According to the new Heritage Minister, it will be a big year for the language, with a Welsh language education strategy being the most important development in Wales over the next 12 months.
I sincerely hope that this includes plans for some sort of Welsh Federal College, as I believe it is largely pointless to develop provision for Welsh education opportunities at a primary and secondary level if students then do not have the opportunity to undertake their degree through the medium of Welsh at a tertiary level.
Given this, it is important that the market demand is determined so that a proper case for funding can be made to the Assembly.
I would also examine the potential to set up a scheme to strongly encourage staff who join Welsh institutions to learn the Welsh language, especially within those institutions such as Bangor or Aberystwyth where there is a large concentration of Welsh language students.
From my own personal experience, I was always amazed that on joining Bangor Business School, the vast majority of staff didn't speak Welsh, despite the fact that many had been living in the area for over twenty years.
It was only because of the staff from the old Coleg Normal that I ever got to speak my own language within the school (and most of them have been kicked out by now). Indeed, I now get the opportunity to speak more welsh on a day-to-day basis in Cardiff than I ever did in Bangor.
Surely, if only Welsh language speakers are allowed to apply for the post of vice-chancellor, then the university must be consistent in ensuring more staff are encouraged to learn the language as well.
In fact, any plans to encourage Welsh language competence are mild compared to the rule of the National University of Ireland, Galway, which has been required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they meet all other respects of the vacancy they are appointed to and normally, candidates are given a period of time, as a requirement of their job, to learn a basic competence in the language if they don't speak it .
I would never support such a draconian scheme as I believe the carrot works better than the stick, but clearly more needs to be done to ensure that there are opportunities for staff to learn Welsh and this can be done through the provision of more funding for courses where there is a clear demand for such courses.
Therefore, any strategy for a Welsh Federal College must include a proper level of funding which reflects the market need for such courses across Welsh institutions which can easily be determined.
As the only thing that talks these days within university management circles is cash, the universities will take this very seriously if the the Assembly can provide the money.
Indeed, given the economic significance of the Welsh language, there is no reason why any core funding could not be used as matched funding to develop a European Convergence Fund bid for a Welsh language federal college.
If the Assembly is committed to developing the Welsh language as a living entity, then we must develop bilingual education at a university level in Wales. It could be the making of the Welsh nation and the Welsh language.
I sincerely hope that this includes plans for some sort of Welsh Federal College, as I believe it is largely pointless to develop provision for Welsh education opportunities at a primary and secondary level if students then do not have the opportunity to undertake their degree through the medium of Welsh at a tertiary level.
Given this, it is important that the market demand is determined so that a proper case for funding can be made to the Assembly.
I would also examine the potential to set up a scheme to strongly encourage staff who join Welsh institutions to learn the Welsh language, especially within those institutions such as Bangor or Aberystwyth where there is a large concentration of Welsh language students.
From my own personal experience, I was always amazed that on joining Bangor Business School, the vast majority of staff didn't speak Welsh, despite the fact that many had been living in the area for over twenty years.
It was only because of the staff from the old Coleg Normal that I ever got to speak my own language within the school (and most of them have been kicked out by now). Indeed, I now get the opportunity to speak more welsh on a day-to-day basis in Cardiff than I ever did in Bangor.
Surely, if only Welsh language speakers are allowed to apply for the post of vice-chancellor, then the university must be consistent in ensuring more staff are encouraged to learn the language as well.
In fact, any plans to encourage Welsh language competence are mild compared to the rule of the National University of Ireland, Galway, which has been required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they meet all other respects of the vacancy they are appointed to and normally, candidates are given a period of time, as a requirement of their job, to learn a basic competence in the language if they don't speak it .
I would never support such a draconian scheme as I believe the carrot works better than the stick, but clearly more needs to be done to ensure that there are opportunities for staff to learn Welsh and this can be done through the provision of more funding for courses where there is a clear demand for such courses.
Therefore, any strategy for a Welsh Federal College must include a proper level of funding which reflects the market need for such courses across Welsh institutions which can easily be determined.
As the only thing that talks these days within university management circles is cash, the universities will take this very seriously if the the Assembly can provide the money.
Indeed, given the economic significance of the Welsh language, there is no reason why any core funding could not be used as matched funding to develop a European Convergence Fund bid for a Welsh language federal college.
If the Assembly is committed to developing the Welsh language as a living entity, then we must develop bilingual education at a university level in Wales. It could be the making of the Welsh nation and the Welsh language.
Comments
Most importantly, why can't a Welsh Conservative support the development of the welsh language? That is just a continuation of the myth that some politicians in wales are happy to perpetuate.
Many conveniently forget that Wyn Roberts did more for the welsh language than any other politician of his generation and yet others are quick to claim the praise for the work he did.
If there is market demand for such courses - and that should be the first step - then then is no reason why funding cannot be channelled to set up the proper infrastructure for such provision across Wales.
It is frankly a ridiculous situation that we spend a fortune on providing Welsh language education for students at a secondary level and then they do not get the opportunity to continue their studies through the language of their choosing.
And if you left it to nutters such as Alan in Dyfed, we would only have one party in Wales.
That' called communism or fascism, Alan me old son
As to the federal College, it is the issue of choice that is critical and if we are spending millions on secondary education through the medium of Welsh, then we must invest in ensuring that there is some provision at university level for those who wish to continue their studies in the same language. Some Welsh language students may wish to go to Oxford and Cambridge and will do be taught through the medium of English. That is their choice but equally, others will want to stay in Wales and continue their academic studies in Welsh. They must be given this opportunity as far as it is economically feasible (i.e. focus on those subjects where there is clear demand to establish the welsh federal college)
Academics are (we hope) clever people, and many already speak >1 language, so have the potential to learn Welsh quickly. What is needed is a system of intensive small group / one-to-one tuition aimed specifically at highly educated people, where tutors come to one's department to minimise faff time. Instead, the only choice is to attend slow moving classes of 20+ people, many of whom have been out of education for a long time, and therefore learn slowly. The key to learning languages is to get as proficient as possible, as quickly as possible. That reduces the overall amount of time spent actively learning (which has an opportunity cost), since once one can use the language, one can then learn through usage, with little extra effort. OK, a new lecturer wont be able to lecture in Welsh for a while, but they can at least carry out less formal aspects of their job in Welsh pretty early on, if learning intensively and efficiently.
I see mostly lip service to Welsh at Bangor Uni as far as new academic staff are concerned.
y dysgwr