Gwynedd council plans to phase out English

Local TV

A local authority in North Wales has planned on shifting its curriculum to be predominantly Welsh-based, hoping to improve young people’s ability in Cymraeg. There are concerns though, for English language teachers, with a focus on Welsh schools across Wales.

Transcript

00:00Promoting the Welsh language has been a big focus for the Welsh Government and councils

00:05and organisations across the country for years, and now one local council is taking it into

00:10their own hands to educate people across the county in Welsh and slowly phase out English.

00:15Gwynedd Council made the announcement that Welsh would be the primary language taught

00:19in all schools across the region, which ranks among the highest in Welsh speakers in Wales,

00:24with roughly two-thirds of residents able to speak the language.

00:27They're just proposals and they're not officially in place yet, but the councils say they hope

00:31it can help bring Welsh into education where possible.

00:35The local authority have said that they want to help students with their Welsh, with most

00:39young people perfectly fluent in English by a young age, given the amount of English media

00:43consumed.

00:44They have said that English will not be removed from the curriculum, but instead taught as

00:49a specific subject and in some cases of cross-curricular elements, something that hasn't been received

00:54well by everyone.

00:57The Welsh Conservatives have said the plans are axing the opportunity for parents and

01:01pupils to choose to be educated in English.

01:05Outside of the Welsh-language heartlands of North Wales and West Wales, Welsh-language

01:09schools aren't as commonplace, with Cardiff having 18 Welsh schools compared to Gwynedd's

01:1380.

01:14For context, Blaenau Gwent only has one Welsh-language school in the whole authority.

01:19If the Welsh Government's plan to have a million Welsh speakers by 2050, then school will need

01:25to be a focus.

01:26There is some concern from unions that teachers who don't speak Welsh will feel possible pressures

01:31on their livelihood and job retention.

01:34Will Welsh schools overtake English-language schools at some point?

01:37Who's to say?

01:38But steps like Gwynedd's are what the Welsh Government will be looking for.

01:41James Beach Watkins reporting for Local TV.

Category

Transcript

Recommended