Next Steps - The Framework for Welsh in English-medium Education

 

Guest Post - Mathias Maurer

Today, we submitted our group response to the open consultation on the draft framework for Welsh in English-medium education. Together with Barri Mock and Carys Swain, I had written and published the group response a few weeks ago, and by today we had gathered 52 supporters from across the education sector who were happy to add their names to the document. 

I also submitted a supporting paper titled ‘Next Steps’.  You can find ‘Next Steps’ below this introduction. In the hope of starting a constructive conversation about how to best follow up the consultation process, I sent  ‘First Steps’ to the following major stakeholders, with an invitation to meet and discuss the issues raised in the paper:

Jeremy Miles MS, Minister for Education and Welsh Language

Jeremy Evas, Head of Cymraeg 2050

Bethan Webb, Deputy Director, Welsh Language Division

Awen Penri, Head of the Welsh In Education Development Branch

Jane Hutt MS, Minister for Social Justice (my local MS)

I sincerely hope for an opportunity to talk to each of the above and explain in more detail the views and suggestions expressed in our group response, and in ‘Next Steps’.

 Next Steps

A statement to accompany the group response to the open consultation on the draft framework for Welsh in English-medium education.

By Mathias Maurer

Cymraeg 2050 and Welsh in English-medium education: the challenge

It is widely acknowledged that Welsh-medium education is an essential pillar of the Cymraeg 2050 one million speakers strategy: in the Cymraeg 2050 document, Welsh-medium immersion education is explicitly mentioned as the “principal method for ensuring that children can develop their Welsh language skills, and for creating new speakers.”

Far less talked about is the fact that Cymraeg 2050 also provides an ambitious target for English-medium education:

To reach a million speakers, we need to transform how we teach Welsh to learners in all other schools [non-Welsh medium schools], in order that at least half of those learners report by 2050 that they can speak Welsh by the time they leave school. (Welsh Government, 2017)

To re-phrase: It is the responsibility of the English-medium and bilingual sectors that, by 2050, half of all English-medium and bilingual education pupils describe themselves as Welsh speakers by the time they complete their GCSE.

This means that from the total of 70% Welsh speakers we want to leave education by 2050 in total, nearly half will have to come from the English-medium sector. This is the challenge.

In this paper, I will take a closer look at the current situation of Welsh in the English medium sector. In particular, I will comment on the following:

The consultation process for the new draft framework for Welsh in English-medium education that was been launched in February by Welsh Government.

The options available to Welsh Government once the consultation closes.

The consequences the government’s decisions might have for the future of Welsh in English-medium education.

 

A new framework for Welsh in English-medium education

On 14th February this year, Welsh Government launched an open consultation on a draft framework for Welsh in English medium education, and on additional supporting materials, resources and professional learning needed alongside the framework. The consultation will close on 13^th May.

I am in no doubt that the way in which Welsh Government handles the feedback from the consultation responses will have far-reaching consequences for the future of Welsh in English medium education, and, ultimately, for our nation’s effort to have one million Welsh speakers by the year 2050.

Please find in a separate document the professional group response to the draft framework that I recently published together with Barri Mock and Carys Swain, experts from the secondary and further education sectors. We invited stakeholders to put their name to it, and 52 colleagues have expressed their support: 28 English-medium primary teachers, 13 English-medium secondary teachers, 2 teachers from bilingual schools, 2 from English-medium all-through schools, 3 tutors from further education colleges, 3 from higher education institutions, and one independent commentator. Several Deputy Headteachers and Heads of Department are among the signees.

The following statement rephrases a central message of our professional group response:

The framework on its own, in its current form, will have no discernible effect in the English-medium primary sector unless a carefully designed support structure – core progression, core curriculum, core resources and professional learning specific to all of these – is put in place. Most EM primary teachers will have neither the time nor the skills required to translate the framework into meaningful, effective classroom practice. 

Controversy or collaboration – which is it going to be?

In our opinion, the open consultation offers a striking opportunity for Welsh Government to take an approach that is fundamentally different from the approach England has chosen for the teaching of Modern Foreign Languages (MFL). Recently in England, much controversy has been caused by the Ofsted 2021 Curriculum Research Review for Languages and the National Centre for Excellence for Language Pedagogy (NCELP) approach to curriculum planning and pedagogy. A significant number of MFL practitioners and renowned academics have publicly criticised what they perceive to be the selective and misleading quoting of research, and the promotion of a pedagogical approach that is unlikely to succeed in secondary schools with an intake that is less privileged than the one in the schools that were selected for initial trials. Many stakeholders feel excluded by what they perceive is a misjudged, heavy-handed top-down approach to improving uptake and outcomes in Modern Foreign Languages.

Here in Wales, our government, too,  will soon have to make important decisions about the way stakeholders’ views are taken into account. To what degree will the public responses to the open consultation inform the planning, design and delivery of resources and professional learning to support the implementation of the non-statutory framework?

