Scottish Gaelic-medium education
Scottish Gaelic-medium education (
Gaelic-medium education is increasingly popular throughout Scotland, and the number of pupils who are in Gaelic-medium education has risen from 24 in 1985 (its first year)[1] to 5,066 in 2021.[2] The current figure is the highest number of Gaelic-medium education pupils in Scotland since the 2005 passage of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act by the Scottish Parliament. Not included in this figure are university students at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Lews Castle College, or Ionad Chaluim Chille Ìle who are taking their degrees through the medium of Gaelic.[3][4][5]
Current provision
In 2021, 11,874 pupils in Scotland were receiving some kind of education in Gaelic representing 1.7% of the country's student population. This figure is higher than Scotland's overall proportion of Gaelic speakers which stood at 1.1% in 2011.
Nearly 5,100 students in Scotland were enrolled in Gaelic-medium education in 2021, a 92% increase over 2009 figures.[6]
Number of Pupils | Per 1000 pupils at that level | ||
---|---|---|---|
Gaelic-medium education |
Secondary pupils | 1,258 | 4.1 |
Primary pupils | 3,808 | 9.8 | |
ALL PUPILS | 5,066 | 7.2 |
Fifteen of Scotland's thirty-two council areas offer Gaelic-medium education. Five of those fifteen have a higher than national average enrollment of students:
Over 6,800 other pupils in Scotland were receiving instruction in Gaelic language courses in 2021.[6]
Number of Pupils | Per 1000 pupils at that level | ||
---|---|---|---|
Gaelic the only subject taught through Gaelic |
Secondary pupils | 333 | 1.1 |
Gaelic learner classes | Secondary pupils | 2,631 | 8.6 |
Primary pupils | 3,844 | 9.8 | |
ALL PUPILS | 6,475 | 9.2 | |
TOTAL | 6,808 | 9.7 |
In
There are an increasing number of dedicated Gaelic-medium schools in Scotland. The largest is
Apart from
Effectiveness
Two separate studies have confirmed that the academic performance of Gaelic-medium educated children equals – and in some cases even exceeds – the performance of English-medium educated children, including when controlling for the economic class of the children studied.[16][17]
However, several other studies have found that few Gaelic-medium educated children demonstrate native-like, or fully bilingual, abilities in Gaelic:
"researchers in these studies [(cf. Landgraf 2013; Nance 2013; MacLeod et al. 2014). Landgraf (2013) and Macleod et al. (2014)] observed frequent and unmarked use of non-native-like features in GME students' syntax, morphology and phonology, both through ethnographic observations in the classroom and individual interviews."[18]
In her 2013 thesis, Julia Landgraf found that the few GME students exhibiting fully bilingual abilities came from Gaelic-speaking households.[19] And it is now apparent that GME students from cities and from Gaelic-speaking areas are increasingly exhibiting English-influenced phonology.[20]
Furthermore, not all graduates end up using the language much as adults. In Dunmore's study of 46 adults from a GME background, a majority were classified as "low use." Usage was strongly correlated with language abilities. Those who came from Gaelic-speaking homes, continued studying Gaelic in university, and/or found Gaelic employment after school were more likely to use the language as adults.[21]
History
17th century
The attitudes towards education and the promotion of Anglicisation have been described as resulting from "confrontation of two disparate societies...Lowland Scotland made plain its anxiety concerning the unreformed society in the north in terms of unease concerning its language, which was identified as the chief cause of barbarity, ignorance and popery"
18th century
The history of Gaelic language schools (in the modern sense) in Scotland can be traced back to the early 18th century and the schools of the
- "...there remains only their language and their poverty. Their language is attacked on every side. Schools are erected in which English only is taught and there were lately some who thought it reasonable to refuse them a version of the Holy Scriptures, that they might have no monument to their mother tongue."[26]
Johnson, despite being commonly viewed as both anti-Scottish and anti-Gaelic, was actively involved in campaigning for the production of Gaelic literature and proposed the creation of a Gaelic press in the Isle of Skye.[27] The change in attitudes resulted in the production, by the SSPCK, of a Gaelic version of the New Testament in 1767 with the Old Testament being translated and published in 1801. 1767 also saw the SSPCK switch from English to Gaelic as the language of instruction in their Highland schools.[27] A school in Inverness, Raining School, was also established to provide training for Gaelic-speaking teachers.[28]
19th century
The 19th century saw the establishment of the first Gaelic school society — the Edinburgh Society for the Support of Gaelic Schools – in 1811.[29] The society stated its purpose thus:
- "(the) sole object being to teach the inhabitants of the Highlands and Islands to read the Sacred Scriptures in their native tongue...to maintain Circulating Schools in which the Gaelic language only shall be taught."
The new society attracted much support with similar organisations being founded in Glasgow and Inverness. The early success of the Edinburgh society was such that by 1828 it funded 85 schools in the Highlands and Islands with its sister societies enjoying similar levels of success. However, following the early period of success the groups encountered financial difficulties due to poor administration and started to decline around 1830 and by 1850 only the original Edinburgh society remained although this branch, with strong support from the Edinburgh Ladies Association, continued until 1892. This was despite the introduction of the Education (Scotland) Act 1872 which effectively put an end to non–English-medium education and led to the discouragement of Gaelic with pupils being punished by teachers for speaking the language.[30] The effect of the education act upon the Gaelic language has been described as "disastrous"[31] and the continuation of a general policy (by both Scottish, and post 1707, British) which aimed at Anglicisation.[31]
Pressure upon the Scottish Education Department in the years immediately following the act of 1872 saw the gradual reintroduction of certain measures providing for the use of Gaelic in schools.[32] This pressure led to the undertaking by the department of a survey in 1876 which revealed a "distinct majority" of school boards within the Highlands in favour of the inclusion of Gaelic within the curriculum although it also revealed that some of those in Gaelic-speaking areas were against this. However, the continuing reluctance of school boards to take full advantages of the limited provisions made for Gaelic within the school curriculum as well as the problems of financing the Education Act generally saw little use of the limited provisions for Gaelic within the schools.[33] The severe financial difficulties suffered by Highland schools at this time saw the introduction of the "Highland Minute" in 1887 which aimed at aiding designated boards financially while also recognising Gaelic as a specific subject in the higher classes of both elementary and secondary schools. Grants to aid the supply of Gaelic-speaking teachers were also introduced.
