Welsh medium education at Glamorgan

Paper by Richard Owen (University of Glamorgan) on the development of a Legal Welsh module at Glamorgan, presented at the Legal Wales Conference held in Cardiff on 13-14 November 2004.

The post-devolution settlement in Wales has started to see raised awareness of specifically Welsh higher education issues. This is particularly true of Welsh legal education, and an issue that is both of importance and specific to Wales is the Welsh language. This paper will examine the educational, policy and linguistic context in which Welsh medium legal education is being developed at the level of higher education. It will look in particular at the experience and issues surrounding the development by the Law School at the University of Glamorgan of a Legal Welsh module. This module is designed to develop students’ proficiency in aspects of the Welsh language that are used in a legal context and to support their Welsh language studies on an undergraduate law degree.

The mission of the University of Glamorgan is to contribute to the economic, social and cultural regeneration of Wales. Its geographical location in Trefforest in the Rhondda Cynon Taff unitary authority means that this mission is particularly orientated towards the regeneration of the South Wales Valleys.

The key educational priorities of both the National Assembly for Wales (NAfW) and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) are to increase the number of higher education students from neighbourhoods where the proportion studying within the higher education sector is traditionally very low. As the University of Glamorgan takes 70% of its students from a 30 mile radius of its campus it has a major role in achieving NAfW and HEFCW priorities, being surrounded by some of the areas with the lowest participation rates in higher education in Wales. Nearly 45% of the electoral wards in Wales considered to have very low participation levels lie in the South Wales Valleys (Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Torfaen, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda Cynon Taff).

The University of Glamorgan’s Law School reflects general trends within the university, with a large number of its enrolments coming from the same 30 mile radius but are particularly drawn from Rhondda Cynon Taff, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Newport and the Vale of Glamorgan.

The 30 mile radius includes areas which have some of the fastest growing numbers of Welsh speakers in Wales. Much of this increase can be attributed to the increase in Welsh medium and bilingual education. Nearly 23% of Welsh secondary schools use Welsh as the medium of instruction for at least half of their foundation subjects, and the number of such schools has grown from 44 to 53 in just over a decade. 18% of pupils attend such schools compared to 15% ten years ago. Although Welsh medium and bilingual education is proving increasingly popular at primary and secondary level, it is recognised that there is a paucity of Welsh medium provision in higher and further education in Wales, with 3% of students receiving some teaching through the medium of Welsh in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Wales. Students’ ability to progress their education through the medium of the Welsh language is patchy, and traditionally has been centred on the following ‘big three’ Welsh medium higher educational providers; University of Wales Bangor, University of Wales Aberystwyth and Trinity College Carmarthen.

In addition to geographical imbalances in the provision of Welsh medium higher education certain subjects have a better established tradition of Welsh medium education than others. Education is one of the subject areas which has the greatest amount of higher education Welsh medium provision. Law as a subject could be classed as coming into a medium category, with some subjects, for example Medicine, having no provision at all. The law sector’s provision includes teaching and research supervision in the Welsh language, and this teaching has occurred in subjects such as Legal System, Equity & Trusts and Advocacy. However, of the ‘big three’ providers law teaching has traditionally only occurred in UW Aberystwyth, although Welsh medium provision in law has been offered at Cardiff University and University of Wales Swansea. The inauguration of a law degree in UW Bangor in September 2004 not only facilitates access to legal education in a Welsh speaking heartland but also means that the infrastructure for higher education Welsh medium delivery in law has been improved.

Even for the ‘big three’ Welsh medium providers the Welsh Assembly Government’s target of increasing the proportion of students in Welsh HEIs undertaking some element of their course through the medium of Welsh to 7% by 2010 is a challenge. For the University of Glamorgan, located far from the traditional heartlands of Welsh speaking Wales with historically relatively low levels of Welsh medium provision in any discipline other than Welsh language studies, the challenge is greater still.

Reasons for developing Welsh medium higher education in law

There are a number of reasons why the University of Glamorgan needs to rise to this challenge; not simply because it is Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) policy to increase Welsh medium higher education.

