Welsh in education workforce plan: impact assessment

In narrative form, please describe the issue and the action proposed by the Welsh Government. How have you applied/will you apply the five ways of working in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 to the proposed action, throughout the policy and delivery cycle?

The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 requires public bodies across Wales named in the Act to work towards seven well-being goals, one of which is ‘A Wales of Vibrant Culture and Thriving Welsh Language’. The Welsh Government has a duty to promote and facilitate the use of Welsh and work towards the other well-being goals.

Cymraeg 2050

The Welsh Government's ambition is to create a million Welsh speakers by 2050. This is a long-term vision and the education system has a vital role to play in achieving this ambition. Specifically to:

• increase the number of learners in Welsh-medium or bilingual education
• ensure every learner in Wales has the opportunity to develop their skills in Welsh sufficiently to use it socially and at work
• increase the number of teachers competent to teach Welsh as a subject and other subjects through the medium of Welsh in order to enable the two objectives above

In order to achieve this vision we need to ensure a sufficient Welsh-medium education workforce in order to grow Welsh-medium education for learners and we need to develop the Welsh language skills of all practitioners to support the implementation of the new curriculum for Wales. Cymraeg 2050 sets the following targets for increasing the number of teachers who can teach Welsh or through the medium of Welsh.

Developing the Welsh language skills of our practitioners and their ability to teach Welsh and through the medium of Welsh is essential to meet the aims of Cymraeg 2050.

Long-term

The Cymraeg 2050 workplan for 2021 to 2026 committed us to develop and implement a 10-year plan for increasing the number of Welsh and Welsh-medium teachers and improving the linguistic skills of the education workforce so that the local needs of each county can be met in accordance with their Welsh in Education Strategic Plans. This requires Welsh Government to refine and embed some of our key policies and ensure that all stakeholders work together to achieve our aims.

One of the long-term considerations of this Plan is to understand the whole journey in becoming and remaining a teacher not just focusing on initial teacher education (ITE). The Plan considers interventions much earlier in a pupil’s journey towards teaching as a choice of career. including strategies to increase the number of pupils choosing Welsh as a subject at A-level.

The Plan also takes account of the long-term local authority Welsh in Education Strategic Plans (WESPs). These are statutory plans which require local authorities to plan over 10-years to increase the number of learners in Welsh-medium and bilingual education. This Plan is therefore aligned with the WESPs which will enable us to gain an earlier and longer term view on what education provision is planned by local authorities and the subsequent demand for teachers.

Prevention

The Programme for Government sets out the Welsh Government’s ambition for the Welsh language to be used more extensively and for the number who speak it to grow. It also sets out the commitment to work towards one million people speaking the Welsh language by 2050 and to continue to invest in encouraging more people to use and speak Welsh in their daily lives. This Plan will support the delivery of the ambition by supporting more young people to develop the language.

Integration

This plan brings planning of the Welsh-medium workforce in line with the development and timescales of the WESPs. Local authorities have set out their plans for increasing Welsh medium provision in their WESPs, this plan works alongside those to ensure the necessary workforce are also in place. 

The Plan is also an integral part of delivering the new Curriculum for Wales. As well as teaching staff and support staff for Welsh-medium schools, the Plan also considers how we will ensure there are sufficient teachers and support staff in all schools to be able to teach the new curriculum.

Actions in the plan also integrate with policies to increase sufficient leaders with Welsh language skills and ITE provision such as incentives and the pathways to becoming a qualified teacher. It also considers links to the childcare sector.

Collaboration

Collaboration has been integral to the development of this Plan. They key partners include teaching unions, local education authorities, ITE providers, CYDAG, Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol and others. They have been fully involved in its development and the roles and responsibilities of those integral to its delivery are clearly defined in the plan

Involvement

The plan has been co-created with key stakeholders and partners through a task and finish group. Members have been closely involved in defining the problems, developing ideas and solutions and will be integral in its delivery. We have also met a number of wider stakeholders during development to ensure we fully understand the issues and the plan includes achievable actions. 

