Welsh Language Commissioner calls for compulsory Welsh language training for teachers, strengthened promotional standards that create duties for local authorities

Efa Gruffudd Jones’ call comes in her five-year report, Our time to act: The position of the Welsh Language 2021-25, in which she identifies three main opportunities that need to be addressed to strengthen the position of the Welsh language for the future:

Creating confident Welsh speakers through the education system
Strengthening the use of the Welsh language in communities
Creating workplaces that support the Welsh language.

In relation to education, the report urges the next Welsh Government to establish a Welsh‑language training framework as a compulsory element of the training, induction, and professional development of every teacher.

“This would provide an excellent opportunity for the teachers of the future to develop their skills and to contribute directly to transforming Wales’s education system,” it says.

On the community use of Welsh, Gruffudd Jones calls for implementation “with conviction and ambition” of the recommendations of the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities, suggesting this is a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to address the decline of the Welsh language in its heartlands.

The report says there is “clear potential” for the next Welsh Government to strengthen the promotional standards that create duties for local authorities and national parks to promote and facilitate Welsh in their areas, so they become more effective vehicles for community language planning.

Investment and resources must also be increased for key partners responsible for providing activities, events, entertainment, and digital content through the medium of Welsh.

In relation to workplaces supporting the Welsh language, the Commissioner asks for additional investment, “enabling us to intensify our existing work”.

The report also advises that the Welsh language standards, introduced a decade ago, are in need of review “to ensure that they remain relevant and accurately reflect how services are delivered today and in the future”.

The Commissioner adds that “there is a clear opportunity for the next Welsh Government to increase opportunities to use Welsh in relation to services and the workplace by considering how additional organisations and sectors might be brought under the Welsh language standards”.

The report also sets out the Commissioner’s ten priorities going forward. These are set out below.

On publication of the report, Eva Gruffudd Jones said: “The next Welsh Government needs to act purposefully and positively for the benefit of the Welsh language, by introducing bold interventions in favour of the language.

“This is the only way to transform the current situation if we are serious about doubling daily use and reaching a million Welsh speakers by 2050.”

She added: “In essence, the report is an invitation to the new Welsh Government, Members of the Senedd from all parties, policymakers, and all of us who take an interest in the Welsh language, to read our analysis of the situation of the language. Only by pausing to understand and consider the state of the Welsh language today can we plan effectively for tomorrow.

“I have great ambition for the Welsh language and its speakers. I want to see a Wales where living through the medium of Welsh a genuine, everyday choice for its people, and I will remain unwavering in my commitment to achieving this.”

Harry Rodd

The Welsh Language Commissioner’s priorities

The rates of Welsh language transmission from one generation to the next must be improved. Achieving this requires strengthening the position of the language in areas with a high density of Welsh speakers, where transmission remains relatively robust. The recommendation of the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities to establish areas of higher linguistic significance must be implemented, and additional investment should be provided to Mudiad Meithrin, the mentrau iaith and others in the field to enable them to target interventions more effectively and at greater scale.
There must be significantly greater investment in developing the Welsh language skills of the early years workforce. This requires expanding the Welsh-language training embedded within the sector’s training courses and apprenticeships, and the ongoing professional development available to all workers. To achieve the increase in Welsh-language skills, the recruitment and retention of staff must be facilitated through an overall increase in resources to the sector.
The challenge of creating an increasingly bilingual education workforce must be addressed with urgency and ambition. Strong intervention from the Welsh Government is needed to increase the number of learners leaving school as confident Welsh speakers. The Welsh Government should establish a Welsh-language training framework that forms a compulsory part of the training, induction, and professional development of all teachers.
There must be an opportunity for all learners to develop their Welsh language skills in the post compulsory education and training sector. To achieve this, appropriate investment is required and greater strategic emphasis must be placed on ensuring that Welsh speaking learners receive a higher proportion of their education and training in Welsh. Increasing the percentage of fluent Welsh speakers who choose to study through the medium of Welsh must be a priority for the sector over the next five years.
There must be far more opportunities, especially for children and young people, to use the Welsh language in communities, and to take part in cultural, community and sporting activities. To achieve this, and as recommended by the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities, the Welsh Government must strengthen community-based language planning frameworks and increase the funding and resources available to key partners responsible for delivering these activities and events in Welsh.
Key partners must work together to develop a full understanding of the challenges and opportunities involved in increasing the use of Welsh in digital media and broadcasting. Building on this collaboration, a national digital strategy, led by the Welsh Government, should be developed outlining the key contributions of all partners.
The further decline of the Welsh language in the areas where it is currently at its strongest must be prevented if we are to strengthen its position across the whole of Wales. The Welsh Government must urgently publish a white paper to implement the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities’ key recommendation to establish areas of higher density linguistic significance
The Welsh language standards must be reviewed to ensure they remain relevant and reflect current and future models of service provision. The Welsh Government must also facilitate an increase in the opportunities to provide Welsh language services by:
- introducing Welsh language standards regulations for Ministers of the Crown; the consent of Secretaries of State would be required to name them in regulations.
- introducing Welsh language standards regulations for UK Government non-ministerial departments.
- developing a clear programme for extending Welsh language standards to other sectors and organisations listed in the Measure and considering expanding to other key sectors.
The Welsh Language Commissioner must be enabled to intensify our work in workplaces through the provision of additional investment to develop and deliver a coherent strategy to increase the use of Welsh in the workplace. This strategy would target and support organisations across all sectors to plan strategically for increasing the use of Welsh in their workplaces. Such a strategy would coordinate national workplace-planning activities, building on the strategic collaboration that is already taking place between other key partners in this field.
Clinical care for Welsh speakers must be transformed by focusing resources and effort on recognised priority areas. Central investment by NHS Wales in the Welsh language should be increased by funding a department of specialist lead officers who will ensure that care in Welsh is an integral part of all aspects of care pathways in these priority areas.