As we see it, there are two general options:

• With minimal involvement of the teaching community, we can make a number of small but ultimately cosmetic changes to the draft framework itself before its final publication, and provide a selection of well-meaning, but potentially incoherent and therefore ineffective resources and professional learning opportunities. I fear this approach could ultimately lead to a controversy similar to the current one in England regarding the Ofsted research review and NCELP’s approach to curriculum and pedagogy. More importantly, it could well mean that this historic opportunity to set Welsh in English-medium education on the right tracks for the Cymraeg 2050 goals has been squandered. In my opinion, this would be a massive strategic error.

• Alternatively, by using the consultation responses as a starting point, we can choose to sit down with specialist English-medium practitioners from all phases, and genuinely listen to their concerns and their suggestions. Much credibility and sector-wide buy-in could be gained if Welsh Government decided to use expert practitioners’ contributions to develop a coherent support structure for the delivery of the new framework. Crucially, this support structure should be based on practitioners’ practical needs in the classroom. To make it effective, it would have to include a well thought-out, coherent suite of documentation, resources and professional learning opportunities that offer the best knowledge and practice to improve outcomes genuinely and sustainably in the English-medium sector.

Reasons for optimism

Once the consultation closes, Welsh Government will have the opportunity to signal a much welcome shift in approach, away from what recently has been perceived by some English-medium practitioners as a top-down, introduce-first-and-consult afterwards approach, towards a genuine engagement with the classroom workforce. Together with many of our English-medium colleagues, we are hoping for a realistic, strategic plan to develop a core curriculum for Welsh in English-medium education. This will require the following:

• the effective integration of a coherent core language progression
• carefully sequenced resources
• a specific professional learning programme

The professional learning programme must build on the successful Welsh Sabbatical programme, but in addition, alternative effective learning opportunities need to be provided for all those practitioners who, for a variety of reasons, are unable to commit to the sabbatical programme. This is crucial.

Since taking office, Jeremy Miles, the Minister for Education and Welsh Language has made commendable and much appreciated efforts to engage with the education workforce on multiple occasions and platforms. This has not gone unnoticed, and makes one hopeful that this open and collaborative approach will extend to the follow-up process for the consultation on the draft framework for Welsh in English-medium education. If experienced specialists for the teaching of Welsh in English-medium education were invited to shape in earnest the development of supporting documentation, resources and professional learning opportunities, then there would be many winners, not the least the Welsh language itself.

 

No quick fixes, please

A word of warning: there are no quick fixes. A realistic strategy would require a dedicated team of specialists to embark on a long and challenging journey of meticulous language planning, curriculum design, resource creation and the development of specific professional learning opportunities.

Experienced, highly qualified practitioners from all EM phases, from primary over secondary all the way to further education and higher education have already expressed their interest in forming small working groups with the aim to develop sample units for their respective settings. Co-ordination and collaboration between the different working groups would ensure coherence across primary, secondary and further education sectors, while simultaneously drawing on practising teachers’ expertise to closely tailor the curriculum, resources and professional learning to the needs of their respective settings.

Demonstrating what a combination of core language progression, core curriculum, carefully sequenced resources and specific professional learning could look like for each phase, these sample units could then be presented for scrutiny to all stakeholders in the English-medium sector.

Not only would this process allow for peer-feedback and crucial adjustments to be made before embarking on the main development work, it would also be likely to contribute to crucial buy-in and support from the main audience: EM classroom practitioners, who would eventually deliver the core curriculum in their classrooms, using the core resources with the support of carefully targeted professional learning opportunities.

Four key recommendations

In summary, I believe that the following four key recommendations offer the best chance to provide the support the EM sector requires. They are taken from the group response to Welsh Government’s open consultation on the draft framework that I have recently published together with my colleagues Barri Mock and Carys Swain:

• A shared core language progression as basis for all further support. The progression needs to be sequentially and hierarchically coherent and must span all phases. 
• A shared core curriculum based on this language progression.
• High quality, sequenced teaching resources to support the delivery of this core curriculum.
• Specific professional learning that is tailored to the core language progression, to the core curriculum and to the pedagogic principles that inform the supporting resources.

Much will depend on Welsh Government’s decisions following the consultation on the draft framework. I for one would be cheering if we did not follow the top-down approach taken across the bridge, but instead found our own way to genuinely draw on the already existing expertise among colleagues across the country, to create the kind of support that helps all teachers and all pupils, not just the privileged few.

Mathias Maurer

St Athan Primary School

CSC Lead Practitioner for Primary International Languages

Co-author of the Welsh Sentence Builders book

Draft framework for Welsh in English medium education!

Draft framework for Welsh in English medium education: our group response

By Mathias Maurer, Barri Mock and Carys Swain

In February this year, Welsh Government launched a public consultation for a new draft framework for Welsh in English medium education.

We have written a group response and invite those fellow practitioners who share our views to put their name to it.

We hope that as many practitioners as possible will respond.

The framework sets out the experiences, knowledge and skills which children and young people in English medium schools, settings and streams need to progress in Welsh. It is non-statutory.

• There are two parts to the consultation:
•  Feedback on the framework itself
• Additional supporting materials, resources and professional learning needed alongside the framework

Apart from the publicly available consultation response form, there will be a series of on-line consultation workshops in March and April to capture more in-depth views on the draft guidance. All stakeholders are invited to participate in these workshops.

The consultation closes on 13^th of May.

We welcome the publication of the draft framework for consultation.

