OVER 18,000 individuals are learning Welsh, according to the latest official data published by the National Centre for Learning Welsh today (27 March 2025) – the highest number of learners since the Centre took responsibility for the Learn Welsh sector in 2016.

During the 2023-2024 academic year, 18,330 people completed the Centre’s courses – an increase of 8% compared to the previous year, and an increase of 45% compared to the first official data published by the Centre for the 2017-2018 academic year, 12,700.

The increase in learners reflects developments within the sector. As well as the face-to-face and virtual courses held in communities, new, pioneering schemes for different audiences, including the Health and Care sector, and young people, are now available.

There has been significant growth in the Health and Care sector, with a Learn Welsh tutor based in every health board, specific schemes for specialties such as Palliative and End of Life Care and Psychiatry, short self-study courses and Confidence Building courses.

The data for 2023-2024 shows more young people aged 16-25 are learning Welsh. A total of 2,635 young learners completed the Centre’s courses during 2023-2024, an increase of 21% compared to the previous year, and an increase of 274% compared to the first year of publication of age in 2018-2019.

The vast majority of all learners (84%) are within the working age group, 16-64.

The majority of learners (76%) follow tutor-led courses, whether face-to-face or in virtual classrooms, and there is an increase in the number of learners following courses at Intermediate and Advanced levels, as well as courses for beginners.

Mark Drakeford, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Welsh Language, said: “The enthusiasm of the Learn Welsh sector and the increase in the number of people learning the language is an inspiration, and a source of pride for us all.

“The National Centre for Learning Welsh has been a strategic partner to the Welsh Government since it was established, and inspections by Estyn have recognised the Centre’s expertise in the field of language learning and acquisition.

“The Centre has led on major changes within the sector, introducing a curriculum aligned with the European framework, the CEFR, and planning and extending its activities in order to welcome new audiences to the Welsh language.

“Cymraeg belongs to us all, and the Centre makes an all-important contribution in terms of normalising the use of the language and supporting the ambition to increase the numbers who can speak, use and enjoy the Welsh language.”

Dona Lewis, Chief Executive of the National Centre for Learning Welsh, said: “Everyone in the Learn Welsh sector can take pride in these latest figures, which tell a story of growth and success, and I’d like to congratulate all our learners, tutors and the extended workforce.

“I’d also like to thank the Welsh Government for its support of the Centre as we’ve extended our services, building new partnerships which have led to flexible learning programmes for specific audiences. These exciting developments have enabled the Centre to welcome more people to the Welsh language.

“The Centre’s language learning and acquisition expertise is key to our learning activities. The national Learn Welsh curriculum, developed by the Centre, gives one clear, single learning pathway to becoming a Welsh speaker. All our courses are based on the curriculum, and the latest data reflects the success of this learning model.

“The Government’s plans to introduce a Welsh Language and Education Bill will create new opportunities for the Centre to share its expertise with other areas, and contribute to the prosperity of the Welsh language. This work has already started, with the Centre’s services for young people, and the wide range of provision for the education workforce, which we will report on in the next academic year.

“More people are learning Welsh, more are learning at higher levels, and new work streams are leading to growth. Our aim is to continue to work creatively to offer a wide choice of opportunities to learn Welsh.”

TWO PEMBROKESHIRE libraries are to see their opening hours cut as part of a council budget saving target of £250,000.

At the March meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet, members were asked to make changes to library service provision in parts of the county, as part of steps to reduce service costs, following recent a public consultation and the Library Needs Assessment.

The proposals, initially for changes to three county libraries, Pembroke, Pembroke Dock and Milford Haven, are part of wider changes to generate a total saving of £250,000 per annum, based on a 20 per cent savings target for the service as part of the agreed 2025-’26 budget.

It was proposed to make changes at Pembroke library, for a saving of £6,800, Pembroke Dock library (£12,000), and Milford Haven library (£13,000).

Pembroke library will see its hours reduced by eight per week, adopting the timetable which had the highest community support, by closing on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 1pm.

Pembroke Dock library is to lose seven hours, closing at 1pm on Thursdays and at 4pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

A formal consultation exercise ran between January and February, with the reductions in hours proposed at Pembroke and Pembroke Dock, and, in the case of Milford, the proposal was either to relocate the library to a smaller/cheaper premises or establish a Community Managed Partnership at the current library.

