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There is not a single Welsh speaker on the team appointed by the Welsh Assembly Government to work on the new review of teacher training in Wales and this could prejudice a true assessment of the country's educational needs, according to the group RhAG (parents for Welsh medium education). Jane Davidson, the Assembly's Education Minister, has appointed Professor John Furlong of Oxford University to carry out the review with the assistance of six consultants. The recommendations are expected by end of September 2005.
Tim Pearce, Chairman of RhAG, said, "The Assembly Goverment has committed itself to a 'Bilingual Wales' and Welsh medium education must be an essential part of this, yet it appears not to have enough vision to appoint at least one person who can understand Welsh language schools from the inside.
"I fear this is part of an old-fashioned attitude to Welsh medium schooling which is to be found throughout Wales and which sees Welsh language schools as just a form of English language school. Looking across the board I am sure the review will find that numbers of children are falling and so the supply of teachers should be adjusted to this demand. And certainly, there is evidence that English medium schools are generally shrinking. Yet the Welsh medium sector is overflowing and continuing to grow. We call on the review to consider the needs of the Welsh medium system with a modicum of vision and separately from the English medium system. In the end, teachers must be produced in the right proportions to cater for parents' wishes now and in the future."
RhAG campaigns to make Welsh medium education a practical choice for every parent in Wales. The group calls for the designation of more Welsh medium schools in which parents can be confident that their children will be taught completely through the medium of Welsh, by far the best way of becoming bilingual.
ends
Link to review website: 
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