In addition to the five ways of working above, consider the following areas:

Impact

There is a clear need to develop our Welsh-medium workforce. Schools are finding it a challenge now to recruit teachers in certain subjects. If we are to sustain growth in the Welsh-medium sector, we must increase the available workforce.

The plan includes a comprehensive data analysis which provides the evidence for the developments. We have also drawn on several research and evaluation reports. We will update the data analysis every two years to ensure that the actions in the plan are taken forward based on the most recent data.

There are innovative and novel actions for solving the workforce issue included in the Plan. Further development work and consultation will be needed to refine some of these solutions. All the actions have been discussed and shared widely and we will establish an implementation group to continue to develop and monitor the actions as the plan progresses.

Costs and Savings

The plan is wide-ranging and includes a number of actions that cut across a number of budgets. Additional funding will be invested from the Teaching and Support BEL 4880 over the next three years to implement the plan. As outlined in the draft budget, a further £1m is being allocated in 2022 to 2023 with further indicative increases of £0.5m in 2023 to 2024 and £2m in 2024 to 2025.

This new funding is in addition to existing funding, which includes:

• £0.785m for Iaith Athrawon Yfory
• £6.350m for the Sabbatical Scheme and regional or local support for professional learning in Welsh
• £0.700m for the conversion programme
• £0.145m to support activities to increase the number of learners studying Welsh as a subject

This brings the total funding to nearly £9m in 2022 to 2023. There are also other funding streams within the Education MEG that will fund elements of the plan, these include:

• funding for the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol
• funding for the National Centre for Learning Welsh
• funding for the delivery of the ALN Act

The delivery of the Plan is reliant on close collaboration between a number of stakeholders. Where responsibility for the delivery of an action has been placed with a stakeholder, there is an expectation that the action will be taken forward within existing budgets, wherever possible. However, as some of the actions are novel and may require additional investment to enable stakeholders to deliver, these will be prioritised form the additional budget that has been allocated.

It is unlikely that there will be savings in the short-term, however, there may be opportunities to make savings in the longer-term as we embed more sustainable models of delivery.

Mechanism

No additional legislation will be needed to deliver this plan.

The Co-operation Agreement includes a commitment to Introduce a Welsh Language Education Bill, which together with more immediate non-legislative work, will strengthen Welsh in Education Strategic Plans; set new ambitions and incentives to expand the proportion of the education workforce who can teach and work through the Welsh language; establish and implement a single continuum of Welsh language learning; enable existing schools to move into a higher Welsh language category and incentivise the increase of Welsh-medium provision in all education settings. Consideration to future legislation to support deliver of this Plan will be included as this commitment is taken forward.

8.1. How have people most likely to be affected by the proposal been involved in developing it?

The Plan was co-constructed with all representatives of the key stakeholders likely to be involved in its delivery, through a task and finish group. All those likely to be affected by the plan were represented on the group. Other stakeholders were also consulted at key points and were directly able to influence the contents of the plan.

During the development of the Plan, we also drew on relevant research and evidence from a range of sources, and as we progress with implementation, we will continue to engage with those affected.

8.2 What are the most significant impacts, positive and negative?

The main impact of the plan is to increase the number of teachers able to teach through the medium of Welsh in order to increase the number of learners able to access education in Welsh.

The plan also aims to increase the number of practitioners in English-medium schools who have higher-level Welsh language skills that will enable them to use Welsh more widely across the curriculum in line with the Curriculum for Wales, with the end goal of learners being able to use the language more confidently when they leave school.

This would have a significant positive impact on the Welsh language and the well-being goal of a Wales of vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language.

Collaboration has been integral to the development of this Plan. They key partners include teaching unions, local education authorities, ITE providers, CYDAG, Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol and others. They will also have an important part to play in the delivery of the Plan, which will contribute to the well-being objective of Continuing our long-term programme of education reform, and ensure educational inequalities narrow and standards rise.

