8. Will the Minister provide an update on any progress in attracting people to train as teachers to teach in Welsh-medium secondary schools? OQ58757

We are progressing with our 10-year Welsh in education workforce plan, which includes developing and implementing a marketing strategy in partnership with the Education Workforce Council and the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol to encourage more Welsh speakers to choose teaching as a career.

Thank you, Minister. Can you explain what work is being done to identify those subjects where there is a lack of Welsh-medium teachers in the secondary sector? We understand that there is a serious lack in terms of those training in physics and mathematics, for example, so I’d like to know what the Government is doing to analyse the data to feed in to the work of attracting more students with degrees in those subjects to train as secondary teachers through the medium of Welsh. Who is responsible for doing that analysis, planning and monitoring? In terms of physics specifically, for the whole of Wales, only 43 per cent of those who teach the subject in secondary schools received training in that subject. So, can the Minister confirm the number of physics teachers trained in physics who are working in Welsh-medium schools? The incentive to teach physics through the medium of Welsh is £20,000—£7,000 less than the minimum one would receive in England. And the gap for those teaching in the further education sector is even greater: £26,000 in England as compared to only £4,000 in Wales. So, bearing in mind the need and demand, will the Minister tackle this deficit?

I thank the Member for that important question. The data that we use is the foundation for policies in terms of financial incentives and the Member has already mentioned those. The comparison between what’s available in Wales and England isn’t appropriate, but there is support in Wales for subjects where there are shortages. In addition to that, there are additional incentives for those wishing to teach through the medium of Welsh. You mentioned incentives across the border. One of the things we want to see is those people who are Welsh speakers but are studying those subjects in England—that we work with the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol to identify those people and to communicate with them to persuade them to return to Wales to teach. I think that’s one of the creative things that came out of the work with partners and stakeholders as part of the 10-year plan. Some elements will be very successful, but we don’t expect success with all of the interventions proposed by the plan, so the important thing is that we continue to renew that and continue to look at the data, as the Member said, to see what makes a difference on the ground and what is most successful and to emphasise those. And if some elements don’t work, we’ll be willing to say that and focus on those that do work. But what we have seen is a very creative collaboration by partners across the system, including the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, including the EWC and others, and I think the challenge is a significant one. The incentives that the Member mentioned are one element of that, but only one element.

Thank you, Minister.