Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:52 pm on 18 May 2022.
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.