Agenda item

In accordance with the Notice of Motion received under Section 4.20 of the Constitution, Councillor Rhys Tudur will propose as follows:-

 

In order for the Council to be innovative in its method of monitoring the implementation of Welsh medium education and the progress in detail and effectively in our schools, the Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee is requested to give consideration to the appropriate means of collecting data and monitoring the Welsh language provision in all secondary schools against the baselines of the categories in which the schools are included.

 

 

In order for the Council to be innovative in its method of monitoring the implementation of Welsh medium education and progress in detail and effectively in our schools, I ask the Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee to consider the most appropriate way of gathering data and monitoring the Welsh-medium provision in every secondary school against the baselines of the categories in which the schools are included.

 

 

(A)      Submitted - the following notice of motion by Councillor Rhys Tudur in accordance with Section 4.20 of the Constitution, and it was seconded:-

 

In order for the Council to be innovative in its method of monitoring the implementation of Welsh medium education and progress in detail and effectively in our schools, I ask the Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee to consider the most appropriate way of gathering data and monitoring the Welsh-medium provision in every secondary school against the baselines of the categories in which the schools are included.

 

The member set out the context to his motion, noting that:-

 

·         This was not the original notice that he had wished to submit before the Council, and that his notice had been changed as suggested by the Monitoring Officer.

·         That his original notice asked the Full Council to gather data and monitor the Welsh-medium education provision against the baselines of the national categories, and although he accepted the counsel, that it was disappointing and surprising to him that it was not possible for a member to submit a notice asking the Council to gather data.

·         That the notice did not go straight for the aim as he had hoped, but instead, crawled slowly towards the aim by calling for the Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee to look at the data gathering method.  We should not be crawling towards the aim with the Welsh language, but instead we should be leaping and innovating.

·         That the significance of the proposal essentially was that the Welsh-medium education provision should be measured in line with the national categorisation.

·         As the baseline for Welsh-medium schools notes that 60% of the children undertake 70% of their education through the medium of Welsh, it is assumed that measuring how many children undertake 70% of their education through the medium of Welsh would be important to measure, along with the way in which the schools fit into the category's baselines. In the absence of that information, it was not known how the schools fit into the category and how they were improving.

·         That the Council's current measure in terms of Welsh-medium education provision was the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP) in terms of how many children undertook 5 or more GCSE subjects through the medium of Welsh.

·         That the Council, had not only failed in the objective of increasing the number that undertook 5 or more subjects through the medium of Welsh, but had also slipped over the years, and so the WESP had failed in terms of that aspect.

·         It was hoped that we will collect data thoroughly from now on in order to reach our objectives and innovate for the benefit of Welsh.

·         That the national guidelines had been in force since September 2022 and that it would be very sad should Cyngor Gwynedd of all people refuse to measure in line with this categorisation.

·         That he was calling on all his fellow members to support the notice as it would empower us with information, and this was the most important step to move the Council forward on the language continuum.

 

In response to the observations of the proposer, the Cabinet Member for Education noted:-

 

·         That she fully accepted the point regarding the importance of being able to measure and obtain data, and that she had mentioned that in her response to the questions previously.

·         That work was currently on-going in the Department to do exactly that, which was to gather data to obtain a comprehensive picture of what exactly was going on in the classrooms of our schools in terms of the Welsh language and bilingual education.

·         That a Welsh measure was being introduced to the performance challenging meetings and that representatives from the Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee were being invited to some of those meetings.

·         That Gwynedd was not subject to the baseline in the category and the fact that the guidance was non-statutory was important since the baselines could either change or disappear completely.

·         That the notice therefore asked us to measure against something that would not exist in due course, but of course, we were required to measure against what we wish to see here, and any aspiration we have would be substantially higher than the category's baseline.

·         That this Council, and not the national framework, set the local Language Policy.  The Welsh Government fully understood this and appreciated that our situation in Gwynedd was unique.

 

Other members expressed support to the notice.

 

In his closing comments, the proposer noted:-

 

·         That he welcomed the fact that work was currently happening in the Department on an additional measure, but that he could not see that his notice was creating a difficulty in terms of referring to the baselines.

·         Should the baselines change in the future, we would measure in line with what those baselines would be in the future.

·         That he welcomed the fact that there was an objective to give a better baseline than what the Government proposed, but the Council measured poorer than the baseline currently allowed, and the only fairly detailed measure we had was the number of children undertaking 5 or more GCSE subjects through the medium of Welsh, 50% in reality, or fewer possibly if the child undertook 11 GCSE subjects. 

·         That he strongly recommended that we measure in line with what the categorisation proposes, non-statutory or not, and that disregarding national guidelines on increasing Welsh education, considering that we are innovative, is something quite foolish to do.

 

RESOLVED to adopt the motion, namely:-

 

In order for the Council to be innovative in its method of monitoring the implementation of Welsh medium education and progress in detail and effectively in our schools, I ask the Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee to consider the most appropriate way of gathering data and monitoring the Welsh-medium provision in every secondary school against the baselines of the categories in which the schools are included.