What is the value of the Welsh language in primary education?

Hello Education bloggers! I hope the discussion about science and technology in primary education was to your liking. As previously mentioned in my last blog, today, we will be discussing the value of the Welsh language in primary education.

Firstly, what do we mean by value? In other words, it is “the importance, worth, or usefulness of something” (Oxford Dictionary, 2018). So, what is the importance of the Welsh language? Donaldson (2015, p.34) has included ‘Welsh Language and Development’ in English-medium schools a compulsory factor in the areas of learning and experience, within primary education. Combining the Welsh language in with English-medium schools gives the pupils a chance to explore further into their speaking, listening, reading and writing. Furthermore, the pupils will “have two first languages, Welsh and English” (Osmond, 2008, p.18), giving them an opportunity to communicate using a different language to others.

Whether Welsh is being taught as a first or second language, being able to speak the language that is primarily used in Wales could open many opportunities for them in future, based on their ambition and future career. Jones (2015, p.75) undertook some research based on whether some students aged 16-19 years studied through Welsh-medium, English-medium or both languages. A female student, intending to study medicine, shared her view of “there are a shortage of Welsh-speaking doctors in Wales, and I would think that’s a big advantage”. Although this source is based older students, the idea of learning Welsh to potentially have a greater chance of taking on a role that requires speaking the language, is a factor to think about within primary education. The Welsh language linking in with the future of the pupils in primary schools reflects the value of it because it could lead them into many ways when finding a job. 

However, this research that has been taken by Jones highlights very little opinions based on students preferring to speaking English therefore, demonstrating the lack of accuracy within these answers. A male student did express that “for me to speak Welsh and then get a job with everything in English, it’s going to be difficult” Jones (2015, p.75), and it does reflect that some jobs may not require the Welsh language in Wales, but it is all about the career path young people choose to take. Again, this is all linked with older individuals, but does relate to primary education because it is the way in which these students were taught Welsh, and how quickly they picked it up when learning the language.

Those of you Education bloggers that speak Welsh, what are your thoughts based on what we have discussed so far? In primary school, it was and still is a “compulsory subject for pupils aged 5-14” Jones (2016, p.11), but how has this benefited you since moving away from primary education?

Let’s move onto some statistics! The Welsh Government have shared some figures comparing the percentage of children aged 3-4 years, being able to speak the Welsh language in 2001 and 2011. If we take one of the largest cities, like Cardiff as an example, the percentage back in 2001 was 11.1%, whereas the percentage in 2011 increased slightly giving a percentage of 15.1%.

As we can see, there is a difference between the 2 figures, but why is this? According to the Iwa (no date, p.3) document on the 2001 census, “welsh speakers are not all neatly grouped into discrete Welsh-speaking households”, implying that many of the Welsh speakers do not maintain the communication of the language in the household and is the reason for the percentage being incredibly low. They have gone onto say that “a third of the Welsh population - live in households which contained at least one Welsh speaker” (Iwa, no date, p.3). As it was compulsory in schools to learn Welsh, I do not feel that this is the main issue of teachers not encouraging their pupil’s enough, I think that it is because the language is not being used at home with parents or carers. The Welsh Government (2012, p.12) support my view on this, as they believe that the Welsh language should be “used in the home and through wider social and cultural activities” because Welsh is not enough at schools on its own. This statement demonstrates the value of the language, because they are encouraging children to maintain the interaction no just in schools, but elsewhere so they can build on that skill of using being able to communicate via a different language. 

This report is based on the statistics from 2011, highlighting that only little progress has been made since 2001. As Donaldson’s report published in 2015, it could be said that his aim is to encourage children to use the Welsh language more, so then the figures should increase by around 2022. In contrast to what has been discussed, he believes that there is a “firm commitment to the Welsh language and bilingualism… to the Welsh dimension in education of all children and young people” (Donaldson, 2015, p.17). From this statement, it seems that Donaldson has a positive view towards Welsh speaking in schools, and that improvements have been made to bilingualism in primary education. The positive response from Donaldson also demonstrates that children and young people are becoming more familiar with the Welsh language, because it is becoming more acknowledged in schools. As this report is from 2015, improvements could have been made since 2011 in terms of Welsh being used more, and so is the reason for Donaldson’s point. Furthermore, the ‘firm commitment’ highlights the value of the Welsh language, because not only has the engagement within primary schools increased, but schools encourage them to persevere with it.

With regards to engagement, in our recent seminar, a Welsh-speaking lecturer came in to teach my peers and myself some basic Welsh. As an English-speaking student, I found this incredibly engaging and it was good fun; I think I may have got into the spirit a little too much by screaming ‘HAPUS!’ (meaning happy) every so often. We were able to go from learning how to speak Welsh, to playing games like Bingo and Ping-Pong to test our knowledge, and to show our engagement throughout. Me and my peer struggled to get the hang of it, but it was great to be a part of. It also demonstrated that if we found it difficult to say some of the words, it did not matter because we only did it once; with perseverance, we would have noticed more progress.

The lecturer also gave us visuals on the board, so we could refer to it whenever we needed to. Taking part in activities and games engaged the class and encouraged us to get involved, because it was fun; these are factors that could help children in primary education get involved, so they become more familiar with the language.

So, I think the Welsh language in primary education is important and from what I learnt in the seminar, keeping pupils engaged will encourage them to understand the value, so they can use it more outside of school. There is so much to talk about based on the Welsh language, but I tried to narrow it down the best that I can. Do you think schools acknowledge the value enough? Feel free to share your views below, based on the statistics that I have given.

In our final blog, we are going to focus on the man himself, Donaldson. The focal topic will be on expressive arts, and how it links in with the curriculum. I want you to start thinking about the activities that are involved within expressive arts, and what you did in primary school that links in with this topic. That could be dance, arts and crafts, design technology, etc.

See you in the next blog!  

Anisha Chauhan

References:

-       Oxford Dictionary (2018) ‘Value’, Available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/value (Accessed: 28/03/18)

-       Donaldson (2015) ‘Successful Futures’, p.17-34

-       Osmond. J (2008) ‘Creating a bilingual Wales: the role of Welsh in education, Cardiff, p.18

-       Jones. M C (2015) ‘Policy and Planning for Endangered Languages’, Cambridge, p.75

-       Jones. M (2016) ‘Research Briefing Welsh-medium education and Welsh as a subject’, Available at: http://www.assembly.wales/research%20documents/rs16-048/16-048-english-web.pdf (Accessed: 28/03/18), p.11

-       Iwa (no date) ‘Welsh language’, Available at: http://www.iwa.wales/click/wp-content/uploads/5_Factfile_Language.pdf (Accessed: 28/03/18), p.3

-       Welsh Government (2012) ‘A living language: a language for living’, Available at: http://www.estynllaw.org/uploads/s_a_living_language.pdf (Accessed: 28/03/18), p.12

-       Welsh Government (no date) ‘StatsWales: Welsh speakers by local authority and broader age groups, 2001 and 2011 census’, Available at: https://statswales.gov.wales/catalogue/welsh-language/welshspeakers-by-la-broaderage-2001and2011census (Accessed: 28/03/18)