Keith Towler - Youth Work continues to support young people in overcoming the challenges of COVID-19

The First Minister recently announced a number of changes, including the re-opening of community centres this week. The First Minister’s Written Statement that accompanied this announcement also referenced the vital role of youth work services across the voluntary sector and local authorities, and signalled that sector specific guidance was on its way. I am happy to update that we have had the first meeting of the working group convened to develop this guidance that will support the Youth Work Sector with planning for a phased increase in services.

One of the most illuminating parts of the day was a presentation by the Co-Chair of the Covid-19 Technical Advisory Cell, Fliss Bennée. Some of her messages were extremely sobering, we are definitely not out of the woods! Yet it was heartening to hear about the huge impact the lockdown has had on reducing fatalities, and to know that the sacrifices we have all made in Wales have saved many thousands of lives. This is where we have a really important role as a sector, in helping our young people (and our colleagues) understand the importance of the choices they make to protect themselves and to protect other people, and this is something we will be referencing in our guidance.

Youth skills and employability

The economic impact of the pandemic is definitely one of the biggest challenges facing our young people at the moment, Britain’s economy contracted by 2.2% in the first three months of 2020 – its sharpest decline in more than 40 years. There is evidence young employees are most likely to have lost work due to furloughing, job losses and hour reductions. The Welsh Government is taking steps to support people into employment or self-employment, securing learner continuity and progression in the labour market throughout this pandemic.

Nonethless, young people are feeling worried and demotivated. Anxiety about their future will be exacerbated by the impact of the lockdown on young people’s overall mental health and wellbeing.

I recognise youth work cannot provide a panacea for all of these ills. Nonetheless we are still there for young people, and we have a vital contribution to make. Youth workers in Wales already play a key role as lead workers, supporting young people with multiple barriers into education, employment or training, through the Youth Engagement and Progression Framework. Wider youth work also contributes to this agenda. We support young people’s wellbeing and their mental health, we are the trusted adult young people confide in. We encourage them to be optimistic, to grow and develop, to take opportunities and learn new skills, through experiences, training and volunteering. The latest edition of the Youth Work Bulletin builds on this and gives a flavour of what the sector offers to boost skills and employability.

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Keith Towler

Keith is the Chair of the Interim Youth Work Board for Wales. He was the Children’s Commissioner for Wales (2008 – 2015) and is currently an independent consultant. He is a respected children’s rights expert with over 30 years’ experience in social work, youth work and youth justice roles.

Aled Roberts - A million Welsh speakers: the role of the education sector

The Welsh Government has set two ambitious targets by 2050, namely to reach a million Welsh speakers, and to double the percentage of the population who use Welsh daily. The Government’s Cymraeg 2050 strategy emphasises the central importance of the education sector in achieving this goal. The Government’s projection and trajectory to a million speakers is largely premised on increasing the number of individuals who leave school with the skills and confidence to use the language in their daily lives. It is also crucial to ensure that the further education and work based learning sectors maintain and develop the Welsh language skills of learners and satisfy the increasing demand for a bilingual workforce. This is crucial in fostering the connection between education, work and Welsh language use.

An important aspect of the Government’s educational strategy is to significantly expand Welsh medium education. Currently, around 22% of primary school children attend Welsh medium education, and the objective is to gradually increase this number to 40% by the year 2050. The growth of Welsh medium education has slowed over the past decade, and it is clear that more needs to be done to meet the increasing demand for Welsh medium and bilingual education. The Welsh in Education Strategic Plans (WESPs) of local authorities will be an important medium for expanding Welsh medium education across Wales, in line with the targets set out in Cymraeg 2050.

Whilst expanding Welsh medium education is central to the Government’s Welsh language strategy, it is clearly the case that the objective of creating more Welsh speakers is something that the education sector as a whole will have to address and contribute towards. Indeed, the Government’s education strategy towards reaching a million Welsh speakers is also focused on reforming the way Welsh is taught in English medium schools. The Government has set an ambitious target that by the year 2050, 50% of learners who leave English medium statutory education will report that they are Welsh speakers. This entails a complete transformation to the current situation, whereby very few pupils attending English medium schools develop the skills and confidence to use the Welsh language beyond the school gates. According to the Government, it is the new curriculum for Wales that will primarily drive these far reaching reforms, for example by replacing the ‘Welsh as a second language’ curricula in favour of one language continuum for all learners in Wales. Whilst it remains unclear what this means in practice, it seems that the vision is that a language continuum will allow schools to gradually and incrementally increase opportunities for pupils to learn through the medium of Welsh and to use the language in school. It is hoped that such a gradual reform process will allow pupils to move further and faster along the language continuum, and therefore to radically increase the contribution of English medium schools to the ambition of increasing the number of Welsh speakers.