Despite these small measures towards the reintroduction of Gaelic into the classroom the manner in which the language was taught is thought to have contributed to its decline with the language being taught not as the native tongue of the pupils, via the medium of the language itself, but as an academic subject to be studied only through the English language with ever decreasing numbers of students studying the language.
See also
- Clì Gàidhlig – organization supporting learners of the Gaelic language
Notes
- ^ "Scotland's Languages: Gaelic". Education Scotland. Archived from the original on 1 July 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
- ^ Scottish Government (14 December 2021). "Pupil census 2021 supplementary data". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
- ^ "HRH visits Sabhal Mor Ostaig, Scotland's only Gaelic language college". Prince of Wales. 5 December 2015.
- ^ "Gàidhlig agus Conaltradh Certhe". Lews Castle College (in Scottish Gaelic). University of Highlands and Islands. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
- ^ "About us". Ionad Chaluim Chille Ìle. Archived from the original on 27 October 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
- ^ a b "Pupil Census Supplementary Data". The Scottish Government. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
- ^ "Gaelic to be 'default' language for new pupils in Western Isles schools". BBC. 23 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
- ^ "Gaelic Education". Archived from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2008.
- ^ O'Connor, Ronnie. "Follow Through Inspection Report: Glasgow Gaelic Primary School". Glasgow City Council. Glasgow City Council. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
- ^ "School Estates 2021 supplementary dataset". The Scottish Government. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
- ^ "Ar Sgoil / Our School". 4 November 2011.
- ^ Stewart, Catriona (12 March 2022). "Work begins on Glasgow's newest Gaelic school". Glasgow Evening Times. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
- ^ "Construction begins on Portree Gaelic primary school". Urban Realm. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ "James Hamilton Primary School Handbook" (PDF). Retrieved 4 June 2022.
- ^ "School Estates 2016 supplementary dataset". The Scottish Government. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ Johnstone, Richard; Harlen, Wynne; MacNeill, Morag; Stradling, Bob; Thorpe, Graham (1999). The attainments of pupils receiving Gaelic-medium primary education in Scotland. Sterling: Scottish CILT.
- S2CID 143753641.
- ^ Dunmore, Stuart. "Bilingual life after school? Language use, ideologies and attitudes among Gaelic-medium educated adults." (2015). p. 80.
- ^ Landgraf, Julia (Sìleas). Cànain agus Cultar ann am Foghlam tro Mheadhan na Gàidhlig: Neartan, Duilgheadasan agus am Buaidh air Comasan is Seasamhan Cànain na h-Òlgridh. Diss. University of Aberdeen, 2013.
- ^ Nance, C. (2014). Phonetic variation in Scottish Gaelic laterals. Journal of Phonetics, 47, 1–17.
- ^ Dunmore, Stuart. "Bilingual life after school? Language use, ideologies and attitudes among Gaelic-medium educated adults." (2015). p. 136.
- ^ MacKinnon, Kenneth Gaelic: A Past and Future Prospect (pp56)
- ^ MacKinnon, Kenneth Gaelic: A Past and Future Prospect (pp46)
- ^ Hutchison, Roger Gealach an Fhàis: Ùr Beothachadh na Gàidhlig (pp50)
- ^ MacKinnon, Kenneth Gaelic: A Past and Future Prospect (p. 54)
- ^ MacKinnon, Kenneth Gaelic: A Past and Future Prospect (pp55)
- ^ a b MacKinnon, Kenneth Gaelic: A Past and Future Prospect (pp56)
- ^ Hutchison, Roger Gealach an Fhàis: Ùr Beothachadh na Gàidhlig (pp51)
- ^ Thomson, Derick S. The Companion to Gaelic Scotland (pp258)
- ^ Smakman, Dick; Smith-Christmas, Cassandra (2008). "Gaelic Language Erosion and Revitalization on the Isle of Skye, Scotland" (PDF). Proceedings of the 12th Conference of the Foundation of Endangered Languages. openaccess.leidenuniv.nl: 115–122.
- ^ a b The Edinburgh history of the Scots language, Charles Jones. Retrieved from Google Books on 22 November 2011.
- ^ Thomson, Derick S. The Companion to Gaelic Scotland (pp259)
- ^ Thomson, Derick S. The Companion to Gaelic Scotland (pp260)
References
- Thomson, Derick S. The Companion to Gaelic Scotland, (Blackwell Reference 1987), ISBN 0-631-15578-3
- MacKinnon, Kenneth Gaelic: A Past and Future Prospect (Saltire Society 1991), ISBN 978-0-85411-047-6
- Hutchison, Roger Gealach an Fhàis: Ùr Beothachadh na Gàidhlig (Mainstream Publishing 2005), ISBN 978-1-84018-999-5
- Jones, Charles The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language (Edinburgh University Press), ISBN 0-7486-0754-4
External links
- gaelicteaching.com – Information on Gaelic teaching for teachers, students and pupils.
- Gaelic pupils numbers – Information on numbers of Gaelic pupils per school