§ Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what action has been taken by his Department to increase the number of teachers of Welsh in order that the provisions of the national curriculum can be fulfilled; and if he will make a statment.
§ Mr. Wyn RobertsA quantification of the future requirement for Welsh language teachers is being346W prepared. Meetings have been held with local education authority representatives to explore the scale and nature of retraining that will be needed. Discussions are also taking place with the higher education sector about the provision of suitable in-service training courses for serving teachers to equip them to teach Welsh as a second language. The Welsh Office is also liaising closely with the Curriculum Council for Wales about the training needs created by the introduction of the national curriculum.
§ Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he and the Welsh working party have received about the inclusion of Welsh as a foundation subject in the national curriculum by(a) 1990 and (b) 1992; and how many schools in each local education authority and parliamentary constituency have indicated that they will seek exemption.
§ Mr. Wyn RobertsThe Education Reform Act make Welsh a foundation subject in the national curriculum in Wales. Around 100 responses to the interim report of the Welsh working group have been received to date and more are still coming in. The majority have addressed the question of timing of implementation, but only a small minority have indicated that they will consider seeking exemptions.
§ 1992. Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what estimates he has as to the additional cost of providing sufficient teachers of Welsh to enable the requirements of the national curriculum to be implemented in every school in Wales by(a) 1990 and (b) 1992;
(2) what estimates he has as to the additional number of teachers of Welsh who would be needed if the national curriculum requirements for the teaching of Welsh were to be implemented in every school without exemptions by (a) 1990 and (b)
§ Mr. Wyn RobertsWe do not expect any significant increase in the overall number of teachers needed to deliver the national curriculum. In the case of Welsh the results of the primary and secondary staffing surveys suggest that there are sufficient teachers in Wales as a whole; but there are shortages in certain parts of Wales and a programme of in-service teacher training will be necessary. The Department is currently considering detailed teacher requirements and will be conducting a survey of secondary staff shortly, which will help establish more precise estimates of numbers and costs.