A new law designed to make every pupil in Wales a confident Welsh speaker has come into force after receiving Royal Assent on Monday, July 7. The Welsh Language and Education Wales Act is part of the Welsh government’s “Cymraeg 2050” strategy to ensure a minimum of one million Welsh speakers within 25 years. It reinforces the central part that Welsh will play in schools across the country.
The role of education
The Act seeks to reverse the steady decline of the language. It creates a comprehensive framework to ensure that all children, irrespective of their background or the type of school they attend, leave compulsory education as independent speakers of Welsh.
Maintained schools are now required to develop detailed plans for Welsh language education, with clear benchmarks for progress and delivery. The law introduces three formal language categories for schools: primarily Welsh-medium, dual-language, and primarily English with some Welsh. Minimum standards for Welsh language provision will be assigned to each category.
International alignment
The Act also introduces a national framework for Welsh language teaching, setting measurable outcomes based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, bringing Wales into line with international standards. Schools are charged with delivering education that will enable pupils to use Welsh confidently in both formal and daily settings. Targets for ability levels will vary from “basic” to “proficient” according to each school’s language category.
The Act represents a small but significant change in the shape of English and Welsh public and civil law. It will be noted by lawyers not just in a region like Cornwall, where the local language is under threat, but all over the UK, including at a London law firm such as www.forsters.co.uk, whose clients are largely based in the South East of England.
First Minister Eluned Morgan described the law as a milestone. She believes it will advance the progress already underway by offering children and young people better opportunities to learn the Welsh language. She expects it to achieve her government’s goal of reaching one million Welsh speakers and ensuring Wales’s unique linguistic heritage survives and thrives.
