Cardiff Met secures £400,000 to expand pioneering Welsh-medium literacy assessment

Cardiff Metropolitan University has secured more than £400,000 in funding to expand GoFaL, an innovative Welsh-medium literacy assessment tool that helps schools identify and support learners’ literacy development.

The funding will enable researchers from Cardiff Met to significantly widen the reach of GoFaL, extending the assessment from its current focus on Years 7 to 11 to include pupils in Years 3 to 6 and students in Years 12 and 13.

Led by Dr Rhiannon Packer from Cardiff Met’s School of Education and Social Policy, the project will also see the development of a new reading comprehension assessment for learners from Years 3 to 13, creating one of the most thorough Welsh-medium literacy assessment frameworks available.

Currently available to schools through Hwb, the Welsh Government’s digital learning platform, GoFaL provides practitioners with a standardised way of assessing literacy skills in Welsh and identifying areas where learners may benefit from additional support.

A key part of the new project will be the digitisation of the assessment system, led by Dr Esyin Chew from Cardiff Met’s School of Technologies. The new digital platform will allow school practitioners to submit assessment scores electronically and receive standardised results alongside tailored recommendations to support learners at individual, class and whole-school levels.

Dr Rhiannon Packer said:

“This funding represents a major step forward for Welsh-medium literacy assessment. By extending GoFaL across a wider age range and developing a new reading comprehension assessment, we will be able to provide schools with stronger evidence about learners’ literacy development throughout their educational journey.

“Our ambition is for GoFaL to transform how literacy needs are identified and supported in Welsh. We want to give teachers practical tools and reliable data that can help ensure every learner has the opportunity to develop strong literacy skills and achieve their full potential.”

The project team will work closely with schools across Wales to standardise the expanded assessment against the Welsh school population, ensuring that the tool provides robust and reliable benchmarks for educators.

Dr Chew said: “Working with schools across Wales will be central to the success of this project. Their involvement will help us create an assessment that is both evidence-based and practical, supporting teachers to make informed decisions that have a real impact on learners’ outcomes.”

The expanded GoFaL assessment and accompanying digital platform are expected to be completed by July 2029, enhancing access to Welsh-medium literacy assessment and strengthening support for learners across Wales.