Child Poverty

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:33 pm on 16 October 2018.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 1:33, 16 October 2018

Well, one of the lessons we've learned is that, despite the fact that Welsh has been compulsory up to the age of 16 in schools since the early 1990s, we cannot say that we have created confident Welsh speakers in English-medium schools as a result, which is why, of course, the curriculum is being reformed, showing that Welsh is a skill—which it is for most people—rather than an academic qualification, and ensuring that people are better able to measure their fluency in the language. For too long we've had an artificial divide between first and second languages, rather than actually measuring the level of someone's fluency. And that is something that will be very much part of the curriculum, to ensure that Welsh teaching is effective and also that Welsh is seen as a subject that is there to be studied as a skill, which I think will enthuse many more young people.