A local authority in North Wales has planned on shifting its curriculum to be predominantly Welsh-based, hoping to improve young people’s ability in Cymraeg. There are concerns though, for English language teachers, with a focus on Welsh schools across Wales.
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00:00Promoting the Welsh language has been a big focus for the Welsh Government and councils
00:05and organisations across the country for years, and now one local council is taking it into
00:10their own hands to educate people across the county in Welsh and slowly phase out English.
00:15Gwynedd Council made the announcement that Welsh would be the primary language taught
00:19in all schools across the region, which ranks among the highest in Welsh speakers in Wales,
00:24with roughly two-thirds of residents able to speak the language.
00:27They're just proposals and they're not officially in place yet, but the councils say they hope
00:31it can help bring Welsh into education where possible.
00:35The local authority have said that they want to help students with their Welsh, with most
00:39young people perfectly fluent in English by a young age, given the amount of English media
00:43consumed.
00:44They have said that English will not be removed from the curriculum, but instead taught as
00:49a specific subject and in some cases of cross-curricular elements, something that hasn't been received
00:54well by everyone.
00:57The Welsh Conservatives have said the plans are axing the opportunity for parents and
01:01pupils to choose to be educated in English.
01:05Outside of the Welsh-language heartlands of North Wales and West Wales, Welsh-language
01:09schools aren't as commonplace, with Cardiff having 18 Welsh schools compared to Gwynedd's
01:1380.
01:14For context, Blaenau Gwent only has one Welsh-language school in the whole authority.
01:19If the Welsh Government's plan to have a million Welsh speakers by 2050, then school will need
01:25to be a focus.
01:26There is some concern from unions that teachers who don't speak Welsh will feel possible pressures
01:31on their livelihood and job retention.
01:34Will Welsh schools overtake English-language schools at some point?
01:37Who's to say?
01:38But steps like Gwynedd's are what the Welsh Government will be looking for.
01:41James Beach Watkins reporting for Local TV.