By inviting stakeholders to feed back and join consultation workshops, Welsh Government have shown a genuine commitment to engage with the profession and to tackle the challenges the EM sector faces together with the professionals in the classroom. Diolch!

As members of an established cross-phase PLN,  we feel it is our professional duty to respond to the governments’ offer to engage and collaborate. For this reason, we spent several weeks analysing the draft framework, and after a period of  professional conversations and debates, we have now formulated our group response.

We outline what we believe to be the strengths and the weaknesses of the framework, and what we suggest would be the most effective way to support its implementation.

Our response is honest, detailed and specific, but above all it is written in a constructive spirit of collaboration. It is our initial contribution to supporting the government in the important and challenging task of improving outcomes in the EM sector.

Over the past few weeks, we have held many conversations with colleagues from across the EM sector. Based on these, we believe that a significant number of EM colleagues might share the views we have expressed in our response. For this reason, we  have decided to make our response public before submitting it.

We invite you to reflect on the arguments we put forward, and, should you share our views, to put your name to the document.

We hope that as many practitioners as possible will respond.

This will help us and Welsh Government to gain a better understanding of how many colleagues share our views regarding how to best support the implementation of the framework.

To read our response, please follow this link. To add your name to the group submission of the response, please use this Form. You will be given the choice of submitting your name publicly or privately.

To read more about the consultation process  and our group response, please read on:

The framework is part of an initiative to support the EM sector, and as such, it is highly welcome by many stakeholders, not just teachers in the EM sector.

Consider the Language Commissioner’s 2020-21 Annual Report for example:

“He looks forward to the publication of the Welsh language framework to support English-medium schools and teachers so that they can contribute fully to the Welsh Government's target that 70 per cent of 15-year-olds will be able to speak Welsh by 2050.”

By referring to Cymraeg 2050, the Language Commissioner emphasises the ultimate purpose of the draft framework:

To support EM practitioners so the sector can meet its own target as part of the EM/WM combined 70% of pupils who report that they can speak Welsh when they leave school by 2050.

The EM contribution to this target requires half of all pupils leaving EM schools by 2050 to report as Welsh speaking.

Mathias Maurer has written in detail about the implications of the 2050 target for the EM sector here, and about the main obstacles for the EM primary sector here.

In order to evaluate the framework, we should therefore ask ourselves the following question:

How effective is the framework in supporting EM practitioners to improve the outcomes in the EM sector so that the 2050 target can be met?

As a group, we have undertaken two steps in response to the consultation:

1.    Together with highly experienced colleagues from the EM  secondary sector, Further Education and Higher Education, we have written a detailed, constructive group response to the framework itself, using the official consultation response form.
2. After consultation with Miller research who organise the consultation workshops on behalf of Welsh Government, we have submitted a list of EM colleagues who would be interested in forming a focus group as part of the consultation process.

Between us, we have several current and former secondary EM Heads of Departments, several highly experienced FE and HE practitioners, several primary and secondary Welsh Sabbatical alumni whose work since completing the course has been highly influential and inspiring across the EM sector, and several experienced primary subject leads.

As a group, we have experience in designing and delivering professional learning in all phases, from school and cluster level all the way to consortium level, further education and higher education.

Our group feedback to the draft framework

Welsh Government is giving the option to submit the consultation response form as a group.

After careful consultation with the colleagues in our PLN, we  have decided to publish our written feedback to the draft framework first before submitting it. This is so that stakeholders who agree with the points we make can add their names to the submission.

Our response is detailed and specific. Here are a few excerpts:

“We would like to express our gratitude that the challenge for the EM sector to implement Welsh in Curriculum for Wales has been recognised.”

“In our view, the draft framework is a first step in the process of developing the coherent combination of documentation, resources and professional learning we require to achieve the improvements we aspire to. “

“We have come to the conclusion that significant further support is required. In particular, the framework in its current form does not take into account the vast variation in Welsh language proficiency, pedagogical knowledge and curriculum planning expertise among EM primary teachers.”

“The framework on its own is not suitable as a working document for the majority of EM primary teachers for the following reasons: 

• is not specific enough. Non-specialists cannot translate the prose statements into meaningful, coherent curriculum content.
• is not coherent enough. There are numerous instances of sequential and hierarchical incoherence.
• is too large. 107 statements for PS3 alone for example are beyond what is helpful for most teachers to get a meaningful understanding of the progression it attempts to outline. 

All of these issues are conceptual and therefore difficult to solve by making isolated, discrete changes.”

“The framework can however act as a useful support tool for the development of a core language progression and a core curriculum. This is specialist work that will require careful planning and implementation.

It is absolutely vital that this work is led by EM specialists with teaching experience, who are familiar with the challenges the sector faces. They are best placed to have a good understanding of the kind of support they themselves and their non-specialist colleagues will benefit from most. “

“We have four key recommendations that we believe offer the best bets to support a successful implementation of the framework:

1. shared core language progression as basis for all further support. The progression needs to be sequentially and hierarchically coherent and must span all phases. 
2.      A shared core curriculum based on this language progression.
3.      High quality, sequenced teaching resources to support the delivery of this core curriculum.

4.   specific professional learning that is tailored to the core language progression, to the core curriculum and to the pedagogic principles that inform the supporting resources.”

