Developing Gaelic Education
Read the blog in Gaelic here.
I had the pleasure of speaking recently at An t-Alltan – two days of CPD for Gaelic teachers and education specialists in Inverness, organised by Stòrlann Nàiseanta na Gàidhlig. As the Royal National Mòd begins in Caithness, now seems a good time to invite discussion on Gaelic education.
Ginealach Ùr na Gàidhlig, Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s Action Plan, does not seek to set aside anything in the National Plan for Gaelic, but focuses on three key specific areas crucial to growing the numbers of Gaelic speakers: Pre-school education, Opportunities for Adult Learning, and Education in Schools.
The Bòrd has a duty under the Gaelic Language Act (Scotland) 2005 to ensure a National Gaelic Education Strategy exists, and is delivered, but is not an education body. The strategy can only be delivered through effective partnerships with local authorities and other educational bodies.
The Bòrd intends to directly support the voluntary work being done at a local level by groups involved in 0-3 pre-school provision, so that there is more progression to the local authority-led 3-5 provision and greater numbers moving into Gaelic education at primary school level.
A better service to parents should ensure Gaelic education is an attractive option for them and this will give us a solid foundation on which to build the future of Gaelic in primary and in secondary schools, where more subjects taught in Gaelic is a key development area.
Ginealach Ùr na Gàidhlig focusses on increasing numbers, but is not solely about numbers. We also want to improve levels of fluency of children in Gaelic medium education (GME) and we need to examine exactly what is meant by “Gaelic medium education”. At present there is no uniformity, and perhaps there shouldn’t be, but the length of time young people are immersed in Gaelic is crucial to fluency and, however that is defined, there will be a need for guidance from the Scottish Government to give local authorities and the schools themselves a more solid base from which to develop their work and achieve the outcomes we should expect from GME.
GME is a success story and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) offers a first-class opportunity to bring in Gaelic-speaking people from the community to enhance what is being taught in the classroom. Children would hear more people speaking fluent Gaelic and enhance their range of vocabulary at the same time as gaining from the first-hand experiences people could offer to whatever subject the pupils are involved with. GME has provided these kinds of experiences for many years and, it could be argued, is a model for the delivery of the CfE since it offers children things such as numeracy and literacy in what is, for most, a second language.
Despite its successes, it is disappointing that local authorities seem to view all Gaelic education provision as an extra cost burden rather than embracing the possibilities. This is an unnecessary impediment to growth. Given that all children require to be educated, regardless of the language of education, GME should not cost local authorities any more except where there are new units established with small numbers. Once numbers grow to the level where those in GME are similar to those in English classes, the costs of teaching children in Gaelic cannot be any more than those associated with teaching children in English. Funding exists to support local authority Gaelic provision through the Scheme of Specific Grants for Gaelic Education, but costs for long-term ongoing provision need to be met by councils, freeing up the Specific Grants for further developments in Gaelic education. There are a number of places where there is capacity for growth in existing classes. Where classes are not currently full, numbers could be increased at no extra cost.
With only two standalone Gaelic schools in Scotland, Bòrd na Gàidhlig would like to see that number increased to six. Gaelic schools offers an all Gaelic environment, and the opportunity to increase fluency in the language in more situations than is possible in a Gaelic unit within an English language school. They have proved to be attractive. The two current schools – in Glasgow and Inverness – are bulging at the seams as more parents choose a Gaelic education for their children.
I, or my Bòrd na Gàidhlig colleagues, would be delighted to hear the views of anyone on these matters. You can comment online or contact me at art@gaidhlig.org.uk.
Arthur Cormack, Cathraiche (Chair), Bòrd na Gàidhlig
3 comments
Interesting article and I would fully support opportunities to bring native speakers from the community into the classroom to enhance children’s language skills.
There are lots of retired people out there who would welcome the opportunity to use their Gaelic and I am sure would be a real encouragement for them to see the language continuing.
I chose Gaelic for my children but I am happy with them in dual stream school. Availability of teachers is a huge issue in Gaelic medium. Our Parent council has written to our head of service with no response although it’s not just our region. I questioned Mike Russell at the weekend and he refered me to you. My child is in p7. He had 3 teachers last year (2 in Gaelic) and has a Gaelic teacher now but has been getting teachers in English medium for most of the week this term. My second child may suffer the same fate as her teacher will be on maternity leave soon. The school is brilliant, the teachers are brilliant but what is being done to meet the demand for teachers?
I’ve been learning Gaelic through SMO myself but after 3 years the distance learning courses do not fit in with a working parents availability. Ulpan teach people to talk but not the in depth Grammar. Most of the classes are suitable for retired people and that seems to be the profile of the learners which will not yield more teachers. Gaelic medium cannot grow without quality teachers
Thanks for your comments, shazkilpatrick.
There is, of course, an issue nationally with a lack of Gaelic teachers in secondary.
In primary there are Gaelic teachers who do not currently teach in Gaelic because there is no job for them in their immediate locality. So, in primary, the issue is not so much a national shortage as unwillingness – often for very good reasons – on the part teachers to move to where the work is.
As you point out another issue is that, even where there are teachers, if they go off sick, on maternity leave, or off on compassionate grounds, cover is a problem.
It is for local authorities to recruit and deploy teachers to cover the classes they need covered. Bòrd na Gàidhlig has made it clear in Ginealach Ùr na Gàidhlig that we will happily engage with local authorities experiencing difficulties in recruiting teachers to work out how that can be tackled on a council by council basis.
There is no shortage of good teacher training courses but we need more pupils coming out of schools choosing Gaelic teaching as a career. Bòrd na Gàidhlig has a Teacher Recruitment Officer who visits schools and careers events regularly, but it will take a number of years to see outcomes from this given that this post was established only 3-4 years ago and it takes around 4-5 years from leaving school to become a qualified teacher.
For existing teachers, there is a very good course called Streap that existing teachers can undertake to improve their Gaelic skills for the classroom.
Bòrd na Gàidhlig just launched a grants scheme this week to help students who intend to move into a career in Gaelic teaching, and we would be happy to offer help to teachers wishing to improve their Gaelic skills also. Details are here http://www.gaidhlig.org.uk/Default.aspx.LocID-006new0gy.RefLocID-00600f006.Lang-EN.htm. This should begin to further address the problems of teacher supply.
I would be very happy to discuss these matters further with you. My e-mail’s at the foot of the blog.