Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:11 pm on 26 January 2021.
Thank you very much, Minister, for this statement. I've been saying that there is an unconscious choice of language very often and we need to face up to that if we are to have a successful policy. So, I'm pleased to see this move towards a better understanding of the role of language within the family dynamic. And in looking at the recommendations in the policy, I turn to the second, that family dynamic I mentioned, rather than structural language procurement. I suspect that the 'who' in every family is just as influential as the 'how'. There are a number of recommendations related to further research methodology, and certainly we need a cohort of more than 60 families for this. But is it necessarily a process that you intend to push forward? How do you intend to manage that in a sensitive manner and what have you learnt about the process of working with these 60 families?
I was also pleased to see, in the launch of the consultation last year, a recognition that it's the education system that will ensure language procurement, but it doesn't mean that it's necessarily transmitted. The report has said that and I don't want to look at the experiences of learners today, but we could agree, I'm sure, that it's not always been a positive experience for all. And for this current generation of young adults who've had a poor experience of learning Welsh, or who haven't enjoyed their Welsh-medium schooling, what can we tell them now to help them over what may be an emotional barrier? Because it's fine for people like me who have been determined from the very outset that my children should benefit from what I didn't benefit from, namely bilingualism at the time—I was determined in that. But what can you change now in the short term in terms of messaging for new parents who may have a negative outlook on the Welsh language that bilingualism is a virtue and it's particularly pertinent to those learning at home at the moment?
Now, teacher training—I’m enthusiastic about hearing more about where the education profession fits in to this from the point of view of the psychology of language transmission, because this strikes me as a case of 'physician heal thyself' on occasion. With far more teachers in schools and colleges with Welsh language skills than are willing to teach Welsh, or to teach through the medium of Welsh, how do you see that specific recommendation in the policy working?
And, finally, I was speaking to someone who leads the international language mentoring schemes run by some of our universities in Wales, and she made the point that safe spaces were needed for adults who had some knowledge and skills to make mistakes, and you've just focused on that yourself in your final remarks. The family could be one of those places, and it's just another way of playing with the language—that's what making mistakes is. Playing with the language like this could help children in terms of their language patterns and encourage them to ask questions without criticism, never mind increasing the confidence of adults. So, what is your broader thinking about safe spaces for adults to play with the language outside of the home? And, if possible, I would recommend our policy, and if you'd like to know more, I'm happy to tell you. Thank you.