To finish, we’d like to emphasise that the gratitude we express to Welsh Government for taking initial steps to support the EM sector is heartfelt and genuine. We are delighted about being consulted and the opportunity to advise on supporting materials, resources and professional learning.

Cymraeg 2050 can only succeed if all sectors are sufficiently supported to achieve their individual targets. This support needs to be specific to each sector’s challenges and obstacles.

We believe that, as a group, we have the combined experience and knowledge to make a serious contribution towards making Cymraeg 2050 a success in the EM sector.

We’d be delighted if our feedback and our offer to collaborate with WG could facilitate the implementation of a realistic and specific strategy to develop the kind of support the new framework requires, so that Welsh in the EM sector can become the success story we all want it to be.

Cymraeg 2050 - The Challenge We Are Facing (Part 2)

 

Guest Post - Mathias Maurer

Welsh in English-medium primary education:

Cymraeg 2050 - The challenge we are facing

 

Part 2: Key obstacles in the English-medium sector

 

Introduction

In Part 1 of this blog I described the challenges we face in the EM primary sector, and why we might not yet be on the right path to achieve the EM goal in the Cymraeg 2050 strategy paper. I have shown why I think the approach in the EM sector needs to be distinctly different from the approach in the WM sector and suggested that we should focus our efforts on three key issues: teacher’s Welsh language proficiency, teacher pedagogical knowledge and curriculum design. 

In Part 2 I will now look at these 3 key issues in more detail and explain why I believe they are so crucial and must be addressed urgently.

 

Welsh language proficiency of EM primary teachers

A language teacher’s proficiency in the target language is one of the key factors affecting learning outcomes. Suzanne Graham et al. (2017), for example, came to the conclusion that, together with teaching time, primary school teachers’ French proficiency had the biggest impact on pupils’ progress in grammatical and lexical knowledge.

It is reasonable to assume that, in the EM primary sector, the variation in Welsh language proficiency between different teachers and schools is significant. This is likely to have serious implications for the quality and consistency regarding the design and delivery of Welsh curricula at school level.

I believe that coherence and progression across year groups, especially in KS2, can only be achieved if support and professional learning take into account and specifically target this variation in proficiency. The aim has to be that those schools and teachers whose Welsh might not be as strong as that of their colleagues in the class below or the school down the road can still plan and deliver their Welsh lessons with confidence, at a level that ensures coherence and progression across year groups and from primary to secondary school.

Let me explain one of the ways in which, in the context of Cymraeg 2050, a lack in Welsh language proficiency can seriously impact the quality of the teaching of Welsh, even at primary level:

In a key passage regarding the contributions the EM sector will have to make to achieve the 1 million goal, Cymraeg 2050 expresses the intention

to develop a single continuum for the teaching of Welsh as a language, with an emphasis on learning Welsh predominantly as a means of communication, particularly oral communication. (Welsh Government, 2017)

The emphasis on oral communication is significant and should guide us in our efforts to reform the EM primary sector. We need to reflect on the balance between speaking and writing tasks for example, and on how our Welsh skills might affect our task choice: For a less proficient teacher with limited resources and professional training for example it might be easier and therefore appear tempting to shift focus to highly scaffolded written work in books rather than spend more time developing oral communication skills.

For learners to be able to communicate orally, it is vital they acquire meaningful high frequency language items that are relevant to their communication needs. This is a problem for less proficient schools and teachers: In the Welsh language, many of the most frequent language items that are relevant to primary pupils and which they need to communicate effectively happen to have grammatical properties, such as mutations, that go beyond the basic Welsh that is traditionally taught to beginners. Here are two examples:

             fy mrawd i; dy frawd di; Mae un brawd gyda fi

            dod o Gaerdydd; byw yng Nghaerdydd; Prif-ddinas Cymru ydy Caerdydd

Less proficient teachers might not have the knowledge and the confidence to generate these items correctly and independently for use in their own teaching. In many instances, this is likely to lead to the avoidance of such items, and as a result, pupils miss out on learning important language items they need to communicate meaningfully and naturally. In other words, a teacher’s lack of Welsh language proficiency directly impacts their ability to teach the communication skills at the heart of our Cymraeg 2050 strategy for the EM sector.

 

Pedagogical knowledge and skills of EM primary teachers

In Curriculum for Wales, the Descriptions of Learning offer guidance on how learners should progress within each statement of what matters. Expressed from the learner’s perspective as ‘I can’ statements, they provide reference points for the pace of progression and aim to help sustain learning over a prolonged time.

When designing their school-level curricula, EM primary schools and teachers will have to translate these prose statements into actual language and lesson content. This process should be informed by the Principles of Progression which are part of the curriculum guidance.

