Aspiration and Achievement - Welsh-language Policy, 2021-2026 DyfoDol i'r iaith proposals for
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As p i r a t i o n
and A c h i e v e m e n t
Dyfodol i’r Iaith proposals for
Welsh-language Policy,
2021-2026
© Dyfodol i’r Iaith, November 2020
Design & print: Y Lolfa Cyf., Talybont, Ceredigion
Published by Dyfodol i’r Iaith
Post Box 180, Carmarthen SA31 9EN
post@dyfodol.net
www.dyfodol.net
1 Good Intentions place of the Welsh language is about much
more than advancing the rights of its
speakers, important though that is. In order
The announcement of a target of one million to develop the Welsh language and to extend
Welsh speakers by 2050 was a revolution of its use in the face of the immense pressures of
sorts. The intention henceforth, the Welsh English, an extremely powerful international
Government was saying, was to initiate a process language, what is needed is holistic
planning, a comprehensive creative
of restoring Welsh as a national language. And
strategy across all policy areas.
the intention was not just to have a million
people with knowledge of the Welsh language,
but a steady increase in the number of those who 3 Disseminating
would use the language on a day-to-day basis in
all aspects of their lives.
an understanding
of bilingualism and
Dyfodol i’r Iaith commends all of this, and
particularly the cross-party consensus reached language awareness
in support of the intention.
In creating a country of Welsh speakers, we
The key question, as the May 2021 election need to understand how languages are used
approaches, is how to turn the aspiration by their speakers and what are the factors that
into reality and the good intention into affect the linguistic preferences of people and
an effective process that will ensure its populations.
delivery. The technical term for such a process,
effectively put in place by, for example, the An enormous body of research exists in
Government of Euskadi, the Basque country, this field and it should be drawn upon.
is “reversal of language shift”. The election A necessary first step would be for
of the new Welsh government, of whatever Project 2050 to compile or commission a
political colour, in May 2021 will provide a summary of the lessons of this research
historic opportunity to inject new momentum and utilize it in the formulation of
into the process, recognising that much has policy and strategy. An understanding
already been done to set it in train. of bilingualism would then be cascaded
down through institutions and networks
of all kinds: from nursery groups to
2 Holistic Planning government offices, from universities to
shops, from private businesses to art and
In recent years, it has been increasingly leisure centres. The material produced
emphasised that policy to strengthen the would include, inter alia,
3
• The importance of language in the Education
history of mankind
• The significance of the Welsh Expanding Welsh-medium education is a
language in the history of Wales and precondition of growing the language. The
its identity growth needs to be accelerated, but this
• The wonder and fascination of requires an extensive programme of language-
language as such and the richness of training for teachers, prospective teachers and
the Welsh language in particular leaders in the pre-school, further and higher
• The social foundations of language education sectors.
• Guidelines on normalising the
Welsh language in bilingual/ Ensuring a sufficient workforce:
multilingual situations • Increase financial incentive for
• The cognitive, social and career benefits Higher Education students to study
of bilingualism for the individual in Wales
• Inspire Welsh-medium pupils to
A course/courses on Understanding pursue a career in education
Bilingualism should be part of our schools’ core • Increase Welsh-language training
curriculum and awareness of the importance for staff in English-medium schools
of the Welsh language an integral part of the • Increase Welsh-language training
experience of our children and young people for leaders of groups in the pre-
throughout their educational career. school sector
In order to continually update knowledge of Speed up the growth of Welsh-medium
bilingualism and the postion of the Welsh education:
language, a National Institute of Linguistics • Encourage growth of Welsh-
should be established as a world-renowned medium pre-school groups, which
centre of excellence. are the the basis of the statutory
education system
Mobility of people being such a familiar • Organise a robust system of
aspect of life today, the Welsh language immersion teaching in Welsh for
should be recognised as a language to be under-7s.
promoted among newcomers. • Strengthen the promotion of
Welsh-medium education among
4 The Policy Fields •
prospective and new parents
Simplify the transition process which
provides for English/bilingual schools
The fields that currently influence the Welsh to become Welsh-medium schools
language belong to different Government • Rearrange buildings in urban areas,
departments, and are the object of different so that new Welsh-medium schools
legislation. Some fields still are the responsibility can be set up without capital cost
of the UK Government for continuity of planning
and implementation. A National Language Emphasis on spoken use of Welsh
Planning Body is needed which will co-ordinate
planning in different areas. • More support for parents to learn
Welsh
4• Introduce a thorough programme
creation of a Welsh-speaking
of language awareness in the
workforce
curriculum
• Introduce a Welsh history
curriculum that shows the
significance of the language in our Welsh for Adults
history
• Place increased emphasis on The expansion of Welsh for Adults is essential
teaching subjects through the for teaching the language to parents, and
medium of Welsh across the public officials, and for creating a bilingual
education system workforce. Teaching and learning should be
• Financial support for Welsh- in intensive and complete programmes.
