Carmarthenshire County Council and the National Centre for Learning Welsh have announced that they have formed a new partnership to increase the opportunities available for people working with children and young people to learn Welsh or improve their Welsh language skills. The move follows the Council’s Welsh in Education Strategic Plan, which aims to increase the Welsh medium education provision in the county and strengthen it for the future.
The announcement comes in a period of growth for the National Centre for Learning Welsh. According to their own statistics, more people are learning Welsh through the organisation than ever before. 18,330 people completed a course with the Centre in the year 2023-2024, an increase of 45% compared to the first official data published by the Centre in 2017-2018.
A variety of training opportunities will be offered as part of the partnership, with provision for different levels of Welsh language ability. There will be a dedicated Learn Welsh tutor available to support the education workforce and a tutor located within the Council to provide lessons to staff who work with children and young people.
Those who take part will get access to the Centre’s wider provision, including face to face courses, online self-study courses and virtual classrooms. The Welsh at Home programme will also be available to help support parents, carers and guardians in order to strengthen their Welsh.
In a statement, Carmarthenshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education and Welsh Language – Cllr Glynog Davies said:
“I very much welcome this strategic partnership with the National Centre for Learning Welsh which will be extremely important over the coming years as the authority moves forward with our aspirations in terms of Welsh education.”
Meinir Ebbsworth, Deputy Chief Executive and Strategic Director of the National Centre for Learning Welsh, said:
“The partnership focuses on three core elements, namely the provision at school, how the home can support Welsh language development, as well as other services that support children and young people.
This is an innovative scheme, with the Centre intertwining its various services with long-term strategic plans, in order to assist the Council in realising the targets of the Welsh in Education Strategic Plans.”
To learn more about the National Centre for Learning Welsh, follow this link to the Learn Welsh website.
