What is the value of Welsh language in primary education?

Hello Education Bloggers, and welcome back! These will be my last few blogs for the year, time has gone so quickly! My first blog is going to explore the value of Welsh language within Primary Education.

Within Welsh-medium schools, the Foundation Phase is taught through the medium of Welsh, and as the children progress through to Key Stage 2, 70% of the curriculum is taught in Welsh, including Religious Studies and other subjects, apart from English (a core subject) taught at schools (Jones, 2016). However, within mainstream schools, the use of the Welsh language is used far less, but should be used throughout the National Curriculum. There are compulsory Welsh lessons where pupils communicate through the skills of oracy, reading, and writing. They are provided with extended and increasingly complex vocabulary, in order to develop independently and confidently. Their development of skills will be enhanced in other languages through progressing as Welsh speakers (Welsh Government, 2015).

For many years I volunteered at Ynyscynon Early Years Nursery School where Welsh was taught as a second language. Throughout the school day the teachers would encourage the pupils to understand, listen to, and ask, and answer simple Welsh terminology. For example;

·         Good Morning - Bore Da

·         How are you? – Sut wyt ti?

·         What is the weather? -  Sut Mae’r tywydd heddiw?

·         Can I go to the toilet please? – Ga I fynd i’r ty bach os gwelwch yn dda?

·         Dinner or Sandwiches? (packed lunch) – Cinio/Brechdanau?

·         Hands up – Dwylo I fyny

·         Come in – Dewch I mewn

Another example would be; Look at the lady birds! Let’s count their spots in Welsh; “Un, Dau, Tri..” otherwise known as incidental Welsh. Using incidental Welsh within the classroom is ensuring that the progression of Welsh is developed through simple and effective ways (Cully Education, no date).

Welsh in the early years is encouraged as it is believed that having a second language can have a positive impact on the child’s learning and development. Even though it is fun to learn a new language, it is challenging, and opens up our minds to different ways of seeing the world around us.

However, Belfield (2015), confidently stated that the Welsh education system is not “fit for purpose”, and that “part of the problem with forcing young people to learn both English and Welsh, is that young people in Wales will continue to be educationally weaker that their peers in England and abroad”. This statement was strongly disagreed with by Hilditch-Roberts (2015), who argued that “every objective study shows that children who are fluent in Welsh, perform better educationally”. He then goes on to talk about how Mr Belfield obviously hasn’t read then two independent reviews on teaching Welsh in English-medium schools, and the advantages that it has.

Welsh Government (2013), believes that there are not enough opportunities within the classroom for children to thrive using their Welsh language apart from within actual Welsh lessons. They also believe that primary school teachers don’t have enough confidence and the ability to teach Welsh as a second language. Wightwick (2017), explained how Toni Schiavone aims to tackle this problem by ensuring that more teachers are trained to teach through the medium of Welsh to enable young people can normalise the use of Welsh in everyday life.

The Welsh Government (2013), want to ensure that Welsh remains as an important aspect of our culture and society, and that it “flourishes as a language of daily use”. As well as continuously being taught as a compulsory subject within the curriculum. Professor Graham Donaldson appreciates the importance of Welsh within our country, and understands that the Welsh Government are committed to seeing the Welsh language thrive. Professor Graham Donaldson has ensured that the Welsh language will remain within the new curriculum (Successful Futures), as a compulsory subject. This will enable pupils to improve their Welsh speaking skills, and to implement their knowledge of the Welsh language confidently within different contexts (Welsh Government, 2015). The Welsh language will be in-cooperated within the Areas of Learning and Experience to ensure that “learners in all settings and schools can receive acknowledgement for skills gained” (Welsh Government, 2015). This will allow pupils to practise their Welsh speaking skills and thrive throughout different subjects within their educational lives.

In 2013, Smith (2016), surveyed 849 secondary school pupils, and only 25% said they were could speak fluent Welsh, with the majority of pupils stating that they could speak some Welsh, but did not have the ability to confidently speak the language fluently. 64.5% of the pupils agreed that speaking the Welsh language is very important, and nearly 75% expressed how important it is that Welsh remains as a living language. This clearly demonstrates student voice needing to be heard, so that strategies can be implemented to ensure the progression of Welsh within education. This is supported by Wightwick (2017), who claimed that the Welsh Government aim to get one million Welsh speakers, and they plan to do this by ensuring that most of young children are attending Welsh-medium primary schools by 2030. Schiavone (2017), stated how every child in Wales should have the ability to work and communicate in Welsh. In addition to this, he quoted “reaching a million speakers is a deliberately ambitious target. There are challenges ahead but we are building from a position of strength”.

Reference List

Belfield. T (2015) ‘Forcing Pupils to learn Welsh will keep them weaker than English counterparts’ Available at: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/forcing-pupils-learn-Welsh-keep-9256782 (Accessed on: 12^th April 2018).

Cully Education (no date) ‘Developing Incidental Welsh Booklets and Posters’ Available at: https://www.cullyeducation.co.uk/developing-incidental-Welsh/ (Accessed on: 14^th April 2018).

Hilditch-Roberts. H (2015) ‘Forcing Pupils to learn Welsh will keep them weaker than English counterparts’ Available at: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/forcing-pupils-learn-Welsh-keep-9256782 (Accessed on: 12^th April 2018).

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: 5^th April 2018).

Schiavone. T ‘Most children will need Welsh-medium education by 2030 to reach target of one million speakers, research claims’ Available at: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/most-children-need-welsh-medium-13103743 (Accessed on: 12^th April 2018).

Smith. K (2016) ‘Living, not just learning, the Welsh language’ Available at: https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/living-not-just-learning-the-welsh-language (Accessed: 12^th April 2018).

Welsh Government (2013) ‘One Language for All’ Available at: http://gov.wales/docs/dcells/publications/130926-review-of-welsh-second-lan-en.pdf (Accessed on: 14^th April 2018).

Welsh Government (2015) ‘A Curriculum for Wales – A curriculum for Life – Enabling the Welsh Language to thrive’ Available at: http://gov.wales/docs/dcells/publications/151021-a-curriculum-for-wales-a-curriculum-for-life-en.pdf (Accessed on: 14^th April 2018).

Wightwick. A, (2017) ‘Most children will need Welsh-medium education by 2030 to reach target of one million speakers, research claims' Available at: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/most-children-need-welsh-medium-13103743 (Accessed on: 12^th April 2018).