Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:35 pm on 24 January 2017.
I’m not sure what the Member was trying to say. She did give me the impression that she was suggesting that every primary school should be Welsh medium. I think there are issues surrounding that, particularly practical issues in terms of recruiting teachers. I firmly believe that it’s right that our national languages should be compulsory until the age of 16. There are issues about the way in which Welsh is being taught in English-medium schools, particularly through the short course. I don’t think we can say, hand on heart, that we have created confident Welsh speakers in our English-medium schools. Clearly, that’s not the case. This is why the new curriculum will be important and why moving away from the idea that Welsh is solely an academic area of study, and moving more towards it being seen as a vocational skill—. For those, of course, who want to study it academically, that’s important, but seeing it as a vocational skill that is required through school is going to be important in the future. I think that would be a good way of improving the way in which Welsh is taught and learned in the English-medium schools.