and learn the language in their daily lives.  To help us achieve this aim, it is important to develop and improve opportunities for young people to learn through the medium of Welsh, such as we have seen at Ysgol Rhydywaun today.”