There is a large increase in the provision of Welsh medium education in the university’s main recruitment area, and students need to be offered the opportunity to progress in their studies in the Welsh language at higher education level. For example, Rhondda Cynon Taff has increased the number of pupils in Welsh speaking secondary schools from 3,506 in 1999-2000 to 3,820 in 2002-03, an 8% increase in a mere three years.

It helps fulfil the University of Glamorgan’s mission to contribute to the social, economic and cultural regeneration of the South Wales Valleys. Some of the fastest growing areas in terms of percentage of Welsh speakers are within a 30 mile radius of the University of Glamorgan. Torfaen had the largest percentage increase between the 1991 and 2001 censuses, with an increase of 8.7% and the total of Welsh speakers amounting to 11.1% of the population. Blaenau Gwent recorded the third largest increase – 7.3%, with a total number of Welsh speakers amounting to 9.5% of the population. These are also areas of low participation in higher education, with Blaenau Gwent having the lowest participation rate of all and Torfaen the second lowest.

These are areas where the university will wish to recruit more students if it is to maximise its contribution to achieving the Welsh Assembly Government’s target of raising the proportion of young people accessing higher education from low participation neighbourhoods to 40-50% by 2010. To do this it will have to be responsive to developments within these communities. It is also a natural corollary of a widening access agenda that there will be more Welsh speaking students in higher education in Wales. As the numbers increase a proportion of the increased numbers will be Welsh speakers.

Although the Law School does not draw many of its students from areas where Welsh speaking communities constitute over 50% of the population, there are significant numbers of Welsh speakers in its main recruitment areas, even if they are a minority of the total population. For example, Cardiff was shown to have the largest increase in the number of Welsh speakers in the 2001 census and has the fourth largest number of Welsh speakers of any unitary authority in Wales, although they only constitute 11% of the population.

There is evidence of employer demand for Welsh language skills. 71% of employers have stated that bilingual skills are desirable for jobs in their organisations. There is also an increasing demand for Welsh speakers in, inter alia, health and social services, the media and the police, areas where law graduates will often have suitable skills to offer to potential employers. Employers will wish to recruit Welsh speaking staff for commercial reasons, as Welsh speakers are more likely to use a company that offers its services in Welsh.

Recent research has shown that 32% of higher education law lecturers in Wales feel that there is an unmet demand for legal education in Welsh. This is in line with a survey undertaken amongst 2,000 Year 12 and 13 secondary school students and higher education students, which suggests an unmet or potential demand for higher education. 33% of Year 12 and 13 students who intended studying for their higher education in Wales noted that there were no suitable Welsh medium courses available to them. Amongst the courses where there was the most concern over the lack of provision sciences and professional/vocational courses stood out, which has clear implications for legal education. 75% of Welsh speaking students studying through the medium of English in Welsh HEIs cited the lack of suitable Welsh medium provision as a reason.

As Wales moves towards being a bilingual society the demand for Welsh language skills will naturally increase. Increased numbers of Welsh speakers will expect to receive legal and governmental services in the Welsh language. The impact of devolution has had a noticeable impact in law. Already there can be said to be discrete body of Welsh law in areas not only of public law but also family, environmental, housing and employment law. Demand for Welsh language legal services may grow with the development of a body of distinctly Welsh law.

Development of Welsh medium education in the University of Glamorgan’s Law School

Although there were a number of reasons for the Law School to become involved in Welsh medium education there were still a number of issues for it to resolve before developing its Legal Welsh module.

The Mapping Legal Education in Wales project found a shortage of Welsh language speakers amongst higher education law lecturers. As the University of Glamorgan is located in a predominantly English speaking area the composition of its staff tends to reflect this. Prior to 2003 the Law School had no Welsh speakers on its staff at all. Following the appointment of a Welsh speaker in July 2003 the development of a Legal Welsh module became more feasible. However, a sole Welsh speaker still causes problems in course development when it comes to assuring the quality of the course. What would happen if the lecturer became unavailable for any reason? These problems are not confined to the University of Glamorgan, and a shortage of Welsh speakers affects most HEI law providers. This explains why there is a high level of collaboration between law departments on Welsh language issues in Wales. The main forum for this co-operation is Panel Maes y Gyfraith (Law Field Panel), to which all HEI law providers in Wales belong and which meets regularly.

