Responding after the Welsh Government announced details of a £900,000 grant to help schools increase the numbers of Welsh speaking teachers and tackle short-term staffing problems, Laura Doel, national secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT Cymru, said:

“This grant scheme does nothing to fundamentally address the shortages of Welsh medium teachers and we urge caution in encouraging teachers to teach outside their specialisms.

“It is not substitute for proper investment in addressing recruitment and retention issues, including by addressing excessive workload, restoring the value of pay and attracting new Welsh speakers into the profession – rather than simply redistributing the capacity of those who can.

“The Welsh Language and Education Act is woefully unrealistic, with no plan to properly support the workforce to speak Welsh. It is setting the profession up to fail.”