Welsh teenagers 2 years of education behind English teenagers

I think that the issue is possibly that it's harder for Welsh medium secondaries to recruit subject specialists. Let's face it, it's hard enough to find a physics specialist for English medium education. A physics teacher who is fluent in Welsh will almost certainly be fluent in English too, so will have employment opportunities left, right and centre; whereas the schools will be recruiting from a small portion of an already limited pool.

Interestingly, in Ireland those who sit the Leaving Cert through the medium of Irish get extra points to compensate for any disadvantage.

It does depend on the subject (you don’t get extra points in English exams, for example) but you can get up to 10% bonus marks in some subjects, and up to 5% in others, if you score under 75% in the exam. The bonus tapers off for results above 75%, meaning no bonus is given if you score 100%.

I’m not certain whether it’s a good idea or not, but something Wales could look at if they do want to encourage the language perhaps.

My understanding is that WJEC has removed the option of separate / triple science and is only offering the double award.

Those f**king 'Chilli's' have a lot to answer for!!

Where I live, it is MUCH harder to get a job if you don’t speak Welsh!

I don’t get this STEM should be taught in English argument. Yes science has a universal language of its own but it is a complete mismatch of European languages with some Latin thrown in as well. Eg gold is Au, electrical current is represented by an I. The metric system was developed by the French.

If all STEM needed to be taught in English how come other countries manage to teach it in the native language? Including those that don’t use the Roman alphabet, which would be an even bigger barrier.

I think they're probably OK with not working where you live!

Because half of the kids in Welsh speaking schools are being educated in their 2nd language, so they are learning a subject with very specific linguistic terms, as you say science has it's own language, via a middle language (Welsh), it is a waste of limited time and energy. Also there is a Wealth of resources (books, education videos, peer reviewed articles written in both English and other mainstream languages, where there isn't in Welsh.

In year 4 my daughter should be learning about vertices in Maths, what are the Welsh word for Vertices, vector, diagonal, magnitudes and coordinates. These are difficult concepts for an 8yo, so she has to learn and understand the words, which will be a mix of entire translations some obviously just Welsh spellings of the recognised word in the scientific community, and she has to make sense of this to read the question to do the Maths, which is what she is meant to be learning. This is too much to ask an 8yo, and it is compounded by the 'child-led' approach to Welsh Education where she can opt to stick on the green or yellow chilli level, and who can blame her, her head must be spinning!!

This stubbornness to name the problems in Welsh Education, because it offends a few Welsh speakers are destroying our childrens furtures, and it definetly is not all, I have First Language Welsh friends sending there kids to the most English medium secondary school because of their own experiences in higher education.

I am fully in favour of bilingiual education, but done in a way where it only benefits my DD, not where it fails her. But we have had that choice taken away from us, with no English medium primary schools and the only remaining predominantly English medium secondary under attack from Plaid.

Not true. The Welsh Government have delayed making a decision on this until 2028 (I think because of backlash) so double science is the standard, but there's still the option to do triple science at present

I hope that they don't get rid of the triple science option.

Presumably schools have the option of using different exam boards for science, though they'd have to teach it in English as a result.

Does the WG have any influence in WJEC? I understand that the trustees are drawn from LEAs.

No, state schools in Wales are required to use CBAC / WJEC, unless offering a subject for which there is no pathway. Welsh GCSEs are very different from other exam boards. They are modular, with exams sat through y10 and 11, Welsh GCSEs have retained a greater coursework element. They are also graded differently (Wales has retained the letter grading system rather than the numerical grades seen in England). Only WJEC qualifications are in line with the Curriculum for Wales.

English and maths are also becoming / have become a double award.

That’s good. I also hope they don’t get rid of triple science.

The new English qualification seems to br changing again after only one year.

I’d be careful of writing off the state of the English education system based on Mumsnet bashing. My two children (mid secondary) have had a great time. Their primary school was quite crappy with a high turnover of teachers but they still had excellent reading and maths abilities, as well as a sound knowledge of general history/geography/science and good trips. Their secondary has been brilliant.

I think the English curriculum is actually very solid and age appropriate, and I think the focus on phonics and basic maths that’s underscored by the phonics and times tables check actually does a good job of holding schools to account. If our primary school hadn’t had to get our children through those tests, even when they had a string of supply teachers, temp head teachers and Covid, do I think they would have put in the effort? I don’t think so….

Worth a watch as it discussing the problems with Welsh education/ curriculum without even getting in to the Welsh language debate.

Honestly, whenever the PISA results drop, it’s proper grim viewing for Wales compared to the rest of the UK. Welsh kids keep pulling lower scores in maths, reading, and science than pupils in England, which obviously sets off a massive row. The opposition and critics jump straight on it, calling it a total embarrassment and blaming bad management, dodgy curriculum changes, and a lack of support in classrooms. Meanwhile, the defenders jump in to say hold on a minute—Wales actually does a decent job closing the gap for kids from poorer backgrounds, and they argue that testing students in Welsh might skew things a bit. But at the end of the day, most folks just see it as a bloody nightmare that urgently needs sorting.