An emerging national strategy for Welsh medium provision seeks to address, inter alia, the skills shortage through the proposed establishment of a National Centre for Welsh Medium Provision. This centre will co-operate with HEFCW to develop language enhancement training for staff and bilingual teaching methodologies. This will enhance the provision of Welsh medium provision in law. The MaLEW report indicated that 32% of higher education law lecturers in Wales who responded were fluent in Welsh, but that only 16% actually taught in the language. Some of the missing 16% will not have the capacity after their teaching, administrative and research commitments have been taken into account to deliver in Welsh, but there still seems to be scope to increase the numbers teaching law at HEIs in Wales from existing staff resources.

The MaLEW project found that innovative partnerships were a characteristic of post-16 Welsh medium education in Wales, and not just in the higher education sector. For example, it was found that due to resourcing constraints schools in Wales are often unable to provide AS/A Level Law to students despite student demand. Private sector teaching companies are, to a certain extent, filling this gap in relation to Welsh medium provision in North Wales in particular, and extensive use is being made of new technologies such as video conferencing, as well as provision of distance learning materials. Schools have also been sharing law teachers or sending pupils to other schools and further education colleges for their legal education.

Although the private sector is not involved in higher education Welsh medium provision there are aspects of the AS/A Level Law experience which provide a prototype for the development of higher education law provision. If the Welsh Assembly Government target of 7% of students to have some element of their course delivered through the medium of Welsh by 2010 has any realistic chance of being met, HEIs will have to follow the example of the schools sector by collaborating with other institutions and exploiting new technologies to widen the potential pool of students and ensure that optimum use is made of Welsh speaking staff. This may include sending students to another institution located in geographical proximity for Welsh medium legal education, and sharing of lecturers or distance learning materials between institutions. However, there are a number of short term operational problems to overcome before collaboration between providers can be fully realised, such as modules having different credit ratings, term dates in different institutions and a different regulatory regime in the University of Glamorgan from the University of Wales.

The development of a Legal Welsh module in an institution such as the University of Glamorgan that draws its students predominantly from south east Wales needs to take into account the fact that fluent Welsh speakers are a minority of the population. Although there has been a growth in Welsh medium education in many of the areas from which the University of Glamorgan draws its students there are other areas where the trend is less advanced. For example, Newport does not yet have a secondary school which teaches Welsh as a first language. However, the numbers taking Welsh as a second language at GCSE level have been increasing. It is equally important for school pupils who study Welsh as a second language to have the opportunity to continue developing their Welsh language skills at higher education level as first language speakers. The Welsh language is part of the heritage of all the people of Wales, whether they speak the language fluently or not or indeed if they do not speak the language at all.

As well as being right in principle, accommodating the needs of second language Welsh speakers on the Legal Welsh module helps to ensure its sustainability. The Law School’s Welsh medium provision is in its infancy, and although there are indicators of demand, it is, as yet, unproven. First language Welsh speakers are in a minority in all the areas from which the University of Glamorgan draws most of its students and it is possible that, at this stage, they may be insufficient in number to annually sustain a Legal Welsh module.

The needs of second language Welsh speakers were reflected in the design of the Law School’s module, which is open to both first and second language Welsh speakers, although the module’s prerequisites differentiate between the two groups. First language speakers are required to have a GCSE in Welsh before undertaking the module, whilst second language speakers are required to have an A Level in Welsh. As a national strategy for Welsh medium higher education emerges this could be a role for HEIs located outside the traditional Welsh speaking heartlands, namely to develop expertise in Welsh medium education for second language Welsh speakers.