Their Welsh language proficiency will determine to which degree they are able to do so, but there are also further challenges, independent of teachers’ Welsh language proficiency:

The problem is that knowing ‘what’ to teach will still not be sufficient on its own – teachers also require the pedagogical skills and knowledge so they can make the right choices about ‘how’ to teach the language. Teachers’ pedagogical knowledge is not linked to their language proficiency – those are two separate, distinct entities. Being a fluent speaker does not automatically make you an effective teacher of Welsh, unless you also have developed a good understanding of language acquisition processes and effective pedagogy. Similarly, being a great teacher of primary maths or even English as a first language does not guarantee an ability to teach Welsh equally well without further, specific training. And here is why:

The cognitive processes that take place when we learn a new language are different from the cognitive processes that occur when we acquire new knowledge and skills in other domains. For example, one particular aspect of language acquisition which I would argue is not widely enough acknowledged in the EM primary teaching community is the role that priming plays in language acquisition.

Whereas language learning might superficially appear to merely be the process of learning new words and learning to combine them using grammatical rules, the work of Hoey (2005) and Bock and Griffin (2000) for example shows the importance of lexical and structural priming: Through repeated hearing and reading of lexical items and grammatical constructions we subconsciously take note of the combinations and grammatical forms that certain words are most likely to form, and of common sentence structures.

Crucially, this essential learning happens subconsciously, without any explicit effort to memorise. In a study involving brain-damaged learners who had no explicit memory of the sentences they were primed for, the subjects were still shown to have acquired the prime sentences, which led Ferreira et al. (2008) to the conclusion the learning must have happened implicitly.

The difference between implict and explicit learning is one of the most important reasons why effective language pedagogy is distinctly different from effective pedagogy in other domains. Unless EM primary teachers have received relevant high-quality training, they are unlikely to be able to take advantage of the most effective pedagogy for the Welsh language classroom. Indeed, I believe it is reasonable to assume that the current unsatisfactory outcomes for Welsh in KS2 as described by Estyn in the 2019-2020 Annual Report (Estyn, 2020) are in part caused by a lack of training in and knowledge of effective language teaching pedagogy across the EM primary sector. This further aggravates the problems that a lack of Welsh language proficiency can cause, but also affects those teachers who might be proficient speakers on the one hand, but lack the pedagogical knowledge to teach effectively on the other hand.

 

Knowledge, skills and capacity to develop an evidence informed Welsh language curriculum

In September 2022 Curriculum for Wales will become mandatory for all maintained primary schools in Wales. Rooted in the principle of subsidiarity, the expectation is on all stakeholders to co-construct a curriculum that enables learners to progress towards the four purposes.

In the current phase of the rollout, primary schools are developing their individual school-level curricula, based on the four purposes, the six Areas of Learning and Experiences, the Principles of Progression and the Descriptors of Learning which outline progression within the statements of what matters that underpin each AoLE.

Designing a primary school curriculum is a challenging task at the best of times, but doing so in the midst of a pandemic has put previously unimaginable strains on the sector. Priorities had to be adjusted, and it is not unreasonable to assume that many schools have been unable to take full advantage of the professional learning support in curriculum design that has been offered by the consortia and other providers.

So what constitutes an evidence-informed Welsh language curriculum? Here are some of the elements that I consider essential`:

 

Language selection

With the overall Cymraeg 2050 ‘emphasis on learning Welsh predominantly as a means of communication, particularly oral communication’, it is vital that the language we teach our learners is relevant to their communication needs. Communicative language can be categorised into communicative functions, with related sub-functions. Planning language from such communicative functions and sub-functions helps to keep the focus on communication needs and avoids the trappings of topic-based language planning, which comes with the inherent danger that a considerable proportion of the topic-based language, especially vocabulary, might be relevant within this topic, but not in any other context.

 

Language recycling

Linguists distinguish between receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary. In mother tongue and additional languages alike, there are words we recognise and can make meaning of when we hear or read them (receptive vocabulary), but that we don’t use in our speech and writing (productive vocabulary). In order to become confident oral communicators, it is vital for our learners to develop their productive vocabulary and become increasingly fluent in using it.

Shifting vocabulary from receptive to productive knowledge is a long process that requires skilful long-term planning: Teachers need to decide what vocabulary they want their learners to be able to use actively, and then make sure their curriculum offers many processing and retrieval opportunities for this vocabulary over an extended period of time, and in a variety of contexts. The process of revisiting previously taught language is commonly referred to as ‘recycling’.  By providing ample recycling opportunities while moving along the language progression and introducing new language as well, an evidence-informed, cumulative language curriculum ensures that learners have the numerous processing and production opportunities they need to become increasingly fluent and confident in the use of the target language.

 

Task-sequencing

Evidence-informed language teaching makes use of what we know about the cognitive processes involved in language acquisition. For our learners to become confident and competent oral communicators, it is vital that we structure our teaching in a way that allows them to develop a degree of automaticity in their oral communication. The ultimate goal is listening and speaking fluency.

The cognitive process involved in developing the receptive and productive automaticity required for oral communication is different from the retrieval process we use to recall declarative knowledge in other domains.

In many subjects and contexts, explicit instruction, followed by spaced retrieval practice, is an efficient way to commit declarative knowledge to long-term memory, from where it can be retrieved when needed (I simplify!). The consequence of Hoey’s (2005), and Bock and Griffin’s (2000) findings about semantic and syntactic priming is however that effective language instruction ideally should start with a phase of receptive processing and implicit learning, giving learners multiple opportunities to process the target language through listening and reading, activating different levels of cognitive processing first.