As a result of implementing the above strategies, the Welsh Government predicts that in 2050, 70% of all learners will leave statutory education as Welsh speakers. It is important to emphasise that achieving this vision requires a fundamental shift in the way Welsh is taught and used in schools across Wales. Schools in 2050 will look radically different to what currently exists. Whilst such a radical reform is clearly implicit in the Government’s targets and Welsh language strategy, it is less clear whether this vision has been explicitly and effectively communicated to the educational sector as a whole in Wales.

This is significant, because implementing the above reforms will have far reaching implications for teachers, school learning support workers and educational leaders in Wales. If pupils are to gradually move along a language continuum, then the same is true for schools and the teaching workforce. Both central pillars of the Government’s language strategy are conditional on ensuring that enough teachers and support workers in Wales have the requisite linguistic skills and expertise in the first place. This is a considerable undertaking. It is not merely the challenge of ensuring enough teachers to support the growth of Welsh medium education, but also the need to develop the Welsh language skills of the current workforce across the statutory educational sector as a whole. This will surely require a rethinking of the role of Initial Teacher Education in developing an increasingly bilingual educational workforce, as well as how a professional development framework can significantly develop the skills and ability of the current workforce. As is true with respect to the new curriculum, it is teachers and learning support workers who will ultimately be responsible for achieving much of the Cymraeg 2050 vision. It is they who will have to do the actual work of turning policy documents and strategies into concrete pedagogical reforms that will positively impact learners. It therefore stands to reason that teachers and support workers should be given the support and resources needed for them to do this effectively.

The challenges that face the statutory education sector are also challenges that face the further education and work based learning sectors. Indeed, it could be argued that these sectors have not yet received the same investment and strategic emphasis as the statutory education and higher education sectors when it comes to bilingual provision. There is considerable work to do in these sectors. Recently, the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, working alongside the Welsh Government, published their Further education and apprenticeship Welsh-medium action plan. This action plan is ambitious and calls for radical and far-reaching reforms to the sector. A crucial aspect of the plan is to develop the Welsh language skills of the workforce, and increase the capacity of further education and work based learning providers to offer more bilingual provision. As is is the case with respect to the statutory education sector, developing a bilingual workforce will become an increasingly important strategic objective to the post compulsory sector over the next decades.

It is a time of significant change to the statutory education sector in Wales, and the teaching profession is fundamental to this process of reform.  Whilst some degree of uncertainty is unavoidable within such a significant reform process, it is a cause of concern that the educational sector as a whole does not seem fully cognisant of the implications of the Government’s Cymraeg 2050 strategy to the education workforce in the future. More needs to be done to highlight the exciting opportunities that exist to develop the Welsh language skills of the workforce and to develop a bilingual pedagogy that meets the vision of the Cymraeg 2050 strategy. This is why it is crucial that the Government clearly communicates its vision for the Welsh language within education, and explains the implications of this for the education workforce. In doing so, it will be imperative to outline the underlying purpose of such policy documents and strategies in the first place. In the case of Cymraeg 2050, it is the desire to secure the vitality of a language that is an important aspect of what defines us as people and as a nation, and to ensure all individuals in Wales have the opportunity to reap the educational, social and personal advantages of bilingualism. This is a vision that everyone who teaches in Wales surely ought to share.

Aled Roberts

Aled Roberts began his role as Welsh Language Commissioner in 2019.

Nia Brodrick - Improving mental health provision in the FE sector in Wales

Mental health continues to be a rising concern for the further education (FE) sector in Wales. In April 2018, the Mind Over Matter Report published by the National Assembly for Wales’ Children, Young People and Education Committee looked at the change needed in emotional and mental health support for children and young people in Wales.

In the summer of 2018, Welsh colleges warmly welcomed the announcement of £175,000 additional investment to assist FE institutions in enhancing their current mental health and well-being services, both for learners and staff alike. This led to ColegauCymru leading a pilot project designed to enhance existing provision, to develop new interventions and importantly - to encourage collaboration and sharing of best practice amongst institutions. Colleges chose to use the funding in ways that they felt best answered the immediate needs of their learners and staff with a number of them looking specifically at building learner resilience, in a proactive rather than a reactive way. They were encouraged to undertake a collaborative approach, working with other colleges, local charities, health boards or other relevant partners. A Mental Health Advisory Board was also established to quality control and ensure that the projects remained on target and effective.

