Welsh-medium Education

Part of 3. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 4:02 pm on 10 February 2021.

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Photo of Kirsty Williams Kirsty Williams Liberal Democrat 4:02, 10 February 2021

You're absolutely right. To achieve the target in 2050 we do need to recruit more teachers who are able to teach in our Welsh-medium schools and in our bilingual schools, and we also need to equip our teachers working in English-medium schools to deliver high-quality Welsh lessons. We have set targets for ITE providers to recruit to the initial teacher education programmes, and we have established, although the pandemic has slightly impacted on it, a new conversion programme for teachers who have previously qualified to teach through the medium of Welsh in the primary sector, where we sometimes, in certain parts of Wales, have an oversupply, to allow them to convert quickly to be able to teach through the medium of Welsh in the secondary sector. We have seen significant demand for that professional learning programme, which I believe will help us to address some of the issues identified by the commissioner.