A Welsh perspective on language rights: The governance of minority language education in a revival context

Welsh-medium education has attracted much attention from international experts in the fields of education and socio-linguistics because of its success as a means of language transmission and of reviving a minority language in areas in which it had almost disappeared from use. However, little attention has been paid to the ability an education system grounded in ordinary legislation and administrative law principles to give effect of the legitimate interests of the linguistic minority in Wales. In this thesis I draw on the work of Canadian authors to demonstrate the inability of the Welsh-medium education system to provide the numerous instrumental and intrinsic benefits that flow from minority group control and management of its education system. In doing so, I discuss the legislative framework that governs the provision of Welsh-medium education and the political negotiations that have been central to the development of this system. I then propose a new governance model for Welsh-medium education at the local level. In undertaking this task I draw attention to the particular context of language revival that exists in Wales. The language revival context impacts upon our understanding of the interest that underlies minority language rights and forces us to re-consider the manner in which group boundaries should be drawn in situations of linguistic conflict.