Author Archives: Ruth Richards

NEW CURRICULUM AIMS AN ARROW AT THE HEART OF WELSH LANGUAGE EDUCATION

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Dyfodol i’r Iaith has reacted angrily to a clause within the Government’s new curriculum White Paper. This clause states that all funded education, including playgroups, must teach English as a compulsory element of the curriculum. This runs contrary to the current provision, which allows English to be introduced gradually from the age of 7.

 

“This clause aims an arrow at the very heart of Welsh-medium education,” said Heini Gruffudd, Dyfodol’s Chair. “This foundation phase is critical to learning. We must insist that the Welsh language be given a special space during this phase if we are to see our children learn and become fluent in the language. I cannot think of any precedence for such a proposal; indeed, the White Paper itself states that English is not a subject that requires such statutory status.”

 

“Yet another folly of course is that that the Government is undoing the attempts to support the Welsh language and undermining its own aim to create a million Welsh speakers. We cannot accept such a ridiculous proposal. This is an incomparable retrograde move, and one which undermines some of the most fundamental principles of Welsh-medium education.”

 

ROBUST GUIDELINES NEEDED TO REGULATE THE USE OF ENGLISH ON S4C

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With an increasing amount of English content being broadcast within S4C’s programmes, Dyfodol i’r Iaith have called for robust guidelines controlling its use so that it is the Welsh language that is heard when viewers tune in to the Channel.

Eifion Lloyd Jones, Dyfodol’s spokesman on broadcasting, said:

“We are very worried to hear an increasing amount of English within S4C’s programmes. S4C after all is a Welsh channel, not a bilingual one, which begs the question as to whether BBC Wales for instance would be willing to provide a bilingual service? We want S4C to provide a secure home for the Welsh language, a place in which it can thrive as the natural default medium. The increasing use of English undermines its role as a Welsh medium channel and becomes a barrier to the representation and expression of the language.

There will of course be some exceptions – where time constraints on news programmes for instance prevent dubbing into Welsh – but only when the excerpt justifies direct inclusion rather than being paraphrased in Welsh.

However, we find it surprising that there are seemingly no clear policies or guidelines regarding the use of English within Welsh programmes. We believe this to be a fundamental shortfall, and we will continue to discuss and press for a practical arrangement to ensure S4C’s status as one of the Welsh language’s most important domains.”