Issue - meetings

To present information on the engagement process in the context of the new Education Language Policy, and then report on the findings of the engagement.

DECISION

1.     To accept the report and note the observations.

2.     That the Committee scrutinises the Draft Education Language Policy along with the Strategy to support the implementation of the policy at the 10 April 2025 meeting.

3.     Request a copy of the relevant minutes of engagement meetings.

4.     Invite members of the Language Committee to attend the Committee meeting for the item.

The Cabinet Member for Education reported that this report was being presented in response to a request by the members of the Committee to receive a report on the engagement process in the context of the new Education Language Policy. It was noted that the report summarised the engagement procedure in relation to the Education Language Policy.

The context was provided, noting that the Gwynedd local authority had the largest number of Welsh speakers in Wales, and also had the highest percentage of young people receiving their education through the medium of Welsh and bilingually. The officer stated that linguistic changes in the county, as well as the Welsh Government's influence on education in Wales, made it timely to review Cyngor Gwynedd's Education Language Policy and discuss which elements worked well and where any reforms or changes needed to be made.

It was explained that the Education Department had set out the procedure and the process in the report. It was noted that a number of engagement sessions had been held with primary, secondary and special schools in all parts of the county, and in areas with varying percentages of Welsh speakers. An engagement meeting had been held for representatives such as Cylch yr Iaith, Cymdeithas yr Iaith, Dyfodol i'r Iaith and RHAG (Parents for Welsh Medium Education). It was further noted that several members of this Committee, the Language Committee and the Gwynedd Governors Forum had also been involved in the process.

The aim was to create a robust Language Policy that was suitable to circumstances in Gwynedd, ensuring that it could be built upon and developed in the future. It was noted that the true situation showed a slippage in the use of the Welsh language by the county's young people. It was further noted that we needed to prevent this and increase the use of the Welsh language.

Meirion Prys Jones (Adviser) reported that 29 conversations had taken place during the engagement process in October, 2024 with a broad range of representatives from the education field and with parents. He noted that, essentially, they had asked 10 questions during the discussions, but participants had been free to express an opinion on any matter relating to the Gwynedd Education Language Policy and present recommendations for the future. He expressed that constructive and positive feedback had been received from all participants, especially from the pupils themselves.

It was noted that the main conclusions of the engagement were that the Language Policy was working well and led to success. He noted that everyone supported the Language Policy, although no-one had read it recently, leading to more of an ethos and a feeling that a good Language Policy existed, but without complete certainty of what it contained.

He highlighted that this led to the Language Policy being interpreted and implemented differently between schools, especially among the secondary schools. He noted that there was a clear difference between the primary and secondary sectors, with the Policy being applied firmly in the primary  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6