Agenda item

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 but varying more in the secondary sector. He elaborated that there was a feeling within the primary sector that the secondary sector disappointed them in terms of sustaining children's Welsh-speaking, as it did not carry on adequately when they reached secondary school.

 

It was reported that the main conclusion was that we needed a concise, clear and firm Language Policy which stated clearly what needs to be achieved, which must be monitored as it progressed.

 

A presentation was received from the Head of the Gwynedd Immersion Education System detailing the engagement sessions held by Siân Eurig (Secondary Language Strategy Coordinator) and Meirion Prys Jones. It was noted that the following feedback had been received from the engagement sessions regarding the current Language Policy:

There was support for the Language Policy and a desire to reform it across the county.

There was no specific feedback on how to amend the Policy.

There was a feeling of pride towards the Immersion Education System.

There was a strong desire for change, as there was a feeling that the Policy belonged to a time when the Welsh language was stronger in the county, and was therefore outdated.

That the Policy needs to be evolved, not completely overhauled.

 

The main messages raised were underlined:

 

There was praise for the primary sector for sustaining the Welsh language.

There was a general feeling of slippage when pupils moved from primary to secondary.

The question around expanding the capacity of Immersion Education Units had arisen.

Learners' voice was in favour of the Policy.

There was inconsistency between secondary schools in how they implemented the Policy, and a desire to reconcile it.

Ysgol Friars and Ysgol Tywyn had been mentioned several times, which underlined the need for strategic planning over time to ensure an effective policy that increased the Welsh-medium provision.

There was a need for better ownership by the schools and greater accountability by the Council, as there were strong calls for strengthening the Education Department's power to monitor this.

 

The main themes of the engagement sessions were highlighted in terms of the Policy itself, the need for training, the challenge of being able to recruit in order to implement the Policy, and the need to look carefully at the social use of Welsh and the role of the wider community in supporting that.

 

Members were given the opportunity to ask questions and offer comments.

 

The elected members from the Language Committee and the Scrutiny Committee expressed their feeling that the current Policy did not afford adequate protection to the Welsh language in the county. They highlighted that the main weakness was that the policy did not sustain language use, let alone increased it, in light of the demographic changes. The member noted that he was quite certain in his views about the weakness in terms of progression from one educational stage to the next, and mentioned the need for accountability for implementing the Policy and monitoring its implementation. They referred to a lack of vision in respect of the county's targets to increase the number of pupils who studied GCSE subjects and higher in Welsh, as noted in the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP), noting that careful monitoring of the Plan could lead to progress over time.

 

It was noted that some believed that a Education Language Policy should be a policy referring to Welsh only. They elaborated that this could support headteachers, particularly when facing requests from parents to change the medium of subjects at the end of Year 9. It was enquired whether we should consider including a reference to how we can secure an adequate workforce within the Policy, and the need to introduce the benefits and importance of bilingualism, as this would contribute towards securing an adequate workforce within the County in the future.

 

Regarding Ysgol Friars and Ysgol Tywyn, it was noted that there had been agreement that the Gwynedd Education Language Policy should be a comprehensive policy, to include these schools, but with clear plans to successfully lead any change. They elaborated that there was an awareness of Tywyn's geographical challenges in terms of recruitment and the need to plan towards change more strategically.

 

It was highlighted that there was no suggestion or definitive answer as to what a revised policy should look like, should reform happen. It was expressed that the clear message was that change was needed, and that we needed a Policy that ensures language acquisition and protects the spoken language within it.

 

It was questioned how we could manage to keep communities as Welsh as possible throughout the county, and members had noted the need for a strategy to try to positively influence parents to promote and encourage the children's use of the Welsh language in the school and beyond. It was noted, in terms of school categorisation, that there had been comments about the need to ensure an understanding of the definitions in order to have a firm foundation to any policy, and for the Council to consider what else could be achieved within those definitions.

 

Thanks were expressed for the presentation. Representatives from the Committee and the Language Committee expressed pride in having the opportunity to provide input. It was noted that members' initial impression had been that they would be involved in creating the new Policy, but during the meeting, it became clear that this was not the intention. Satisfaction was expressed that a summary had been made of the comments made during the consultation meeting, and it was asked whether it would be possible to publish these notes publicly and attach them to the report for the next Committee meeting so that the comments could be seen.

