Bilingual teaching in ITET in HEIs in Wales

Grant type: Development (2000-08)
Round: December 2000
Amount awarded £4,500.00
Completed: May 2002
Leader(s): Professor Gareth Roberts
Organisation: School of Education, University of Wales, Bangor
Contact Email: eds053@bangor.ac.uk
Partners:
Dr Gwyn Lewis
School of Education, University of Wales, Bangor
Dr Muriel Adams
Department of Teacher Education, University of Wales College, Newport
Dr Sian Rhiannon Williams
University of Wales Institute, Cardiff iv) Mr Dylan Vaughan Jones, Department of Education, University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Mr Gwilym Dyfri Jones
Faculty of Education, Trinity College, Carmarthen
URL: http://escalate.ac.uk/resources/bilingualitetwales
Start Date: 1 January 2001
End Date: 31 January 2002
Interim report received: 20 January 2009
Final report received: 20 January 2009

Courses within ITET (Initial training of teachers) in Wales are provided through the medium of both Welsh and English. This project is investigating the scope for providing such courses within a bilingual mode. It builds on work developed by Canolfan Bedwyr (a research and development centre at the University of Wales, Bangor) into bilingualism within education in Wales. In particular the project will allow the sharing of good practice and develop appropriate models for bilingual provision within the sector.

The expected outcomes of the initiative will include an account of the experiences shared by the institutions involved in the form of a bilingual booklet (Welsh and English) together with their perceptions of agreed good practice. It is proposed that a member of ESTYN be invited as an independent evaluator/observer for the working group. In addition Dr Cen Williams will work closely with the group as both an initiator of ideas and as a constructive critic.

It is envisaged that the timetable will have the following form:

  1. one-day seminar for core partners;
  2. February - April: drafting of exemplar material
  3. April 2001: second one-day seminar to share and discuss drafts, involving both the core partners and representatives of the other three HEIs in Wales;
  4. July 2001: agree final draft.

There is provisional agreement that the materials could be accessed via any of three websites: ESCalate; University of Wales, Bangor (School of Education); University of Wales (Unit for Welsh Medium Teaching).