Large drop in number of pupils studying Welsh at A-level since 2005, data shows
The drop has come despite the Welsh Government having set a target of one million Welsh speakers by 2050.
What I hear from people who get in touch with my office, if only you know three or four people want to study it, then schools don't offer the subject at all Efa Gruffudd Jones, Welsh Language Commissioner
Around 538,000 people can speak the language in Wales.
Data examined by the PA news agency shows some 372 students took Welsh as a first or second language at A-level this year, down from 927 in 2005.
The lowest year on record was 2023, when just 353 pupils took the subject.
This year has been the lowest year for people taking Welsh as a first language, with 185 entries, compared with 260 in 2020.
Some 187 pupils took the subject as a second language, with 209 having taken it in 2020.
Efa Gruffudd Jones, the Welsh Language Commissioner – an officer appointed by the Welsh Government to oversee an independent body aiming to promote the use of the Welsh language – described the drop as a 'matter of concern'.
Speaking to PA, Ms Gruffudd Jones said she supported calls from the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol (Welsh National College) for Welsh to become a protected subject.
She said: '(This would) make sure that every educational institution post-16 offers the course.
You can study psychology, criminology, etc, through the medium of Welsh Efa Gruffudd Jones, Welsh Language Commissioner
'What I hear from people who get in touch with my office, if only you know three or four people want to study it, then schools don't offer the subject at all.
'I believe they need 12 before they decide to run the course. I don't think that's right.
'I think it should be offered at every educational institution post-16.'
Ms Gruffudd Jones also said the qualification itself is under review, and the content needs to be made more attractive and relevant to students.
She added: 'The other thing is that you can study many more courses through the medium of Welsh now than you used to be able to.
'You can study psychology, criminology, etc, through the medium of Welsh.
'Maybe people in the past who would have wanted to study through the medium of Welsh chose Welsh, but now they have a wider range of choice.'
The commissioner stressed that Welsh is not the only language to have seen a decline, with many European languages having seen a drop across the UK.
I understand that we need people with technical ability, but I would argue that you also need linguistic ability in order to communicate with people in workplaces, to articulate yourself well in future Efa Gruffudd Jones, Welsh Language Commissioner
Total entries for French, German, and Spanish were down by 20% from 443 to 352 in Wales this year, with Ruth Cocks, director of British Council Wales, describing the drop in interest in international languages as a 'concerning story'.
Ms Gruffudd Jones said the reason for the move away from studying languages was unclear, but may be due to pupils being encouraged to study more Stem subjects.
'I understand that we need people with technical ability, but I would argue that you also need linguistic ability in order to communicate with people in workplaces, to articulate yourself well in future,' she said.
'I would argue that literature gives you some insight into the world.
'I don't think really that it should be either or.
'What's important is that it doesn't go any lower, and we continue to make efforts to attract people to learn Welsh to a high standard.'
The Welsh Government's aim to have one million Welsh speakers by 2050 was first set out in 2017.
Earlier this year, a new five-year plan was unveiled by the commissioner to help achieve the goal.
A consultation is taking place to look at creating new Welsh AS and A-levels, making them engaging and attractive to learners Welsh Government spokesperson
And the Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill, which aims to close the gap in Welsh speaking ability among pupils from different schools, passed in the Senedd.
Figures from the 2021 census showed a decline in the number of people who can speak Welsh compared with a decade earlier.
Around 538,000 people in Wales – roughly 17% of the population – said they could speak Welsh, compared with 562,000 in 2011, around 19% of the population.
Recent years have seen Welsh place names take prominence over English as the default, with Eryri replacing Snowdonia on official communications from the national park authority.
In response to the decline in A-level entries, a Welsh Government spokesperson said: 'We would like more learners to take Welsh as a subject.
'A consultation is taking place to look at creating new Welsh AS and A-levels, making them engaging and attractive to learners.
'We see the Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Act 2025 as a means to provide more children and young people with access to the language within the education sector than ever before.
'We want all young people to leave school with better Welsh skills, regardless of whether they do A-level Welsh or not.'