language extra-curricular activities
Funding for Welsh for Adults needs to be trebled,
Ensuring continuity between education so that the funding matches the successful
sectors example of the Basque Country, so as to:
• Teaching Welsh as one language; • Prioritise language training for
this will strengthen language teachers and public employees
continuity between all education • Provide language training for parents
sectors who wish to develop the use of
• Abolition of transport charges for Welsh at home
16+ education • Increase work-release programmes
to learn the language and improve
The English-medium sector language skills
• Encourage a system of transition • Offer year-long intensive courses
schools and offer up to 1,200 contact hours
• Emphasis on daily communication
• Increase the number of subjects
taught in Welsh, e.g. physical Welsh Language Communities
education and sport, and arrange
Welsh-medium extra-curricular A language is not a living language without
activities communities, whether geographical,
networked or institutional, that use it as a first
Higher and further education language. In considering the lives of bilingual
• Strengthen the provision of the Coleg individuals, there is a need to increase the
Cymraeg Cenedlaethol to increase areas of their lives where Welsh is the first
Welsh-medium courses in the further language. This may be at home, at work,
and higher education sectors in the local community, on social media, in
• Emphasise the use of Welsh in culture and the media and so on.
further education courses that cover
customer contact and provision of There are significant economic and
public services demographic threats to the Welsh-speaking
• Establish a system for tracking communities of tourist areas, and the place of
former Welsh-medium school the Welsh language in the social networks of
students so as to facilitate the less Welsh-speaking areas has been eroded.
5The following need consideration, amongst private sectors also merit attention. We need
other fields: to shift the emphasis from linguistic rights to
• Inspire prospective and young the creation of workplaces that will give real
parents to use Welsh with their economic value to the Welsh language.
children • Gather data on Welsh-language
• A significant economic programme public workplaces
to strengthen communities where • Set quotas for increasing Welsh-
Welsh is the main language medium administration
• A programme of growing Welsh in • Anglesey, Ceredigion and
areas where 25% of the population Carmarthenshire to administer
speak the language internally in Welsh, as in the case of
• Encourage the use of the language Gwynedd
in local businesses and high street • Set targets for other counties
social locations • Include ethnic minorities in
• Establish a network of Welsh language-learning and use of Welsh
Language Centres as powerhouses at work
for the language
Building a Welsh language landscape
We need to do more than offer a bilingual
A Prosperous Economy front-desk service. Welsh needs to be a living
language in the workplace, and particularly
The links between language and economy are in social spaces. This needs to be supported
complex and not easy to manage. However, by a programme for strengthening Welsh as
there is a need to create in mainly Welsh- a spoken language more and more in social
speaking areas the kind of economic buzzing locations such as cafes, pubs and shopping
activity that will enable Welsh speakers to centres
find attractive employment opportunities • An extensive programme to promote
there. first-use of Welsh
• Implement an economic plan that • Give prominence to where Welsh
will invigorate areas where the can be used, and with whom
Welsh language is strong, namely the • Establish awards for cafés etc. which
Arfor Scheme create a Welsh atmosphere
• Growth centres in Welsh-speaking • Normalise first-use of Welsh by sales
areas and serving staff
• Establish a Welsh-language Business
Agency to operate across Wales Land-use Planning and Housing
• Decentralise national institutions We need to do everything possible to secure
into mainly Welsh-speaking areas affordable housing for local people, and to
• Promote local procurement policy ensure that the planning system does not
militate against Welsh speakers.
Welsh Language Workplaces • Welsh is an essential consideration
One major challenge that is not adequately in planning, with attention to
addressed is the development of Welsh- demographics and housing supply
speaking workplaces. We regard the public • Identify areas with 25%+ Welsh-
sector as key in this regard but the third and speakers as areas of Special
6Linguistic Significance and that reducing the range of
• Establish a separate planning the Corporation’s services would
inspectorate for Wales undermine S4C’s public service
• Local Authority and Housing for Welsh speakers.
Association housing policy to • English-medium services should
prioritise social housing that helps increase their Welsh-medium
local people and young people to and bilingual content, so that the
remain in their home areas Welsh language is heard by the
• Reduce the number of second and population as a whole.
holiday homes to ensure the viability • It is the duty of all services
of rural communities and platforms that have the
• Welsh Language Commissioner privilege of broadcasting and
to have the power to intervene in communicating in Welsh to use
housing planning applications good-quality, natural spoken
• A points system that prioritises local language
people • There is a need to significantly
increase the use of Welsh across
new media platforms, and to
Media and culture ensure that the commercial
multinationals expand their
Mass media and social media are increasingly use of Welsh to that end. This
influential areas. Responsibility for all Welsh field should be part of S4C’s
media and all broadcasting in Wales should responsibility
be devolved to the Welsh Senedd as soon as • There is a need to increase Welsh-
possible. language provision for young
• S4C, BBC Wales and Radio people on television, radio and
Cymru, as well as all new other media.
commercial and new media • There is a need to ensure adequate
platforms should be accountable support for the creative sector,
to the democratic will of the including Welsh-language theatre
people of Wales through a companies, performance centres,
national authority established by choirs and performers.
the Welsh Senedd.
