Gaelic campaigners have reiterated their call for a legal right to Gaelic-medium education (GME), saying that it is “profoundly disappointing” that this is “again omitted” from a proposed new law making its way through the Scottish Parliament.
Wilson McLeod, emeritus professor of Gaelic at the University of Edinburgh, says that up to now, legislation aimed at increasing access to Gaelic education has had a “disappointingly limited impact”.
Data for 2022-23 shows fewer than 1 per cent of Scottish pupils received GME or Gaelic learners Education (GLE). Approximately 95 per cent of primary schools did not offer GME or GLE, while around a third of councils (11 out of 32) offered neither GME nor GLE “in any of their schools”.
‘Deeply disappointing’ picture for Gaelic in schools
In written evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee, Professor McLeod says the provision of Gaelic education in Scottish schools is “limited and marginal”.
He adds that almost 20 years after the passage of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 - which established Bòrd na Gàidhlig, the body responsible for promoting Gaelic - it is “deeply disappointing that the level of provision for Gaelic in the education system should remain so low”.
If the new Scottish Languages Bill becomes law, he says local authorities doing “nothing in relation to Gaelic education should cease to be an option”.
However, Professor McLeod adds: “Since the 1990s, Gaelic campaigners have repeatedly called for the establishment of a legal right to GME. This was denied in the 2005 act and the 2016 act and is again omitted from the current bill. This is profoundly disappointing.”
He calls for the creation of “concrete language rights” - “notably the right to Gaelic-medium education” - to be “reconsidered as the bill moves through the parliamentary process”.
He says “the standard argument” against establishing a legal right to GME is that it would be impossible to implement given the shortage of Gaelic teachers; in a written submission to the committee, council umbrella organisation Cosla makes precisely this point.
Local authorities’ body Cosla says that “without concerted action from the Scottish government and partners to increase the number of Gaelic teachers, any expansion [of Gaelic education] would not be deliverable”.
The ‘stick’ that could ‘focus minds’
However, Professor McLeod argues that “the ‘stick’ of an enforceable right could serve to focus minds”.
He has this morning been giving oral evidence to the committee, along with Scottish government officials and other experts.
In its written evidence to the committee, the inspection arm of Education Scotland, HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE), says there should be “a presumption that all education authorities prioritise Gàidhlig-medium education”.
It says that “there could also be much more emphasis on integrating learning about Gàidhlig language and culture into all children and young people’s education”.
HMIE adds: “This should address the very high proportion of young people who leave statutory education without a thorough awareness of Scotland’s official languages.”
The Scottish Languages Bill gives the Gaelic and Scots languages official status in Scotland and makes changes to the support for the Gaelic and Scots languages. This includes changes in relation to Gaelic and Scots education.
The bill makes a number of changes to the provision of Gaelic education, including giving parents the right to request pre-school Gaelic-medium education - building on the current right to request primary GME.
The bill also provides that ministers and local authorities have a duty to “promote, facilitate and support” Scots language education.
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