ABSTRACT

This article explores the role of the concept of ‘demand’ in Welsh-medium education policy in Further Education and its effectiveness in increasing the number of learners studying through the medium of Welsh and bilingually. The research is based on a sample of four different areas across Wales, drawing on semi-structured interviews with staff in schools and Further Education colleges, and on focus groups with pupils in the final year of their statutory education, who are intending to pursue vocational subjects. The study identifies the principles underlying planning provision according to demand, and analyses the limitations of doing so. Using Bourdieu’s concepts of linguistic habitus and the linguistic market, the article examines how planning according to demand fails to take into consideration the power context of Welsh and English, and the social expectations of the networks in which learners make linguistic choices. It argues that in order to increase the number of learners following Welsh-medium and bilingual provision in the FE sector in Wales, there is a need to reject the neoliberal discourse of choice and demand.

摘要

本文探讨了“需求”概念在威尔士语教育政策中继续教育的作用及其在增加通过威尔士语和双语学习的学习者数量方面的有效性。该研究基于威尔士四个不同地区的样本，利用对学校和继续教育学院工作人员的半结构化访谈，以及在法定教育最后一年与打算从事职业的学生的焦点小组科目。该研究根据需求确定了规划提供的基本原则，并分析了这样做的局限性。使用布迪厄的语言习惯和语言市场概念，本文研究了按需规划如何未能考虑威尔士语和英语的权力背景，以及学习者在其中做出语言选择的网络的社会期望。它认为，为了增加威尔士 FE 部门遵循威尔士语和双语提供的学习者数量，有必要拒绝新自由主义关于选择和需求的话语。