Once listening fluency is achieved (instant recognition of the target language items), learners are then ready to move on to producing the language orally, through a series of progressively less structured tasks that allow them to eventually produce the target items in their speech, without additional support.

An evidence-informed language curriculum supports this acquisition process through a series of carefully sequenced tasks, moving from listening to speaking, and from reading to writing. Offering multiple opportunities for implicit learning through processing of the target language items in the initial stages is a key element of this approach.

 

While the three elements described above - language selection, language recycling and task sequencing - are essential for an effective language curriculum, there are others, such as effective phonic and grammar instruction, that should also be carefully woven into the teaching sequence.

I believe that designing a EM Welsh curriculum based on the principles outlined above goes well beyond the means of most EM primary schools and teachers. Crucially, I would argue that even teachers with a significant amount of pedagogical knowledge and skills require additional specialist training to design such a curriculum.

Once in place, a high-quality language curriculum facilitates impactful teaching and thus improves outcomes for all learners: It is easier to teach, not harder. Novice and less proficient teachers will benefit from the structure and resources it provides, and more experienced teachers will use it as a stepping stone to build their individual curricula that are tailored to their own skills and responsive to the needs of their learners.

My concern is that even in normal times the task of designing such an effective, evidence-based Welsh language curriculum would be too much of a challenge for many EM primary schools. Given the challenges we had to overcome and the situation in which we now find ourselves, I fear that even more EM schools will have to prioritise and, as a result, compromise on the quality of their Welsh language curriculum.

The question is, how can we use what we know about the specific challenges the sector is facing to optimise support?

How can we join up professional learning and supporting resources so we can realistically expect a positive impact across the whole sector, not just in those EM primary schools that are lucky enough to have specialist teachers of Welsh among their staff?

 

Conclusion Part 2:

In Part 2, I have explained what I believe to be the three main obstacles that hold the EM primary sector back from improving outcomes in Welsh:

· A lack of Welsh language proficiency is likely impact on a significant amount of EM schools’ and teachers’ ability to develop their pupils’ oral communication effectively

 

· Effective pedagogy requires an understanding of language acquisition theory and specialist concepts such as lexical and structural priming that goes beyond most EM primary teachers’ expertise.

 

· Key concepts of a successful language curriculum, such as language selection, language recycling and task-sequencing require specialist knowledge and skills that many EM primary schools are unlikely to have the capacity for.

In Part 3, I will suggest what I believe to be a realistic and manageable approach to tackling these challenges and set the EM primary sector on the right track for Cymraeg 2050.

Thank you for reading!

 

References:

Bock, K., and Griffin, Z. M., 2000. The persistence of structural priming: transient activation or implicit learning?. Journal of experimental psychology. General, 129(2), pp.177–192.

Estyn, 2020. The Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales; available online at: https://www.estyn.gov.wales/system/files/2021-12/ESTYN%20Annual%20Report%202019-2020.pdf [last accessed on 07/01/2022].

Ferreira V. S., Bock K., Wilson M. P., Cohen N. J.,2008. Memory for syntax despite amnesia. Psychological Science, 19 (9) pp. 940-946.

Graham, S., Courtney, L., Marinis, T. and Tonkyn, A., 2017. Early language learning: The impact of teaching and teacher factors. Language Learning, 67(4), pp.922-958.

Hoey, M., 2005. Lexical Priming: A New Theory of Words and Language. London: Routledge.

Welsh Government, 2017. Cymraeg 2050: Welsh Language Strategy; available online at: https://gov.wales/cymraeg-2050-welsh-language-strategy [last accessed on 07/01/2022].

Cymraeg 2050 - The challenge we are facing!

 

Guest Post by Mathias Maurer

Welsh in English-medium primary education:

Cymraeg 2050 - The challenge we are facing

Introduction

In this series of three blogs, I will make the case that, if we want to improve the outcomes for Welsh in the English-medium (EM) primary sector in order to meet the EM target for Cymraeg 2050, we need a core Welsh language progression, a well-resourced, evidence-informed core curriculum based on this language progression, and targeted high-quality professional learning that underpins both.

I will make the point that, if we provide a carefully resourced core curriculum, professional learning can focus on effective language pedagogy, novice and less confident EM primary teachers in particular will benefit from using worked examples: drawing on high-quality, carefully sequenced teaching activities that follow a coherent evidence-informed core Welsh scheme will allow them to deepen their pedagogical understanding and become increasingly confident and independent as teachers of Welsh in EM primary schools.

I will argue that this strategy offers a far greater chance of achieving the required sector-wide change than an approach where the task of designing language progression, curriculum and resources is left to individual schools and teachers, without an expert-made, evidence-informed core supported by high-quality professional learning.

Finally, I will try and show how this approach will support all schools without limiting any of them, as confident and capable teachers will be able to go further, adapt and build on the core curriculum to suit their own skills and the needs of their context and pupils.

 

Part 1: Cymraeg 2050 and the role of the English-medium sector

Cymraeg 2050

In September 2022, Curriculum for Wales will become mandatory for all maintained primary schools in Wales.  I would like to use this moment to take a closer look at the current situation of Welsh in the English medium primary sector, and the challenges we will need to overcome if we want to achieve the goal of one million speakers by the year 2050, as outlined in the Cymraeg 2050 strategy paper (Welsh Government, 2017).