The demand for Welsh medium provision in an institution which has not been historically associated with it needs to be developed. For institutions with a less well established tradition additional funding assists medium provision developmental work. However, the funding situation is difficult. The Minster for Education and Lifelong Learning has informed HEFCW that she is not able to make extra funding available for Welsh medium provision at least in the short term. HEFCW have set out a method of funding for a three year period from 2003-04. The sum set aside was £300,000, with planned increases in the following two years in line with uplifts for core teaching. A core fund of £200,000 has been made available to the ‘big three’ (UW Bangor, UW Aberystwyth and Trinity College Carmarthen). A core allocation of £12,000 has been made to University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC), which occupies a ‘middle position’ in terms of Welsh medium enrolment. A core allocation of £48,000 has been made for the development of projects in other institutions. It was from this last allocation that the University of Glamorgan’s Law School was able to successfully bid for £5,000 to develop its Legal Welsh module. This funding has ensured that the module has been able to run during its earlier years with fewer numbers than would otherwise be the case, which facilitates the development of demand in an area where the Law School has no prior experience.

Student support

In developing the Legal Welsh module there are many aspects of student support systems that need to be adapted for Welsh medium provision.

Although there have been a number of projects which have developed teaching materials in the Welsh language for legal study there is still a shortage of texts. The funding arrangements for the development of Welsh medium provision mean that Welsh higher education legal providers will usually share material that one provider has produced. However, the Legal Welsh module still has to make use of English language texts. Additional Welsh language texts in law will inevitably continue to feature on the agenda for Welsh medium higher education in law.

The University of Glamorgan as a widening access institution has well developed mechanisms for student support, and Welsh medium education poses fresh challenges for some of these mechanisms. These include a Study Skills Drop-in Centre that assists students with the development of study skills such as essay writing, use of language, referencing, etc. A section of the Drop-in Centre is located within the Law School and is staffed by legally qualified staff. The development of Welsh medium provision in law means that the Drop-in Centre also needs to develop the resources to support study in the Welsh language.

The Law School has developed a system of progress files, a system of personal development planning which tracks the development of students’ vocational skills whilst studying for their law degree. They form a record of the student’s record of achievement that can be shown to potential employers. This record is maintained by the student but is supervised by a Law School tutor. As Welsh medium provision develops within the School it makes sense for progress files to track the development of Welsh language skills, not least because of the value placed on bilingualism by employers in Wales. Currently the Welsh language skills shortage amongst tutors in the Law School makes progress file supervision of Welsh language proficiency something of a challenge. In the early years the numbers on the Legal Welsh module mean that this work can be supported but if, as is hoped, numbers grow over time then a strategy will be needed to either develop or recruit staff to supervise this aspect of student work.

The emerging national strategy is already prioritising student support. It is envisaged that the National Centre for Welsh Medium Provision would work with institutions to ascertain the language enhancement needs of students before they can embark on Welsh medium study and will consider further support mechanisms that will need to be put into place.

Conclusion

In many ways Welsh medium higher education is at the cutting edge of policy making in Wales. Innovative partnerships are being formed between HEIs and new technologies are being exploited, moving Wales towards the goal of bilingualism. The challenge of meeting the target of 7% of students having some element of their course delivered through the medium of Welsh by 2010 is daunting, not least to those institutions based in south east Wales. In order to achieve the target there is a need to increase the number of staff that can provide Welsh language tuition and to enhance still further the amount of Welsh language teaching materials in law.

However, higher education law providers in Wales are in a good position to grow their provision and make a significant contribution to achieving the target. There is experience of Welsh medium delivery in the sector which is not confined to the big three Welsh medium HEIs. Following devolution the discipline itself is increasingly developing a specifically Welsh dimension, and the capability to deliver the subject through the medium of Welsh is improving, as well as there being indicators of unmet demand in the subject.

The Legal Welsh module at the University of Glamorgan’s Law School will make its own distinctive contribution, which will be reflective of the university’s location and mission. It will accommodate the needs of first and second language Welsh language speakers in a widening access institution. This supports the re-emergence of the Welsh language in areas of the South Wales Valleys where it has not been commonly used in recent years as well as providing all Welsh language speakers with varying levels of proficiency the opportunity to continue their Welsh language studies at higher education level.

Last Modified: 4 June 2010