Tories would require English and Welsh education in every council

Councils would be required to offer both English and Welsh education should the Welsh Conservatives form the next Welsh government, the party's leader in the Senedd has said.

Gwynedd announced plans earlier this year to slash English-language education in the majority of its secondary schools.

Speaking at Tory conference in Manchester, Darren Millar said he supported both Welsh and English medium schools, but said the council should "respect the right of parents to choose."

A spokesperson for the local authority, Cyngor Gwynedd, said its policy ensured pupils were prepared "to step confidently into a bilingual world".

Millar announced the policy at conference fringe event about education in Wales, where he and Shadow Welsh Secretary, MP Mims Davies, laid out their plans for educational reform in Wales including introducing free schools and academies.

Gwynedd, where Welsh is spoken by the majority of residents, plans to phase out English-medium streams from the vast majority of secondary schools.

It would expect pupils to follow at least 70% of the curriculum in Welsh.

The plan, according to the council, would remove "bilingualism and bilingual teaching" with Welsh becoming "the principal language of education".

Millar told BBC Wales he was "disappointed" in Cyngor Gwynedd.

"I think they ought to respect the right of people to choose, parents to choose and pupils to choose to be educated in an English-medium school", he said.

"We would require every local authority and change the law if necessary to make sure that that happened", he added.

The council said the authority's language education policy "is a core part of Cyngor Gwynedd's language strategy and is in line with the strategy's central priority, which is to maintain and strengthen the Welsh language while ensuring that our learners are also prepared to step confidently into a bilingual world".

"The council will build on the solid foundations that already exist here in Gwynedd's schools, ensuring consistency in terms of provision."

Mims Davies, left, and Darren Millar, right, spoke at a conference fringe event

Millar also said the WJEC, the leading examination body in Wales, should be sanctioned for its performance, and more choice of qualification bodies should be introduced.

The WJEC was fined £35,000 this summer after issuing hundreds of schoolchildren in England with the wrong GCSE results.

All Welsh state schools are required to use the board's qualifications, which Millar said was "a bad thing".

Since the new GCSE curriculum was introduced in September, Millar said it had not produced new textbooks or learning materials quickly enough to tie in with the new examinations being offered.

It "has been letting teachers down, it's been letting parents down, it's been letting pupils down" he said, adding, "they should be sanctioned in my view, I don't think that what they've done has been acceptable."

He also said the curriculum itself had been implemented too quickly.

The WJEC said it is "the only awarding body committed to delivering bilingual qualifications to schools and colleges across Wales".

The board said in a statement: "Whilst other awarding bodies can offer qualifications in Wales, none have chosen to deliver GCSEs that meet Qualifications Wales' requirements.

"The timeline of publication of materials was agreed in advance with Qualifications Wales, and we can confirm that all key milestones were achieved for all 16 GCSEs and related qualifications."

It said it had supported schools and colleges with a "comprehensive package of free support" and that feedback to its provision "has been overwhelmingly positive".

Tories back academies in Wales

During the fringe event, Shadow Welsh Secretary Davies also said the Welsh Conservatives would introduce free schools and academies, like in England, should they form the next Welsh government.

Davies said it would boost performance and address behavioural problems, by giving headteachers more choice on how to tackle issues.

Since Covid, international Pisa assessments show Welsh performance has fallen to its lowest ever levels in maths, reading and science.

Welsh schools inspector Estyn has also said there has been a general decline in behaviour since the pandemic.

Davies and Millar said lessons should be learned from Caldicot school in Monmouthshire.

Its headteacher Alun Ebenezer was labelled the "head from hell" after he introduced detentions on Saturdays to get to grips with violence and misbehaviour.

Mr Ebenezer has been announced as an education adviser for the Welsh Conservatives ahead of the 2026 election.

"I think at the moment what you are seeing in Wales actually is a lack of discipline - that it doesn't feel safe in schools," Davies said.

"I think we should be working with the communities, with the police, with leaders, with parents to make sure that education is about learning, it's a safe place to be.

"Where there has been innovation, it's been stamped on and held back."

She added: "We will free up headteachers, we'll free up the opportunity in those schools, through those free schools and academies."