3. Statement by the Minister for Education: Curriculum and Assessment Reform: A White Paper on Proposals for Legislative Change

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:59 pm on 29 January 2019.

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Photo of Kirsty Williams Kirsty Williams Liberal Democrat 3:59, 29 January 2019

Thank you, Dai. The experience that you've just described in the school of which you are a chairman is the experience I have in my own family. My children are bilingual children. I took the time to ask my 14-year-old last night whether she had any regrets, because, for a parent to make that choice, it's sometimes not an easy choice. It has not been without its pitfalls when I have sat alongside them and, gosh, their Welsh far exceeded mine very, very, very quickly. It's sometimes not a comfortable place to be and it's not without its pitfalls. But I asked her last night whether she had any regrets and she said, 'I am proud. I am really proud that I can speak two languages' and, as she reminded me, 'That's something that you can't do', and, when they want to gang up on me and when they want me to not understand what they are saying about me—well, you can imagine how they address one another. Let me be absolutely clear here. I in no way want to undermine the principle of immersion, which is an important way in which we can assure that children can be bilingual children.

Can I just make the point about a Welsh dimension to this curriculum? Can I just say that a Welsh dimension has to be more than just Welsh history, Dai? There seems to be a debate where we always talk about the Welsh dimension only in the confines of Welsh history lessons. I don't want children just to learn about Welsh history—which, of course, I want them to do—I want them to understand about Wales's contribution to the wider world, I want them to understand about Welsh writers, actors, musicians, those people that have excelled in the expressive arts; the fact that it is a Welshman in Geneva who is running the hadron collider. So, I don't want the Welsh dimension simply to be the preserve of Welsh history lessons. I want the Welsh dimension of our curriculum to stretch right across every single area of experience and learning, because there is no area of learning and experience where Wales hasn't got a proud story to tell about its contribution to all those very, very important aspects. And we cannot confine it just to learning about our history.