The situation at Milford Haven is to remain unchanged in the short term after the Port of Milford Haven and Milford Haven Town Council came forward with a combined financial support package of £13,000 for the 2025/26 year, with works ongoing to find a longer term financially sustainable solutions for the library.

Presenting the report to Cabinet members, Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services Cllr Rhys Sinnett, who moved the recommendations, said Milford differed from the other two libraries due to the additional short-term funding received.

“Milford haven town Council and the Port of Milford Haven stepped forward to fill that gap, in effect it buys us some time to look at the options going forward; in Milford what we’ve done in effect is to buy a year’s grace.”

Members heard the near-£32,000 savings outlined were a small part of the hoped-for overall savings for the service.

Seconding approval, Leader Cllr Jon Harvey highlighted the importance of libraries “not just for lending books,” but for providing ‘warm spaces’ and locations for other community facilities.

The proposals were unanimously supported by Cabinet members.

WALES’ education secretary vowed to get to grips with secondary school attendance amid concerns it could take more than a decade to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

Lynne Neagle told the Senedd she wants to see pre-pandemic secondary school attendance levels restored by the end of the Senedd term in May next year.

Average attendance – which was 90.5% in the 2023/24 academic year, down from 94.3% in 2018/19 – has ticked up to 90.9% so far in 2024/25, according to latest statistics.

Ms Neagle welcomed some small improvements in the academic year to date but said: “Progress has been too slow and there is more to do. I want to see pre-pandemic levels restored within this Senedd term. That will require a collective, sustained effort.”

With average attendance among pupils eligible for free school meals at 84.8%, a fall from 91.2% pre-pandemic, Ms Neagle stressed: “The significant amount of learning lost by those eligible for free school meals is a particular concern and must improve.”

Estyn’s 2023/24 annual report warned it would take more than a decade for secondary attendance to return to pre-pandemic levels at the current rate of improvement.

Leading a debate on March 18, Ms Neagle said: “I am really concerned about the messages in the report about attendance and I can say to you absolutely that we are not waiting ten years to restore our attendance levels to what they need to be.”

The Conservatives’ Tom Giffard said the proportion of secondary-age pupils absent for at least 20% of sessions leapt from 4.6% to 16.3% between 2018/19 and 2022/23.

He told the Senedd: “We’ve previously seen the Welsh Government welcome the slight increase in attendance numbers in Wales compared to the last academic year but again completely ignore the fact that our numbers are so much lower than the rest of the UK.”

Welsh Lib Dem leader Jane Dodds called for bold steps to “break the cycle” between poverty and low educational attainment, warning of troubling trends among the poorest pupils.

Plaid Cymru’s Cefin Campbell added: “We cannot allow the next generation, particularly those who are most disadvantaged, to wait as long as a decade to see improvements.”

Mr Campbell raised concerns about a lack of suitably qualified teachers in secondary schools, particularly in mathematics, sciences and through the medium of Welsh.

Labour’s Buffy Williams said: “Estyn’s report sets out some examples of good practice but it is also clear that, in some areas, the school system is not performing as it should.”

She told the Senedd that Owen Evans, Estyn’s chief inspector, found that teacher shortages are having a tangible impact on the quality of teaching and learning.

Ms Williams, who chairs the Senedd’s education committee, warned outcomes for pupils will suffer if schools continue to struggle to recruit and retain high-quality teachers.

Lee Waters, a fellow Labour backbencher, highlighted Estyn’s finding that the number of students training to be secondary teachers has declined by nearly half in the past decade.

Mr Waters, a former minister, highlighted that the chief inspector pointed to a poor public perception of the profession as one of the underlying issues hindering recruitment.

“Good teachers change lives, good teachers inspire a generation…,” he said. “We don’t talk enough about teachers as public service servants, teachers as inspirational figures, teachers as people who can lift up others.”

Mr Waters, a father of children in the education system, told the Senedd he has been struck by how joyless teaching and learning has become at times.

He said: “I think we’ve created a system – we teach to a test, we push for a set of results and metrics, and it’s killed the joy of learning and the spirit of inquiry too much.”