Welsh medium immersion education is an essential pillar of the Cymraeg 2050 strategy: It is explicitly mentioned as the “principal method for ensuring that children can develop their Welsh language skills, and for creating new speakers.” Whilst I welcome the resources and initiatives directed at Welsh medium education, I believe that the English medium sector must an can be given more thought and support as well because of the equally crucial role it has to play in the Cymraeg 2050 effort.

An imbalance in the attention both sectors receive is for example reflected in the number of mentions of ‘Welsh-medium’ versus ‘English-medium’ in two key papers, Cymraeg 2050 (57 versus 4) and the Welsh Language commissioner’s 2016 to 2020 5-Year report (178 versus 19). Furthermore, Estyn’s focus over the past 15 years has very much been on Welsh in the WM sector: Since 2008, seven thematic reports for Welsh in WM and bilingual education have been produced, spanning all phases from Foundation Phase up to A-Level and Further Education. Only one thematic report for Welsh in the EM sector has been produced during the same period, about Welsh Language Development in the Foundation Phase (Estyn, 2013).

This matters, because Cymraeg 2050 provides a target for the English medium sector that is as ambitious as it is specific:

To reach a million speakers, we need to transform how we teach Welsh to learners in all other schools [ie non-Welsh medium schools], in order that at least half of those learners report by 2050 that they can speak Welsh by the time they leave school. (Welsh Government, 2017)

To re-phrase: It is the responsibility of the EM and bilingual sectors that, by 2050, half of all EM and bilingual education pupils describe themselves as Welsh speakers by the time they complete their GCSE.

In the bigger picture this means that from the 70% Welsh speakers we want to leave education by 2050, nearly half will have to come from the EM sector. This is the challenge, and I fear that by not providing the EM sector with the specific support it requires, we seriously risk missing the overall Cymraeg 2050 goal.

 

The Welsh language commissioner’s 5-year report

In his 2016 to 2020 5-year report, the Welsh Language Commissioner picked up the theme of transforming how we teach Welsh in the EM sector. Here is what he described as one of the three main work streams in Cymraeg 2050 that are relevant to the education sector:

Transforming the way Welsh is taught in English-medium schools to significantly increase the number of pupils that can speak Welsh by the time they leave the education sector. (Welsh Language Commissioner, 2021a)

While the Language Commissioner referred to government plans and strategies according to which

the introduction of a new curriculum for Wales will drive these changes to the way in which the Welsh language is taught in English medium schools (Welsh Language Commissioner, 2021a)

he implicitly acknowledged that the new curriculum on its own might not be enough to affect the desired change, and that more support was needed for EM schools and teachers. In his 2020 to 2021 annual report for example he stated that he looked forward to

the publication of the Welsh language framework to support English-medium schools and teachers so that they can contribute fully to the Welsh Government's target that 70 per cent of 15-year-olds will be able to speak Welsh by 2050 (Welsh Language Commissioner, 2021b)

As stated above, the EM and bilingual sectors’ contribution to the overall 70% (which includes WM learners) amounts to about half of all EM learners describing themselves as Welsh speakers by the time they leave school. 

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find current precise data on the number of EM learners leaving school who describe themselves as Welsh speaking. Various age brackets are available in the Annual Population Surveys and in the 10-year census data, but no data that would allow us to take precise stock of where we are now in the EM sector in relation to the 2050 target.

This concerns me. If we want to do our best to achieve the 2050 target, then it is crucial we make the right decisions and choose the most promising path as soon as possible. This means understanding and acknowledging the scale of the challenge in the first place and tracking the impact of our measures.

So, if there is data that is directly comparable to the 2050 target, I would be grateful if someone with more knowledge of the matter could point me towards it. Otherwise I would strongly recommend we start collecting this data at regular intervals from now on, allowing us to track our progress towards the target as precisely as possible, with the option to rethink and adjust our approach should the data suggest this is necessary.

In the 2020-2021 Annual Report, the Welsh Language Commissioner mentioned the new Welsh language framework to support English-medium schools and teachers (Welsh Government, 2021). This is a welcome initiative. It addresses the fact that current outcomes in the EM primary sector are far from satisfactory, and that Curriculum for Wales on its own is unlikely to provide sufficient support to improve the situation on the scale required.

In my opinion, improving our performance in KS2 across the whole EM primary sector is key to facilitating a smoother transition from primary to secondary schools, which in turn will be essential for achieving the ambitious 50% Welsh speakers target by 2050.

To get a better understanding of the EM primary sector’s current performance, it is worth taking a look at Estyn’s 2019 to 2020 Annual Report, the last one that uses pre-pandemic data.

 

Estyn’s Annual Report 2019 to 2020

Consider Estyn’s 2019 to 2020 Annual Report: While on the one hand reporting that

In many English medium primary schools, pupils develop a positive attitude towards learning the Welsh language (Estyn, 2020)

it also raises considerable concerns regarding progress in KS2 in particular:

In most schools, pupils use their Welsh speaking skills appropriately, but the progress they make between the foundation phase and the end of key stage 2 is often limited.

