, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Certainly to a Basque—you've got to try to understand its structure.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Chair, I can offer some answers to the last points that Vaughan raised. When it comes to the interface and the interplay between the CEFR levels, other descriptors that are used in the curriculum space, qualifications and how those—. I'm probably going to ask…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Yes. Well, I agree. I've met them too, and I agree. It's a point of view that I, myself, completely reject.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
In 2021, then these pre-A1 descriptors were added, but they weren't added into the global scale. They were made available, but the scale itself remains that simple A1, B1, C1, and that's what we've reflected in the documentation. But the code will provide…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Well, I thank Vaughan for that question, Chair. I want to repeat what I said in front of the committee last time: in my view, there are not very many people in Wales who do not speak some Welsh, and I'm very much opposed to the point of view that there are…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
I agree that the biggest weight of responsibility sits with Government in terms of doing that. Now, after that, there are a number of individuals and agencies that we could ask to help us to do that: the Welsh Language Commissioner, I'm sure that she would…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Well, I think there's important work to be done if the Bill is passed, so that's the first hurdle. The Bill is still before the Senedd, so we will have to take the Bill through the process. If we succeed in doing that, there will be work to be done by…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Well, one of the important things in the Bill, of course, is the CEFR, and in future—not now, but in future—when people are more familiar with it, I think one of the things that will be important in the Bill is that people will be able to say not just, 'I…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
It will be central, as it has been, for the reasons that Cymdeithas yr Iaith have set out.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Well, the intention in the future, Chair, is to use the census as a starting point. That's been central to how we count those people in Wales who say that they are Welsh speakers, but we can't rely on the census for the future. The Conservative Government had…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
I'm happy to consider that. I do remember that discussion that we had. We're not saying that, if we reach a million, we will stop and that no-one else will be allowed to learn Welsh in Wales, so I'm happy to consider that.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
The sabbatical scheme has £3.8 million spent on it annually. The commitment in the Bill is that that level of funding continues, because the Bill is predicated on those funding streams that are currently in place being there over the 10-year haul. If there…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Well, Chair, my view is that all of the things that the Bill mobilises around scenario 2 will make that scenario the most likely outcome. We will strengthen the explanatory memorandum when it's re-laid at the end of Stage 2, partly as a result of the ongoing…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Two very quick points on top. So, the sabbatical scheme will continue and it's been a success. The athrofa will be there to provide a new focus on equipping the workforce. Two other points on it briefly, Chair. One is, and it's a point I've heard Alun Davies…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
So—
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Well, thanks to Vaughan for that. So, there are three scenarios in the Bill, and we don’t cost scenario 1 because that is business as usual, and we don’t believe that just carrying on as we are will get us to where we need to be. Scenario 2 is what the Bill…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Bore da.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Well, Chair, a whole series of schemes exist already to do exactly that. They're the responsibility of my colleague the education Secretary, but include the cynllun pontio; the Welsh-medium workforce capacity development grant, which is there now and will…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Well, the best evidence we have is from the consultation that was carried out around the non-statutory targets in 2021. This is not the first time the 10 per cent target has been rehearsed with the education world and the education profession, because the…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Well, look, it is certainly a stretch target, isn't it, but it has to be a stretch target because, just to stand back for one moment, what is the recent history of Welsh education? Welsh-medium education is a huge success story, and this Bill is absolutely…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Well, I think you make a very sensible point. I don't think the point itself is disputable. But, just to be clear about what the Bill actually says: in 2033, what we're expecting is that children who are in primarily English-medium education will have reached…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Well, Chair, as I just said to Cefin Campbell, I'm not yet convinced that statutory targets on the face of the Bill are the right way to address this, and that's partly because—. We've talked so far about the workforce as though it was a single entity whereas…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Well, just to be clear, Chair, I've not said that I accept the case made on targets as of yet. As I've said, I am open to considering how we can strengthen what's currently in the Bill in relation to strengthening the workforce for the future. I don't want to…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Well, Chair, workforce obligations run all the way through the Bill. There are obligations on Welsh Ministers in producing the national framework, of various sorts, to include workforce considerations there. The WESPs will have obligations inside them to deal…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Well, thank you, Chair. My starting point is to recognise that the single biggest change that the Bill will mobilise to meet its objectives is what will be needed in the workforce, so that is shared ground. The reason why the education workforce assessment…