 

A member expressed their view that the consultation carried out with some primary schools did not adequately represent the schools in the most Welsh areas, in Arfon, Meirionnydd and Dwyfor.

 

It was noted that there is a need for different strategies for the schools in the Tywyn catchment area and the Meirionnydd area in general, as those schools wish to be more ambitious, having been seriously identified as category one under the current categories. It was expressed that in drawing up one strategy for all schools, it was impossible to enable some schools to be as ambitious as they could be.

 

They referred to the report which concluded that the policy "needs to be evolved" rather than overhauled. The member emphasised that this supported the point that people were not aware of the existing policy and felt that it was not clear enough. It was expressed that this was a sign that the Language Policy needed to be completely reformed, not evolved gradually. It was noted that during the consultation session with Meirion Prys Jones, strong observations had been presented regarding the wording of the policy.

 

In response to the previous observations, it was noted:

 

That officers were happy to append the minutes to the next Scrutiny Committee.

The sessions being referred to were engagement sessions, with the aim of compiling as much information as possible.

The information from the engagement sessions was being used to draw up the Language Policy, which would then be the subject of consultation.

The schools had been selected to ensure a cross-section of the schools in Gwynedd.

It had been a challenge to get headteachers to attend the engagement meetings. Therefore, a request was made to the federation to ask them to bring their catchment areas together to decide who would represent them.

All headteachers had had the opportunity to express their opinions within their own catchment area, then a representative had presented those opinions in the engagement meetings.

 

A member referred to the Golwg 360 article in the pack, which suggested that there was less room for education and more room for other things, but reading the article, it appeared to refer to Wales generally, and not areas that were language strongholds such as Gwynedd. A member expressed that including the Golwg 360 article in the pack for this committee suggested that a decision had already been made. They felt that the article should not be part of the pack.

 

Reference was made to a comment in the presentation regarding society's wider role in sustaining the Welsh language, which was consistent with the decision to include the Golwg 360 article in the pack. It was understood that there were several elements involved in sustaining the Welsh language, not only education, but since we were currently discussing the Education Policy, we needed to focus on what we could influence the most. It was noted that they now had absolute power over the Language Policy, but did not have the same power over other elements that were mentioned. Concern was expressed regarding the overuse of words such as "pride" and "attitudes", noting that we needed to focus on what people did, and not on their attitudes alone. The member stated that more courage was needed in this field.

 

In response, the officers disagreed with terms such as "absolute power", as the Education Department did not force children to speak any language. It was noted that the fostering of positive attitudes amongst children and parents towards the Welsh language was important to encourage them to choose a Welsh-medium education. They elaborated that there were schemes underway in the Bro Dysynni and Bangor area to foster a positive attitude towards Welsh amongst children and parents. It was accepted that we needed to combine a positive attitude with a strong and firm policy. It was noted that the Education Department had a role in fostering conscientious citizens of Wales and the world. They noted that there was no intention to shape anyone's views by including the Golwg 360 article, and that it had been included merely to show context.

 

A member referred to an ESTYN report which indicated a shortage of teachers in several fields, including Welsh. They noted that schools such as Tywyn had difficulties finding teachers to teach subjects through the medium of Welsh, and therefore relied on English-speaking teachers to fill the roles. The member questioned what this report would do about this. They questioned whether this situation would cause some children to not speak Welsh at all.

 

In response, it was noted:

 

That recruitment problems was an ever-increasing and national challenge.

Work was happening with transitional schools to ensure that the workforce had access to Welsh lessons, and supporting them to introduce subjects through the medium of Welsh.

The team were looking at an analysis of the workforce's language level in the transitional schools, and were collaborating with the National Institute to tailor and provide refresher courses, courses for raising confidence, and Welsh courses for beginners.

Teachers from the transitional schools had applied for sabbatical courses for learning Welsh.

 

In response to a comment that Ysgol Friars had been excluded, it was confirmed that Ysgol Friars had not been excluded from implementing the Language Policy. They elaborated that there would be a Language Policy for the whole county, recognising the different situations of some schools such as Friars and Tywyn within the Policy, with a different plan for the Welsh language being created for these two schools and one other. It was noted that some participants in the engagement meetings had made suggestions that reflected that opinion.