Colleges were invited to share institution needs based analysis during their project bids. Two key themes repeated throughout the bids were resilience and staff training. Discussing resilience, one college noted, “this theme has emerged through learner surveys where students find academic setbacks difficult to overcome. For example, difficulty in understanding key concepts or poor assignment grades. Or due to other pressures from social media use, for example, they find criticism or personal setbacks difficult to manage”. There was also an emphasis on digital resources, so that students could take ownership of their own mental health and well-being.

The projects varied from one college to another, but with the collective goal of improving student well-being and mental health. The initiatives ranged from online toolkits and courses, physical calm kits, resilience training, staff training courses, well-being hubs, educational modules for students, and pocket guides to a 24-hour online AI support.

This opportunity was deemed as being hugely worthwhile and a good use of resources for the colleges that were involved. Buoyed up by this positive result, and with the continued support of Welsh Government, the FE sector is determined to play its part in supporting staff and learners to develop and maintain positive mental health.

The sector as a whole continues to welcome any additional funding opportunities as they strive to proactively address the mental health and well-being needs of the college community. ColegauCymru was therefore delighted to learn in February 2020 that the success of the pilot had paved the way to secure £2million of further investment from Welsh Government to directly fund individual and collaborative mental health projects in the FE sector. This is hugely timely, as mental health continues to be a vitally important area for the FE college community in Wales, and never more so than now, as we face uncertain and unprecedented times.

Nia Brodrick

With seven years' experience in the further education sector, Nia Brodrick is now a Project Officer at ColegauCymru. Her role involves co-ordinating projects such as, Work Welsh, Mental Health and the current EQAVET restricted call 3.

Sophie Howells - Looking after your mental health during the coronavirus crisis

As the COVID-19 crisis continues, the determination of the workforce to ensure students can keep learning is demonstrated on a daily basis. In these unprecedented times, the education workforce in our schools, colleges and beyond has responded to a unique situation with incredible courage, compassion and professionalism.

Most of the education workforce in Wales is continuing to adapt to the challenge of working from home. Some will be caring for their own families, and may have the additional responsibility of home-schooling their own children. They or someone in their family may have health concerns, for themselves or others, making them particularly vulnerable, creating heightened anxiety for individuals and loved ones.

Like students, many will also be concerned for their own mental health and well-being. None of us has a clear idea of when this situation might ease.
Whilst some of the difficult feelings and challenges for those in the education workforce are common to the general population, some are specific to educators. Currently, over half of the calls to our free, confidential helpline are regarding concerns related to coronavirus.

Many have quickly adapted to teaching remotely and using technology in new ways – some of which were never thought possible just a few weeks ago. Our workforce is playing an essential role as a source of well-being support and continuity to many young people who may be feeling let down during so much uncertainty.

Throughout this crisis, Education Support continues to be here to provide mental health and well-being support to all staff in the field. We have produced a special series of mental health resources to help during the pandemic.

Many will be feeling anxious about the present and looking to the future. A reopening of schools and colleges has been ruled out for now in Wales but there is increasing concern about returning to sites. Educators want to be back with their students but want to do so in a way that is safe, planned and properly supported. Our resources include a video in which psychotherapist Ben Amponsah presents seven strategies to manage anxiety.

Some are experiencing loss and grief, unable to take comfort in familiar rituals and for others the loss of so many aspects of our way of life since lockdown began.

A great number of supply teachers, contract lecturers, term-time only contractors and youth workers have seen their work and income disappear overnight with no notice. Some also remain uncertain as to if and when they may get financial support through government furlough schemes. Financial distress and fear are significant issues and many educators have been affected by a loss of income and employment. We have already helped many in financial distress with our confidential grant scheme. We understand the impact coronavirus is having on many people’s incomes across the sector and can help.

Education Support’s free and confidential helpline is available to all teachers and lecturers working in Wales and to other education staff, including support staff and youth workers, who are directly employed by schools and colleges. If you are struggling with difficult feelings at this time or want to talk about any problems that you are experiencing, you can get emotional support from a trained counsellor on by calling 08000 562561, any time, day or night. We are here to support you, whatever the issue.

Sophie Howells

Sophie Howells works for Education Support, which is the UK's only charity providing mental health and well-being support services to all education staff and organisations.