Welsh-medium education

Welsh-medium education (Welsh: Addysg cyfrwng Cymraeg) is a form of education in Wales in which pupils are taught primarily through the medium of Welsh.

The aim of Welsh-medium education is to achieve fluency in both Welsh and English. All children over the age of seven receive some of their instruction in English. In January 2025, there were 93,377 pupils (21%) being educated in Welsh medium schools, and 23,807 pupils (5%) in dual language schools (Welsh and English). In addition in January 2025, there were 405 Welsh medium schools, and 66 dual language schools.

There is mixed evidence that children in Welsh-medium education tend to perform worse academically than others, even though students who leave school with Welsh proficiency go on to earn more on average than their monolingual peers in Wales. However, other data shows that Welsh-medium schools outperform English-medium schools at GCSE maths and English A*-C and at Level 2 inclusive. A smaller proportion of people in higher levels of education study partially or fully through the medium of Welsh.

Formal Welsh-medium education began in Wales in 1939, and the first Welsh-medium secondary education began in 1962. In the following decades the provision was greatly expanded. The Welsh Government target is for 30% of pupils to be taught in this manner by 2031 and 40% by 2050.

In May 2025, The Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill was passed, with the Bill outlining how to Welsh Government will go about creating one million Welsh speakers, school categorisation, and the level of standards expected from all pupils by the end of school-leaving age.

In the early 19th century, English became the usual language of instruction at schools in Wales. While the country's working class was largely Welsh-speaking at the time, Welsh public opinion wished for children to learn English. Many schools used corporal punishment to stop children from speaking Welsh in the first half of the 19th century; the practice declined in the second half of the century. The British government never prohibited the use of Welsh at schools but it treated English as the assumed language of instruction. More Welsh was gradually used at schools in Welsh-speaking areas in the mid to late 19th century and teaching of the language began to receive moderate government support from the late 19th century.

In 1939, the first Welsh-medium primary school was established independently of the state by the Urdd in Aberystwyth. Ysgol Glan Clwyd was the first designated bilingual secondary school in Wales, which opened in 1956. Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen (now Ysgol Garth Olwg) became the first Welsh-medium secondary school in South Wales in 1962.

The Welsh Government's current target is to increase the proportion of each school year group receiving Welsh-medium education to 30% by 2031, and then 40% by 2050. During a Senedd debate in December 2022, Plaid Cymru suggested Welsh-medium education be made compulsory to all students in Wales as part of the bill. It was rejected by the Welsh Government. In March 2023, the Welsh government introduced a white paper for a new Welsh Language Education Bill which would make various changes to Welsh language policy including improving teaching of Welsh in English-medium schools and requiring local authorities to promote Welsh-medium education.