 

A member expressed disappointment that this report only provided a taster of the information. They agreed that the inclusion of the Golwg 360 article had put an unfortunate skew to the discussion. They expressed uncertainty about having an individual strategy for different schools. It was noted that there was a genuine need to monitor the Language Policy in the future. The expressed concern regarding the phrase 'protect the spoken language', as it only signified one part of the picture.  It was emphasised that this was an Education Language Policy, and that children only got one change to gain proper acquisition of the Welsh language, therefore, high-quality language must be introduced to develop relevance and pride. It was expressed that none of this came through from the taster of the new Language Policy. It was noted that there was no time to have a gradual evolution. They hoped that the draft report would be more promising that what had been presented in the meeting.

 

In response, it was noted:

 

That the new Language Policy would be one County Policy, with individual plans and specifications for every school.

The policy did not differentiate, and the desire and ambition were the same for the County, but there would be individual plans for the schools so that they could demonstrate over time how they were achieving the Policy.

Monitoring would be key to implementing the Policy, and a lack of monitoring had been identified as a weakness during the engagement.

It was an elected member who had made the comment regarding 'protecting the spoken language'.

 

It was asked whether specific attention is intended to be given to monitoring methods. It was questioned whether schools would have the right to set their own improvement targets within individual plans and to develop their own individual Language Policy.

 

In response, it was noted:

 

That the Language Policy in its current form was not one the Department could insist that schools followed, but the new Language Policy would be mandatory.

Individual plans were required in order to help the schools reach targets and monitor them against those targets.

We needed to set out the ambition within the Policy, specify clearly what the plans were, have plans to support schools to reach the goal and monitor that schools adhered to the strategic plans.

This matter had been brought to the Committee to report where we had reached in the process, and to be transparent as possible.

 

The point made about having access to records from the engagements was reiterated.

 

Support was expressed towards strengthening this Policy. It was emphasised that social use of the Welsh language was paramount. It was noted that the Council had a responsibility to strengthen opportunities to use Welsh socially. It was noted that everyone had a responsibility regarding the social use of Welsh, including individuals and elected members, to support Welsh learners in communities and foster a positive attitude. It was further noted that people bringing up children, or who were involved with children, had a responsibility to invite children from non-Welsh speaking backgrounds to take part in recreational activities with Welsh-speaking children.

 

A member questioned if lessons had been learned from the pilot in Bangor that focused on the transition between Primary and Secondary that could help us make the transition more successful.

 

In response, the following was noted:

 

We had identified schools in the Bangor and Tywyn catchment areas specifically where the children's language fell to level C1, meaning that their English was stronger than their Welsh.

We were working with Cwmni’r Frân Wen to provide opportunities for children to use their Welsh and gain confidence in their spoken Welsh within the project in Bangor and Tywyn.

This project had gone from strength to strength over the third year.

Schools were reporting that the children were developing confidence in the Welsh language and that they also saw the Frân Wen in Bangor as a hub outside school hours to use their Welsh.

That feedback from the pilot had been very positive.

They hoped to continue and extend these opportunities in order to ensure progression and maintain the language continuum, so that there was no slippage.

 

A member gave thanks for the report and hoped to see the full records from the engagement sessions. They noted that nothing unexpected sprang out when seeing the main conclusions. They expressed hope that there would be a summary of Meirion Prys Jones's personal recommendations as a language acquisition expert regarding the best way of proceeding to create a Language Policy in Gwynedd.

 

It was expressed that the Gwynedd Education Language Policy was weak because Ysgol Friars and Ysgol Tywyn were in the Language Policy, as the situation in those schools was that no-one studied a subject through the medium of Welsh, apart from Welsh itself. The member noted that the fact that the Policy allowed this showed how weak it was. It was elaborated that the Policy dated back to the days of the old Cyngor Gwynedd, and that it had not changed much since, and its essence was that if someone did not feel capable to do things through the medium of Welsh, there was no obligation on them to do so.

 

It was expressed that, with all the consultation, there was a tendency to lose sight of the point in question, which was to strengthen the Gwynedd Education Language Policy in an area where the language was still alive and stronger than in other parts of Wales. The member elaborated that we needed to try and strengthen it as much as possible, and a complete change was required. It was noted that Gwynedd had the demography and staffing resources to deliver this change – we just needed courage.

 

RESOLVED

To accept the report and note the observations.

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.

To ask for a copy of the relevant minutes of the engagement meetings.

To invite members of the Language Committee to attend the Committee meeting for the item