• We are concerned that the control
of our national television channel
is currently over-reliant on the 5 Correcting the
British Broadcasting Corporation.
We fear that S4C’s reliance on Deficiencies
BBC funding could inadvertently
influence the editorial content of Two bodies are currently responsible at the
S4C’s programmes. We also fear national level for driving policy on the Welsh
that the BBC’s future as a public- language.
service broadcaster is under threat
from Westminster politicians, (i) The Welsh Language Commissioner
The Commissioner has wide-ranging terms
7of reference which include promoting the These steps are to be commended.
language. Its main function has nevertheless
been and remains to strengthen speakers’ However, the fact that there has been no
rights by implementing the system public statement regarding the appointment
of standards originally put in place of the Head of Prosiect 2050, or indeed the
by legislation in the Welsh Language policy emphasis to which the job-description
Measure that came into force in 2011. gives expression, is highly significant. The
We warmly commend the way in which “Welsh Language Sub-Division”, which
the Commissioner and his staff operate now has a high-level strategic responsibility,
constructively and at the same time speak remains concealed in the bowels of the civil
up about shortcomings in policy and the service, under the wing of the Education and
needs of the Welsh language. Public Services Division.
(ii) The Welsh Language sub-division within If Project 2050 is to succeed, this has to
the Welsh Government civil service (Prosiect change.
2050) The Government withdrew its original
This sub-division inherited overall intention, launched by Welsh Language
responsibility for planning the development Minister Alun Davies in 2017, to establish
of the Language following the abolition of a Welsh Language Commission, an arm’s-
the Welsh Language Board in 2012. length body to take responsibility for Welsh-
language strategy, following protests about
In August 2017 the sub-division was re- undermining the Language Commissioner’s
named as “Prosiect 2050”, a “new Language independence.
Planning Unit... to drive forward the 2050
Welsh language strategy and increase the Dyfodol i’r Iaith is firmly in favour
focus on language planning within the Welsh of retaining the post of the independent
Government” 1 . The Minister for the Welsh Commissioner to carry out the duties that it
Language, Eluned Morgan, announced that currently has and indeed adding the private
a new head would be appointed. The post sector and Town and Country Planning to its
was advertised in March, 2020, seven months terms of reference.
later. The job-description attached to the
advertisement clearly shows As to the remit of the sub-division, as defined
• that this sub-division, under the above, there are in our view two options:
new head, has the responsibility
for leading language planning and (1) The Best Option: A new Authority or
realizing the taget of securing a Agency 2 as an arm’s length body accountable
million speakers by 2050 to the Welsh Government. This is our
• that “increasing the use [not just preferred approach. Such a body would have
knowledge] of Welsh in all aspects of a prominent public profile, a Chief Executive
life” is central to the intention and Board, and the ability to be innovative
• that the Welsh Government has and experimental in a way that is not usual
embraced the need for holistic for the civil service.
planning across policy areas and
government departments (2) The second-best option: To elevate the
status of Prosiect 2050 into an influential
8and powerful unit within the Welsh 3 The new First Minister to deliver a
Government. To be effective, such a unit public speech stating that Prosiect 2050
would have to (the project itself, that is) will have a
• Have a high public profile and be prominent place among the priorities of
identifiable by the public as well as
the new Government and elaborating
accountable to the Minister for the
on the meaning of this in terms of public
Welsh Language in government
• Have first-class expertise in language policy
planning
• Have a Head who would ensure 4 Commitment to support the Project
long-term continuity and with financial resources commensurate
consistency in strategy and have the with the challenge and to identify clearly
status to enable her/him to influence the relevant financial sums in the context
policy across all Government
of the new Government’s first budget
departments
• Be free to take risks, innovate and
experiment 5 Establish a new Arfor as a
Development Agency for the most
We see this option as a short-term solution. Welsh-speaking areas, with a remit to
The aim in the medium term, and as soon link strengthening the Welsh language
as possible, should be to externalise Prosiect with the economic, social and cultural
2050 as an arm’s length body as set out in (1) development of the region
above.
6 Establish a separate planning
6. Future Arrangements inspectorate for Wales and Areas of
Special Linguistic Significance so that
The following are the commitments the Welsh language and the needs
that Dyfodol i’r Iaith seeks from the of local people become an essential
political parties as we look forward to the consideration in planning.
establishment of a new Welsh Government in
May 2021
1 Immediate elevation of Prosiect 2050’s
status within the Welsh Government
along the above lines, then proceeding
as soon as possible to establish an arm’s
length Welsh Language Authority
2 Safeguarding the post of Welsh
Notes
Language Commissioner and adding the
private sector and Town and Country 1 Advertisement for post of new head of the sub-division March 16 2020
2 Dyfodol i’r Iaith’s proposal paper A Welsh Language Agency November 2016
Planning to its remit
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