It is clearly outlined in the plan that doing nothing is not an option. The data shows that the number of new teachers entering the workforce is not nearly sufficient to meet the Cymraeg 2050 targets, nor the needs of an increasing number of learners in Welsh-medium schools. The professional learning and leadership elements of the plan are also essential if we are to realise the vision for a thriving Welsh language by ensuring that our workforce is equipped with the knowledge and skills.

8.3 In light of the impacts identified, how will the proposal:

• maximise contribution to our well-being objectives and the seven well-being goals?

• avoid, reduce or mitigate any negative impacts?

The Plan directly contributes towards ‘a Wales of vibrant culture and thriving Welsh Language by ensuring we have the necessary workforce to deliver the growth in Welsh-medium education needed to meet the Cymraeg 2050 goal.

It also contributes towards the delivery of the new Curriculum for Wales which has the well-being goals at its heart.

We will continue to work closely with our partners and stakeholders to avoid, reduce or mitigate any risks that develop as we move forward to deliver the Plan.

8.4 How will the impact of the proposal be monitored and evaluated as it progresses and when it concludes? 

The Plan outlines how we will monitor delivery. This will include a range of methods, including:

• establish a steering group of experts from the sector to advise on implementation
• consult with our key stakeholders on specific developments via task and finish groups
• continually monitor and evaluate the actions taken and formally review the plan after 5 years
• consider international best practice as we move forward with implementation

The Plan also includes two supporting documents which provide a detailed data analysis and a summary of the projected workforce needs to deliver what Local Authorities have set out in their Welsh in Education Strategic Plans. These documents will be updated every two years to monitor progress. Progress will also be monitored via the Cymraeg 2050 annual report.

1. Policy objectives

The plan will support the delivery of Cymraeg 2050 and the aims to ensure all children and young people in Wales can speak and use the language when they leave education, and to increase the number of learners in Welsh-medium education.

Our aims, in the delivery of this plan are to:

• increase the number of teachers able to teach Welsh as a subject and other subjects through the medium of Welsh
• increase the number of practitioners able to work through the medium of Welsh who are supporting learners
• develop all practitioners’ Welsh language skills and expertise to teach Welsh and through the medium of Welsh
• develop leadership capacity for Welsh-medium schools and equip all leaders with the skills to strategically plan the development of Welsh within a culture of schools as learning organisations

2. Gathering evidence and engaging with children and young people

The Plan is focussed on the development of education practitioners and does not include actions directly related to children. Therefore they were not consulted in the development of the plan.

The Plan will lead to a better skilled workforce to deliver Curriculum for Wales, which has been subject to engagement with children and young people.

3. Analysing the evidence and assessing the impact

• Using the evidence you have gathered, what impact is your policy likely to have on children and young people? What steps will you take to mitigate and/or reduce any negative effects?
• How does your proposal enhance or challenge children’s rights, as stipulated by the UNCRC articles and its Optional Protocols? Please refer to the articles to see which ones apply to your own policy.

4. Ministerial advice and decision

• How will your analysis of these impacts inform your ministerial advice?

The analysis of the impacts will be included in the advice to the Minister, which is that the implementation of the plan should have an impact on children and young people’s education. This vision is also made clear within the plan itself.

5. Communicating with children and young people

The plan itself doesn’t directly affect children and young people. However, there are some actions that will require engagement with learners to gather their views and these will be sought and communicated as the we progress with implementation.

6. Monitoring and review

Please outline what monitoring and review mechanism you will put in place to review this CRIA. 

The Plan outlines how we will monitor delivery. This will include a range of methods, including:

• establish a steering group of experts from the sector to advise on implementation
• consult with our key stakeholders on specific developments via task and finish groups
• continually monitor and evaluate the actions taken and formally review the plan after 5 years
• consider international best practice as we move forward with implementation

The Plan also includes two supporting documents which provide a detailed data analysis and a summary of the projected workforce needs to deliver what Local Authorities have set out in their Welsh in Education Strategic Plans. These documents will be updated every two years to monitor progress. Progress will also be monitored via the Cymraeg 2050 annual report.

The CIRA will be reviewed every two years in line with the arrangements put in place to monitor implementation of the plan.