The report provides little indication as to what Estyn would consider effective steps to address this situation, but the connections it makes between ethos and outcomes might offer a clue:

In the few strongest schools where leaders prioritise Welsh and ensure that it is valued as part of the school’s ethos, pupils understand the importance of being bilingual or multilingual, and the importance of the Welsh language to our national identity. In these few cases, pupils make particularly good progress with the development of their Welsh language skills, using it regularly outside of specific Welsh lessons and as part of the daily life of the school.  (Estyn, 2020)

 

There appears to be a theme linking attitudes and ethos to progress and outcomes, perhaps leading some readers to the conclusion that progress and outcomes are best improved by focusing resources on promoting the use of Welsh, and by improving attitudes and ethos. While these are certainly important elements of a successful language environment, I am concerned that the actual teaching of Welsh, the pedagogy of delivering a high-quality curriculum, does not receive the attention it requires. Why might this be? Personally, I suspect that, in our efforts to improve EM outcomes we might be tempted to imitate the highly effective immersive learning environments of Welsh medium schools.

In my view, this is problematic because circumstances in WM primary schools are fundamentally different from those in EM primary schools, making it impossible to transfer significant elements of the WM immersion approach to the majority of schools in the EM sector. In 2019, according to the EWC, the number of teachers able to teach through the medium of Welsh stood at 26.9%. If we assume that the vast majority of these teachers work in the WM sector, then it is reasonable to conclude that the number of EM primary teachers who are able to teach through Welsh is very low indeed, ruling out any efforts to improve outcomes on a sector wide scale through creating a semi-immersive learning environment modelled on the WM sector.

It is essential that any efforts to improve EM primary sector outcomes take into account the Welsh skills of the current workforce. In my opinion, not enough research and effort have gone into finding out how we can support our current EM primary teachers, especially in KS2.

 

Professional learning and effective pedagogy

This matters because both Cymraeg 2050 and the commissioner’s 5-year report specifically mention the ‘how’ and the ‘way Welsh is taught’ as targets for improvement, not school ethos and pupils’ attitudes to learning Welsh (although these are of course important in their own right). Furthermore, I am of the opinion that, although well-intended, the Framework for Welsh in EM Education (recently published as draft, out for consultation) is not sufficient on its own to support schools in addressing the ‘how’, the ‘way Welsh is taught’.

The key to improving pedagogy is high quality professional learning. No framework, no high-quality curriculum are likely to succeed unless the teachers delivering it have the necessary pedagogical knowledge and professional understanding underpinning it.

It is my strong believe that, if we want to raise our expectations in the EM primary sector and improve outcomes on the scale necessary to aspire to the Cymraeg 2050 challenge, we must think deeply about what kind of professional learning we need. How can we use our available resources and tap into the already available pedagogical expertise to support the process and maximise benefits for the whole sector? 

For supporting resources and professional learning to have impact, they need to be targeted to the specific needs of the workforce.

In my opinion, there are three distinct issues affecting the EM primary sector: 

1.    a considerable variation in the Welsh language proficiency of EM primary teachers
2.    a considerable variation in the pedagogical knowledge and skills of EM primary teachers
3.   the variation in knowledge, skills and capacity to design an evidence-informed Welsh language curriculum in the EM primary sector

Different schools and teachers will be affected by these issues in different combinations and to different degrees. Some might not need any support at all, but it is my strong believe that any attempt at addressing the current problems on a sector-wide scale will have to consider each of these points, in a way that can realistically be delivered to all schools and teachers in need of support.

 

Conclusion Part 1

So far I have described the challenges we face in the EM primary sector, and why we might not yet be on the right path to achieve the goal in the Cymraeg 2050 strategy paper. I have shown why I think the approach in the EM sector needs to be distinctly different from the approach in the WM sector and suggested that we should focus our efforts on three key issues: teacher proficiency, teacher pedagogical knowledge and curriculum design. 

In Part 2 of this blog I will look at these three key issues in more detail and explain why I believe they are so crucial and must be addressed urgently. Part 3 then will suggest what I consider would be a realistic approach to tackling the challenges and set the EM primary sector on the right track for Cymraeg 2050.

Thank you for reading!

 

References

Estyn, 2020. The Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales; available online at: https://www.estyn.gov.wales/system/files/2021-12/ESTYN%20Annual%20Report%202019-2020.pdf [last accessed on 07/01/2022].

Welsh Government, 2017. Cymraeg 2050: Welsh Language Strategy; available online at: https://gov.wales/cymraeg-2050-welsh-language-strategy [last accessed on 07/01/2022].

Welsh Government, 2021. Framework for Welsh; available online at: https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/consultations/2022-02/draft-framework-for-welsh-in-english-medium-education-consultation-doc.pdf [last accessed 22/02/2022]

Welsh Language Commissioner, 2021a. The Position of the Welsh Language 2016–20: Welsh Language Commissioner’s 5-year Report; available online at: https://www.welshlanguagecommissioner.wales/policy-and-research/research/the-position-of-the-welsh-language-2016-20 [last accessed on 07/01/2022].

Welsh Language Commissioner, 2021b. Annual Report 2020-2021; available online at: https://senedd.wales/media/spnnawvk/agr-ld14508-e.pdf [last accessed on 07/01/2022].