Welsh medium education

Education delivered through the medium of the Welsh language is known as Welsh medium education (Welsh: Addysg Gyfrwng Cymraeg).

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Welsh medium education should be distinguished from the teaching of the Welsh language itself as an academic subject. Welsh as a subject is taught as a first language in Welsh medium schools. In the majority of English medium schools, Welsh is taught as a second language and became compulsory for all pupils in Wales at Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 (up to age 14) in 1990. In 1999, it became a compulsory subject for Key Stage 4 pupils (GCSE (ages 15 and 16)). Provision of Welsh as a subject in independent (private) schools is less widespread — only a few provide it, and it is taught as a second language. There is no private designated Welsh-medium school in Wales, although one does exist in London, known as the London Welsh School.

16% of pupils attend Welsh-medium schools, with a further 10% attending bilingual, dual-medium, or English with significant Welsh provision.^[1] Children wishing to join a Welsh medium school do not have to speak Welsh to attend if they are young enough to learn the language quickly. Ysgol Glan Clwyd is an example: although 70% of the pupils attending this school come from homes where English is the main or only language, 95% of pupils finish their education speaking Welsh as proficiently as a native speaker. Ysgol Glan Clwyd was the first Welsh-medium secondary (comprehensive) school, and opened in Rhyl in 1956.

Nursery Education

Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin (Nursery Schools Movement) has established play groups and nurseries throughout Wales which allow children to learn Welsh through immersion. It is the main Welsh medium education and care provider in Wales for the Early Years. There were 11,828 children in cylchoedd meithrin (Mudiad Meithrin Playgroups) in 2014-2015, with 22,000 children attending Mudiad Meithrin provisions every week.

The spread of such nurseries has ensured strong demand from parents for Welsh medium primary schools. The success of Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin inspired the Ikastolak movement in the Basque Country and the Diwan movement in Brittany.

Primary Education

In the primary school sector, the numbers of children in Welsh-medium schools (or in the Welsh-medium stream of dual stream schools) has grown steadily in recent years. Welsh Government statistics show that in 2014, 22.2% of 7 year old learners were assessed through the medium of Welsh first language

Information taken from Schools in Wales (accessed 23 July 2010) Update for last three years taken from School Census Results, 2012 (accessed 17 May 2013)

Secondary Education

The percentage of children in Welsh-medium secondary schools is slightly less than in primary schools, but has also grown, although it appears to have stabilised in the 2010s.

Information taken from Schools in Wales (accessed 23 July 2010) Update for last three years taken from School Census Results, 2012 (accessed 17 May 2013)

Further Education

During 2015/2016, 7.8% of learning activities in the Further Education sector included some element of Welsh, with 0.29% of activities offered through Welsh only. The subjects with the highest number of learning activities with some element of Welsh were Retail and Commercial Enterprise (18.1%); Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care (17.7%) and Business, Administration and Law (14.2%).^[2]

Higher Education

In 2014/15, the number of higher education students with at least some teaching through the medium of Welsh reached an all-time high with 6,355 students, or 5.1% of all students at Welsh universities.^[3] Of these 6,355 students, 53% were taught entirely through the medium of Welsh and 47% were taught part of their course in Welsh.^[4]

The University of Wales, Trinity Saint David had both the highest number of students (2,185) and the highest proportion of its students (21%) receiving at least some teaching through the medium of Welsh. Glyndŵr University had both the lowest number (45) and proportion of its students (0.7%) receiving at least some teaching through the medium of Welsh.

Effects

In 2013, reporting on comments by former Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy, the BBC reported that the admissions officer for Oxford University had indicated that Welsh medium schools were especially reluctant to encourage pupils to seek places at top UK universities if this meant leaving Wales, which reportedly has contributed to a decrease in the number of Welsh pupils gaining places. As an example of the broader problem, which was also contributed to by other issues such as the impact of the Welsh Baccalaureate, and was not limited to Welsh medium schools, Murphy had indicated that "students from the south Wales valleys are five times less likely to apply to Oxford or Cambridge than students in some of the more affluent English counties".^[5]

See also

• Education in Wales
• Gaelscoil

References

External links

• Welsh Language Board
• Mudiad Meithrin