Cabinet Member – Councillor Cemlyn Williams
To consider a
report on the above.
Decision:
To accept the report and ask
the Education Department and Cabinet Member for Education to consider the
observations of the committee, and that the scrutiny committee receives a
further report on this when more details are available.
Minutes:
The Cabinet Member for Education and
officers from the Education Department were welcomed to the meeting.
Submitted - the report of the Cabinet Member
for Education inviting the scrutinisers to give observations on the proposed
vision for the immersion education system towards 2032 and beyond.
The Cabinet Member set out the context,
noting that the new vision was intended to build on the good work achieved by
the language centres over the last few decades, acknowledge the hard work of
the staff, and update and modernise the provision.
The Head of Education noted:
·
That he believed that this was an exciting vision,
which laid the foundation for a celebrated service to do more good work, thus
updating the service to be part of the 21st century schools programme.
·
That the Department and the staff of the language
centres were anxious not to lose sight of the lessons learned as a result of
re-purposing the service and reaching more children in a different way during
the pandemic, and that there was a desire to build further on those strengths
and approaches.
·
That members had already received a copy of Estyn's
letter to the Chief Executive which highlighted the Authority's work in
supporting schools and children during the pandemic period, and in particular
commending the work of the language centres in re-purposing the service.
Members were given an opportunity to ask
questions and make observations. During
the discussion, the following observations were noted:
·
The success of the language centres over the years was
recognised in ensuring that learners acquire the Welsh language.
·
There was agreement with the intention to strengthen
accountability as part of the new vision.
·
The proposal to equip schools' workforce to support
learners to make further progress in building confidence and acquiring the
Welsh language was supported.
·
The proposal to establish an immersion education
provision in Bangor was supported.
·
The Education Department was asked to provide more
detail on the immersion education system when it becomes available.
·
Opinion was divided on the funding source for the
immersion education system, with some members supportive of the intention that
schools would contribute, thus increasing accountability and shared ownership
of the system between the Education Department and the schools, but the wish
was also expressed for the Council corporately to be funding the budgetary gap
due to the fact that the Welsh language was one of the Council's main
priorities.
In response to the observations and
questions from members, it was noted:
·
In terms of the schools' input and contribution to the
revised vision and service, it was proposed to engage informally with schools'
headteachers on the new vision. Also, if
the new system came into force, it was likely that a management board would be
established for the new system which would include representation from the
school system. This meant that the
schools could contribute and jointly own and shape the provision, to ensure
that the system responds to the needs of the schools, while simultaneously
keeping up to date with educational developments taking place in the classroom.
·
In terms of lifelong learning, and the opportunities
that may arise in relation to providing
services to the community, there is an intention to look at opportunities beyond
immersion education alone, such as childcare and opportunities for parents and
adults to learn Welsh, as more detail on the new sites becomes apparent.
·
In terms of measures of success, the target for every
5 year old to receive Welsh medium education was given to every authority as a
measure, and this was the medium in the foundation phase in schools in
Gwynedd. It was agreed that children
could be lost as they progressed from one key stage to another, but the focus
on continuity would receive specific attention within the new Welsh in
Education Strategic Plan, as well as the informal use of Welsh and
opportunities beyond the education system for children and young people to use
Welsh. There were also specific measures
to measure learners' progress over their 8-10 week period on the site of the
immersion system, and there was a need to ensure that this progress continued
once pupils had transferred back to the school system.
·
In terms of accountability, schools would be central
to this new system. Feedback from
headteachers during the lockdown period praised the closer links between
centres and schools, and as the school sector contributed towards the funding
of the new immersion vision, the accountability, together with the voice of
schools in the running and strategic direction of the service, would
increase. It also meant that the service
could be more responsive as local situations regarding the language profile of
our communities changed. It was wished
to establish a system whereby the children would receive the greatest benefits
from the immersion system and the expertise of the staff, but that this would
happen more in collaboration with the schools, and the children would have the
opportunity during this period to return to school from time to time, and to
assimilate and use their new language skills with their peers. It was believed that headteachers would take
on these responsibilities and accountability, and moving forward, that a system
of governance could be established with the head of the new immersion service,
the Education Department and the schools as key partners in this.
·
It was premature to come to a conclusion as to who
would contribute to funding the provision.
It could be argued that there would be an arrangement whereby the entire
system would contribute equally across the service, but the benefit of having a
closer financial link with those schools that have children attending the
immersion system could also be seen as this ensured greater accountability and
greater actual responsibility from those schools towards the success of the
immersion system. However, the first
step at this stage was to establish the vision, receive political and corporate
consent on that, and obtain Cabinet approval in due course. Subsequently, it would be possible to move on
to work through the detail, and it was emphasised that the Department would be
more than happy to involve elected members in the discussion along the way.
·
The aim was not to completely transform the system,
but to build on existing strengths, aiming for excellence and reaching more
children.
·
Although the argument that learners attending their
local school for one day each week could change the language of that school was
understood, the Authority had a duty of care towards these children, and an
integral and important part of the new service would be to ensure that those
children could return to their original school on the fifth day, and have the
opportunity to use Welsh there.
·
The staffing issues could not be elaborated upon at
this time due to the need to consult in the first instance on the vision, and
receive political approval on that. The
Cabinet had no direct role in employment matters, and the Department would have
to consider and consult on the staffing issues in due course. As it was likely that the staff implementing
the new vision would belong to one entity, rather than individual centres, more
flexibility would be needed in the staffing system so that staff could possibly
be redeployed to target the exact needs of the children.
·
The comment was accepted that there was a need for
teachers who are experts in language acquisition in each of the centres, and
that the Department would ensure appropriate staffing.
·
The pressure on the immersion service had increased during
the pandemic period as more incomers moved to Gwynedd, and an immersion system
had to be provided that enabled us to reach these additional children who had
moved into the county, and who would move in in the future. The concern regarding the lack of
continuation of the language centre at Penrhyndeudraeth was understood, but key
to this was the fact that provision will still be available for children in
that area, whilst other areas would receive new investment, i.e. Tywyn and
Bangor, i.e. strategic locations where the Department envisaged some of the
greatest needs for the future.
·
In terms of the rationale for the formation of centres
for years 5-9, leaving the primary ones as years 2-4 only, the service and
staff expertise and approach to teaching would be targeted at specific
sections. The needs of the youngest
children were very different to the needs of the older children, and the
methods of learning and internalising information, assimilating skills, etc.
were very different as a child's neurological development progressed. The intention here was to try to reinforce
the concept of development that occurs from the mid-primary age to
mid-secondary age. The Department believed
that targeting this middle age was an effective way to make the transition to a
more formal education beyond year 9, and also a means of increasing the number
of children and young people in Gwynedd who continued to study subjects through
the medium of Welsh up to GCSE, A Level and beyond.
RESOLVED
to accept the report and ask the Education Department and Cabinet Member for
Education to consider the observations of the committee, and that the scrutiny
committee receives a further report on this when more details are available.
Supporting documents: