5. How is the Welsh Government addressing shortages in the teaching profession? OQ58052

We are continuing to work with our initial teacher education partnerships and other stakeholders to ensure that recruitment to programmes of initial teacher education meet the desired levels for the future workforce.

Thank you for that answer, Minister. I've been in contact with those working in schools who are concerned about meeting expectations for accountability in terms of Estyn, and delivering the curriculum in Wales while struggling with capacity issues. I know that there's a real concern about the shortages of staff able to teach through the medium of Welsh, especially science teachers, as was mentioned earlier. So may I ask you: what are your long-term plans to improve recruitment and retainment in these specialisms, as well as the immediate support available for schools that are struggling in the short term? Thank you.

Well, thank you for that, and I think it's absolutely an important point, as we've heard already today. I hope the Member will be reassured—I'll be publishing a 10-year plan very soon that will set out the steps we plan to take in partnership with a range of other organisations to increase the number of Welsh-medium teachers generally, but specifically as well in the areas that she has identified in her question as being ones of particular pressure. I think we've laid pretty solid foundations over the recent years, including the Iaith Athrawon Yfory incentive, which provides up to £5,000 for students to train to teach secondary subjects through the medium of Welsh, with additional incentives available for those students if they're teaching in areas of particular shortage, like the ones that she mentioned in her question. But also the employment-based schemes and the conversion schemes from primary to secondary I think all add to the capacity of our teaching workforce to teach these crucial subjects in Welsh. I've also invited schools to apply for grants to support capacity building in some parts of the education workforce through Welsh medium in this financial year, and I hope that that will lead to some innovative ways being used in those schools under particular pressure to look at creative ways of meeting the challenges. We've also set our ITE partnerships a target of ensuring that 30 per cent of their intake are Welsh-medium students, and that will be a target that is increased incrementally. So, I hope that provides the Member with some reassurance that, even without the benefit of a new plan, we're taking action, but that there's a new plan that I'll be shortly publishing for consultation, and I look forward to her views on that.

Minister, the latest available figures for initial teacher education, ITE, qualifiers in Wales show that the numbers of students completing their course in Welsh universities or the Open University fell from 1,740 students in 2010-11 to 1,030 in 2019-20, a drop of some 41 per cent. With that decrease over the 10-year period, the pool of talent available to schools to recruit from has shrunk. Therefore, what's gone wrong, and what's being done to put it right?

The most recent figures that I've seen show acceptances for secondary priority subjects, which is the area of key concern, increasing by 8 per cent, and acceptances to train to teach through the medium of Welsh, including Welsh as a language, increasing by 45 per cent. So, that's the reality on the ground. But, actually, the issue is much bigger than the figures for one or two years; it's a strategic need to increase the supply of people coming into the profession able to teach Welsh and through the medium of Welsh, but also to ensure that we have teaching assistants able to do the important work that they do as well through the medium of Welsh. And I think there's a need for great creativity and I think there's a need to do things differently—to look for financial incentives; to make it easier for people to train, to convert from the work that they might already be doing; also to look at letting young people know as they are going through school what the options are for them to teach in Welsh, and marketing, if you like, teaching in Welsh and through Welsh to them as an option. So, I look forward to the Member's comments on the plan when it's published for consultation very shortly.