Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 2:19 pm on 6 February 2019.
Well, of course, what's really important is that we will have a language continuum, which we will expect children to move along. What's really important is that that focus will be on using the language as a means of communication, not just something that you learn just to be able to write. And what we want to do is improve the linguistic ability of children in both languages to ensure that, when they leave school, as many of our young people as possible are completely bilingual and are able to use and enjoy the language both in the world of work and in society.
It's also about understanding, in some communities, the importance of those linguistic skills and recognising that these are valuable skills to have in the world of work. And therefore, being able to be able to do your childcare bilingually, by being able to be a healthcare professional bilingually, by being able to offer services bilingually, actually, there's a real—not only a cultural benefit to being a bilingual person—but, actually, there are real economic benefits to being a bilingual person. I think it's one of the ways in which we need to make the case and support that with good-quality Welsh language teaching. And that is a feature of our reform programme to ensure the experience of young people, where the medium of tuition is English in their schools— that their learning of the language is a positive one, delivered by a well-motivated, skilled and confident staff.