The huge problem schools face trying to teach more subjects in Welsh

Headteachers say a dire shortage of Welsh-speaking teachers means they cannot meet Welsh Government targets to ensure all pupils leave school able to speak Welsh. Science teachers are particularly in short supply and as rare as “hen’s teeth”, they told a Senedd committee.

Schools are simply “not equipped to deliver the Welsh Language Bill” because they cannot recruit the staff they need, NAHT Cymru warned. They will fail to meet proposed targets in the Bill, through no fault of their own.

Claire Armistead, who until the summer was headteacher of Rhyl High School, now Director of the Association of School and College Leadrers Cymru, said the Welsh Government “had not accepted” how bad the situation is. She told the committee on October 2 that Welsh speaking physics teachers were as "rare as hen's teeth".

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She told the Senedd’s Children, Young People and Education Committee: “I don’t think it’s been accepted that we cannot recruit. We talk about shortage subjects but if you are going out to get a physicist who speaks Welsh it’s like hen’s teeth, it doesn’t exist.

“We are not getting the increased pool to support this Bill. And there is no capacity to skill people (in the profession) who want to learn Welsh. It’s not a lack of want, it is a lack of ability. We simply cannot recruit and we need to recruit significantly to make this happen.” For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues affecting the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here

Julian Kennedy, head of one of Wales’ highest performing schools, Olchfa in Swansea, said he could advertise multiple times without success: “I am truly concerned that we don’t have the pool of Welsh (language) teachers to be able to draw upon in order to accelerate the process and meet mandatory targets. We could go out for four, five, six time for a Welsh speaker and still not recruit.”

Chris Parry, head of Lewis School Pengam and president of NAHT Cymru agreed. He said the profession was “committed” to the Welsh language but there aren't enough teachers who speak it to meet the Welsh Government’s aims in the Bill.

The Welsh language and Education Bill will put into law the target of one million Welsh speakers by 2050. It also aims for all pupils to leave school able to speak Welsh.

Under the Bill schools would be put into different categories for Welsh medium, bilingual, or English. Each school will the have Welsh language targets depending on category.

Speaking after the committee met on Wednesday October 2 Laura Doel, national secretary at NAHT Cymru, said while her union and headteachers support the aspirations of this Bill, there was little evidence the Welsh Government would deliver the funding schools need to meet them.

Even if money was available, she doubts capacity exists to offer the necessary language training. Schools were “struggling just to keep their heads above water when it comes to core funding to meet existing legislation, let alone more legislation, she said.

“When we still have significant challenges around numeracy and literacy across Wales, we need to ensure that any new education legislation, whether that be on the Welsh language or anything else, takes into account what schools are already having to contend with. Nothing is more important than equipping learners with the basics.”

Ms Doel warned that when education unions’ agreed to end their successful strike and other industrial action last year, one of the conditions was that the Welsh Government introduce a tool to assess the workload impact of new legislation on schools. This has not been done, she said.

“This Bill should never have seen the light of day before a comprehensive assessment to understand the impact of its provisions on the workload of school teachers and leaders. Until this changes, we cannot begin to consider throwing our weight behind it, regardless of the intentions underpinning it.”

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We recognise that having a sufficient education workforce is key to the implementation of the Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill. The Bill addresses this matter at both a national and local level.

“Legislation is only part of a number of actions the Welsh Government is taking to seek to increase the number of Welsh-medium teachers. Our Welsh in Education Workforce Plan sets out the steps we will take to increase the number of teachers who can teach Welsh as a subject, or teach through the medium of Welsh.

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