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Wales Online
10 minutes ago
- Wales Online
'We were right on 20mph, Brexit was wrong and Nigel Farage would be a disaster for Wales'
'We were right on 20mph, Brexit was wrong and Nigel Farage would be a disaster for Wales' Departing Welsh Government cabinet member Julie James gave her no holds barred take as she prepares to leave frontline politics Julie James meeting school children at Lisvane and Llanishen reservoirs in 2021 (Image: Patrick Olner) When Julie James speaks, people listen, not only in terms of her Senedd contributions, where she is more than happy to put her opponents in their place, but her cabinet colleagues too - especially since First Minister Eluned Morgan made her "minister for delivery" a year ago. It is the sort of title possibly more suited for a spoof sitcom, but it's also the sort of job you can only give someone you know will ruffle feathers if that's what is needed. A member of Labour for almost 52 years, she also holds sway in the political party. 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She had four operations during her treatment, but once she was better, told Carwyn Jones she was ready to join his cabinet. She is now serving her fourth First Minister, with roles like skills and science, local government all on her CV, but the role created for her by Mark Drakeford, whose leadership election campaign she chaired, is her passion despite some very vocal opponents. In his tenure Mr Drakeford axed the M4 relief roads, placed a ban on new roads, set new targets for recycling and net zero, and who can forget it her department, and her deputy Lee Waters who brought in Wales' 20mph law, for example. Public opinion didn't deter her. "I suppose I always felt we were doing the right thing. You get a lot of crap from people who want you to do something that isn't the right thing. "I put a lot of stock by having done the right thing. So yes, we did things that were unpopular. The 20mph is a classic because it has saved tens of lives. 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"The Tories spend a lot of time telling us that we should do things faster, whilst also we should cut all the taxes and we should pump a lot of money into businesses that don't need it, take it away from people who do need it, and at the same time we should have done a lot more on, I don't know, salt marshes or something. "That doesn't add up and it's just the sheer hypocrisy." Julie James MS speaking to Conservative Andrew RT Davies MS during the first day of Welsh Parliament at the Senedd in Cardiff Bay in 2021 (Image: Ben Evans/Huw Evans Agency) "The Tory group in the Senedd does my head in a bit because they backed the UK Government big time. Lots of them backed Liz Truss, lots of them publicly. They backed Brexit and then at the same time they stand up in the Senedd and they shout at us about the fact that austerity is cutting our money, crippling our communities, knackering our health service. Brexit has done our trade in. "I can't bear it." 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"If you don't share it out, then obviously the people who aren't getting a share are angry, rightly angry, and that's what's happening across the Western developed world and with Reform. 'Taken down a path' "We have a society that, on the one hand, is getting technologically more competent, wealthier, with nicer lives, longer lives and so on and a huge section of that society is sick and poor and struggling and they're bloody hungry. "They're being taken down a path by demagogues who are doing it for their own purposes, and they're going to make their lives worse. "Brexit is a perfect example of that. Nobody can point me to anything that Brexit has done isn't a disaster and of course, if you put that to some of the people who backed it, they say, 'well, it wasn't done properly'. What an absolute nonsense. Isn't that the same as Reform, what they're promising might, on a very surface level, make some sense." Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here . We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice She speaks of a Reform pledge to give non-doms a chance to avoid paying some UK taxes, by paying a £250,000 fee, and income from the measure would be transferred annually tax-free to the bank accounts of the lowest paid 10% of full-time workers. "Until you talk to people about it and you say, 'well, actually most non-doms would be paying a great deal more than that, they should be paying 40% of their income all the time, and ask 'Do you know how many people in Wales are on the minimum wage?' Think how much it is to give them £10 each per week, which would have to be the absolute minimum for it to make a difference. "When you do that on the doorstep, some people will listen to that but lots of them won't and they'll say they've had a gutsful of 'you lot'. 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If they were to do any of the things they're saying, and who knows whether they would, because their policy platform is fluid, at the moment. They're saying that they would abolish the NHS and replace it with an insurance based system. That's pretty disastrous for an old, poor, sick country like Wales, where most people have a pre-existing condition, probably couldn't get insurance or afford it or whatever. "They would absolutely, definitely stop free prescriptions, free parking at hospitals. They would stop the nationalisation of the trains and the buses. "You'd go backwards very quickly. I suspect they would, as they have done in some of the councils they've taken control of, try to stop, as they have done in America, the diversity, inclusion and equality programmes. Article continues below "They would afterwards realise what they'd done and try to scramble to put them back. I think they'd starve public services of money. We protect our local authorities. Most people in Wales do not understand how bad the local authority situation in England actually is."
Daily Mirror
11 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Putin's dark childhood from mother's eye gouged out to being chased by rats
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The National
41 minutes ago
- The National
Scottish Government minister marches in support of Palestine
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