Professional development in LPP
18 July 2016
A leading language consultant has called on Welsh Government to invest more in the professional development of the language policy and planning sector. The call was made by Gareth Ioan in his address to language agency IAITH’s AGM on 13 July.
Addressing a well-attended audience of academics and language planners Gareth called on Welsh Government to include a capacity building element within the renewed National Language Strategy which is currently being drafted. “No doubt the anticipated new strategy will cover the main pillars and priorities adequately”, said Gareth, “but without a fully informed and empowered workforce there remains doubt as to the effectiveness of its delivery. We need to develop a common understanding of the field, joined-up education and training opportunities, a corpus of relevant literature and opportunities for sector-wide discussion and debate. These objectives should be prominent elements of the strategy’s infrastructure”.
IAITH has facilitated a professional network Language Planners wales since 2007. “The foundations have already been laid”, said Gareth. “IAITH would welcome the opportunity to co-operate with the Welsh Government to further increase the capacity of professional language planners in Wales”. His comments were well received by the audience with many reiterating the point in the following seminar discussion.