Issue - meetings

Present information about the Education Department's contribution to the implementation of the Language Policy and Welsh Language Promotion Plan in Gwynedd

To accept the report and note the observations received.

Submitted - a report by the Cabinet Member for Education, Councillor Cemlyn Williams, providing details on the Education Department's contribution to the implementation of the Language Policy and Welsh Language Promotion Plan in Gwynedd. He took advantage of the opportunity to outline some of the Education Department's highlights along with the future challenges it faced.

Attention was drawn to the “Immersion Education System towards 2032 and beyond” and an investment of £1.1 million of Welsh Government Welsh-medium education capital funding to establish new immersion education sites in Tywyn and Bangor, as well as improving existing facilities in Porthmadog. Reference was made to the innovative and ambitious digital learning strategy which aimed to provide laptops and/or digital devices to all pupils and teachers in the county to ensure easy access to work at school and at home. The Head of the Education Department reiterated that the hope was to configure the devices in Welsh which would enable the children to communicate with their families and friends in Welsh and would encourage them to use the Welsh language on social media.

In the context of some of the challenges, concern was expressed that the standard of the Welsh language and social language skills were deteriorating in some areas during the pandemic. This was considered inevitable maybe, as there was less contact between pupils and their teachers / assistants, despite a consistent effort from schools to maintain contact with pupils in an attempt to regain ground. Reference was made to the challenge of recruiting staff with suitable qualifications to enable the provision of Welsh language services / education and also to the lack of language therapists and education psychologists that, albeit a national concern, was seen to be worse in Gwynedd due to the need for a bilingual service. It was reiterated that there were regular discussions with the Welsh Government to seek to mitigate the problem.

Thanks were expressed for the report.

Committee members were given an opportunity to ask further questions - and the Education Officers answered these.

Would it be possible to work proactively by seeking to change the career paths of teaching staff, (by funding relevant training schemes) to become education psychologists?

The Education Department had been proactive locally in an attempt to recruit education psychologists. The bursaries had been a success. Another proposal was to seek to develop interest through a post-16 provision and to target aspects of apprenticeship in the field.

Reference was made to the fact that the percentage use of the Welsh language as a first language in the foundation phase in Gwynedd was higher than in any other county in Wales, but there was a decline at the end of year 9. It was asked whether the decline was general across the County or was it specific to some locations only?

It appeared that when pupils chose their GCSE subjects and their career paths at the end of Year 9 that a vast majority of them chose subjects taught through the medium of English.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5