Education Blog

Speaking up: promoting Gaelic and Scots languages in education and society

In her reflection on the status of spoken Gaelic and Scots, the Strathclyde Institute of Education’s Inge Birnie explores the role of education in making both of these languages more widely heard.

The release of the languages data from the 2022 Scottish census has come at the same time as the Scottish Parliament is considering its Scottish Languages Bill. This legislation aims to give official status to both Gaelic and Scots and recognises that both these languages are, in their own ways, endangered and at risk of disappearing as spoken languages in Scotland’s communities. As the Bill goes through the Parliament, various organisations and individuals working with both Gaelic and Scots have been asked to comment on the provisions of the proposed legislation to the Children and Young People Committee.

Although both Gaelic and Scots are covered in the same bill, the context in which Scots and Gaelic find themselves, both in the education system and the wider society, could not be more different.

The results from the 2022 census indicated  that 46.2% of people in Scotland have some skills in Scots – with different varieties of the language spoken across Scotland. Despite the language still being widely used across Scotland it does not have much of an official presence in the education system: beyond the Scots Languages award there are no formal qualifications in the language and there are few references to the Scots Language within the Curriculum for Excellence.

The contrast with Gaelic could not be greater. The latest census figures show that 2.5% of the Scottish population have some Gaelic skills, which is an increase of around 50% on the figures from the 2001 census. This despite Gaelic being much more overtly available in the education system through Gaelic Medium Education and Gaelic as a subject. Unlike Scots, Gaelic has mostly disappeared as the language used for daily interactions – even in communities where a significant proportion of the population can speak the language.  

Unlike Scots, which is still largely passed from generation to generation through the home and the family, this is not the case for Gaelic. This means that the school system is the main way in which young people can learn the language.  The purpose of Gaelic Medium is to ensure that young people are equally confident in the use of Gaelic and English by the time they leave school, although research has suggested that young people typically do not use the Gaelic language outside of the education system – including as adults. 

The reasons for this are complex. In my evidence to the Children and Young People Committee, where I represented the Scottish Council of Deans of Education, I explained the importance of being clear about the outcomes we expect Gaelic Medium Education to achieve and how we can promote the use of Gaelic in young people in their lives, especially outwith the school to strengthen the position of the language in Scotland, so that, like Scots, it can be a language that is heard all around us.

 

Dr Inge Birnie is a senior lecturer in the School of Education. Her research interests are focussed on (minority) languages in and for teaching that go beyond the bounded notions of identity and culture. Inge appears regularly on BBC programmes, including news contributions and input to current affairs programmes to talk about her work in Gaelic and education.

 

Published 06/06/2024

Image - Dr Inge Birnie