And the Welsh government is committed to achieving one million Welsh-speakers by 2050. In fact, according to recent numbers, attracting enough qualified teachers may be a significant hurdle to realizing this new goal. In working toward this target, the government is clear that a strong education workforce is essential. They are going to try to hire close to 400 new teachers every year.
Today, the education scene in Wales leaves a profound demand for competent full-time teachers. Annually, we require approximately 225 secondary school teachers and 153 primary school teachers. In all, that amounts to 378 new recruits our education system desperately needs. New data from the Welsh in Education Workforce Plan analysis shows the outlook is grim.
Across the 2022-23 academic year, just 396 Welsh-speaking teachers finished their training. At the same time, a shocking 395 teachers left the profession during that exact period. Their departure, in often very high numbers, has created a huge void in the pipeline. Yet every year, roughly equal to the number of Welsh-speaking teachers that retire from the profession is a significant hurdle for the government’s goals.
Llinos Jones, headteacher of Ysgol Bro Myrddin in Carmarthen. She was keen to illustrate the difficulties that the Welsh and English medium sectors face in being able to recruit teachers. That bullet-pointed trouble is one of the biggest impediments to making the language synonymous with linguistic ideals a reality.
Meirion Prys Jones, National Education Union’s Welsh Secretary, told BBC Radio 4 that it was dangerous what this teacher shortage could mean.
“In terms of a million Welsh speakers it’s a major stumbling block,” – Meirion Prys Jones.
In light of these hurdles, the Welsh government is rolling up its sleeves and looking for solutions. So they are providing sit up front signals for new teachers. Furthermore, they are providing this money directly to local authorities and backing the National Centre for Learning Welsh to up-skill the education workforce in Welsh.
“Unless we have the teachers and the capacity, then I don’t think we can see the numbers increasing.” – Meirion Prys Jones.
Furthermore, they’ve pledged to continuing work with educational advocates and stakeholders to improve the Strategic Education Workforce Plan.
“We provide incentives for new teachers, funding to local authorities and fund the National Centre for Learning Welsh for the education workforce to develop their Welsh-language skills,” – The Welsh government (via Gareth Pennant Jones, BBC Wales).
Additionally, they have committed to ongoing collaboration with educational professionals and partners to refine the Strategic Education Workforce Plan.
“We continue to work with the teaching profession and partners as we develop the Strategic Education Workforce Plan,” – The Welsh government (via Gareth Pennant Jones, BBC Wales).
