Latest news with #ScottishLanguagesBill
The Herald Scotland
07-08-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Study to see if Gaelic gives school leavers career advantage
The project will take place this autumn in two phases comprising of group interviews with senior phase (S4-6) pupils in GME across several local authorities and an online survey asking GME school leavers aged 17-25 about the impact GME has had on their career decisions. Read More: In June the Scottish Parliament passed the Scottish Languages Bill, which gives the Gaelic and Scots languages official status in Scotland and includes changes in relation to Gaelic and Scots education. Dr Emma Bolger and Ann Morrison, from UWS will be working with teachers and careers advisers in GME schools and units to gather information from pupils on how they feel Gaelic will benefit them as they move into the world of work. Dr Bolger said, 'We're really excited to start work on this project. The recent Scottish Languages Bill and the discussions it provoked around the Gaelic and Scots languages mean this research is more relevant than ever.' The study is funded by The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland via a Research Incentive Grant.
Glasgow Times
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Glasgow to spotlight Gaelic language at Royal National Mòd
Royal National Mòd, which was founded in Oban in 1891, is an event that focuses on celebrating Gaelic linguistic and cultural heritage while providing opportunities for people of all ages to perform in a range of competitive disciplines including Gaelic music and song, highland dancing, instrumental, drama, sport and literature. During last week's full council meeting, Bailie Seonad Hoy asked following the Scottish Parliament's agreement of the Scottish Languages Bill if the administration would be updating the council's Gaelic language plan and introducing a Scots language plan. Councillor Greg Hepburn said that while the council monitors and prepares to review the Gaelic language plan, there were no immediate proposals to introduce a Scots language plan. He said: 'Glasgow plays a vital role in the preservation and promotion of the Gaelic language with the largest number of Gaelic speakers outside the highlands and islands. 'Gaelic is a living language that enriches the city's educational, cultural and community life from Gaelic education medium work to the work of organisations like Akhilorin and the Gaelic Books council. READ MORE: Update provided on new Gaelic school to open in Glasgow next year 'The language contributes to Glasgow's diverse civic identity. This commitment will be further highlighted when Glasgow hosts the Royal National Mod from October 9 to 17, 2026. 'It's a major celebration of Gaelic language and culture and will bring thousands of visitors and participants to the city and offer a platform to showcase Glasgow's vibrant Gaelic community. 'The council's Gaelic language plan will be updated in 2026 as part of its mid-point review and this will allow for reflection and progress and renewed engagement with communities to strengthen Gaelic development across the city. 'At the same time, the council recognises the importance of supporting the Scots language. While there are no immediate plans to introduce the Scots language plan, the council is carefully considering the implications of forthcoming legislation. 'This includes evaluation on how best to align resources and delivery mechanisms to ensure future plans are meaningful and achievable. 'Engagement with key partners will be central to shaping a thoughtful and inclusive approach to language planning in Glasgow.'
The National
04-07-2025
- Business
- The National
Bòrd na Gàidhlig to fund 27 jobs in officer language scheme
In February last year, it was reported that three people would lose their jobs at Bòrd na Gàidhlig, with the Gaelic development officer scheme also being scrapped, when ministers cut £354,000 from the organisation's budget. Almost 30 Gaelic development officer positions were set to be lost. After much anger from campaigners and ministers themselves, Bòrd na Gàidhlig — and the Scottish Government — reversed the decision to cut the posts in early April 2024. Now, the body has announced the allocation of funding for Gaelic officers through a new round of the scheme. Bòrd na Gàidhlig will support 27 posts across a range of organisations as they undertake Gaelic development work in communities across Scotland. READ MORE: Jenny Gilruth 'not content' about Bòrd na Gàidhlig job cuts proposals Several groups will now benefit from multi-year support from the scheme for the first time. The scheme was reopened in May and closed to new applications in June. A range of changes were made to the previous scheme, including further support and professional development for Gaelic officers. Bord na Gàidhlig received 44 applications from a wide range of charities, with a mix of previously-supported organisations and new bodies seeking support. Successful applicants to the scheme had to meet a range of criteria and outline how they would deliver against the key priorities set out by Bòrd na Gàidhlig, including supporting the everyday use of Gaelic in communities, supporting Gaelic centres and events, developing community Gaelic language plans and supporting partnership working across organisations delivering Gaelic services. The Scottish Government has confirmed £510,000 in funding for 2025–26, supplemented by £90,000 from Bòrd na Gàidhlig, to finance the scheme and enable multi-year roles. Ian MacMillan, director of development at Bòrd na Gàidhlig, said: 'Bòrd na Gàidhlig is delighted that officers funded through this scheme will now be working to make a positive impact on Gaelic in their communities. These officers will make a clear and visible difference through their activity and engagement. "We are looking forward to seeing an increase in partnership working as we enable organisations to build connections to deliver across our communities.' Depute First Minister Kate Forbes (above) said: 'This £600,000 investment in the Gaelic Officer initiative aims to help Gaelic to thrive in traditional areas like the Western Isles and Skye. Gaelic Officers enrich communities and support activities which bring economic benefits to Scotland. "To support Gaelic's growth, our Scottish Languages Bill will strengthen the rights of parents to ask for a Gaelic school to be established in their area and introduce targets on the number of people speaking Gaelic.' The new legislation specifies that the Scottish Government must promote Gaelic and Scots education in schools, while giving ministers powers to set standards on the languages within education.
Scotsman
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Scotsman
Gaelic officialdom is failing to engage with its existential crisis
The Scottish Languages Bill is simply a rehash of the status quo, writes Professor Conchúr Ó Giollagáin, the co-author of a landmark study published in 2020 Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The remaining Gaelic communities in Scotland are in the final stages of their absorption into the UK's dominant culture of English monolingualism. The recently passed Scottish Languages Bill suggests nothing of consequence to counteract this troubling situation. From the Gaelic perspective, the Bill is an unfortunate example of legislation that deteriorates as it moves through the various parliamentary stages; its final version is weaker than what was originally proposed. As we saw from many of the parliamentary debates, this poorly drafted legislation put Scotland's parliamentarians in the invidious position of feeling obliged to support a less-than-optimal parliamentary response to the critical situation of the Gaelic communities. Cognisant of its weak relevance to societal reality, the parliamentarians could only muster a lacklustre ratification, rather than a much-needed ringing endorsement of a new departure in Gaelic affairs. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A sign in Gaelic and English on a road in the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides | Getty Images Excepting Scots, the Bill is a rehash of the status quo. It is, therefore, largely pointless. Much of what is proposed could be achieved without recourse to such a bureaucratically cumbersome legislative approach. As the Bill's provisions are intended to be mostly symbolic and performative in their implementation, it is reasonable to enquire what justifies the legislative expense, time and official effort in devising a Bill that evades social reality. It is apparent that the Bill was initiated to address the challenges posed by Soillse's 2020 Gaelic Crisis in the Vernacular Community sociolinguistic evidence, but the Bill fails to respond coherently and credibly to the documented reality of Gaelic community demise. What has led to this hapless situation of proposing a variant of the official approach which led to the crisis in the first place? The failure in the Bill to prioritise support for fragile Gaelic communities is largely to blame. The official and academic failure to engage sincerely with the reality check which the Gaelic Crisis evidence engendered is also implicated in this misguided legislation. The book's evidence was subjected to an irrational academic and official antagonism in which custodians of existing Gaelic promotion colluded to ensure that the Gaelic Crisis perspective would be denied a fair hearing. In censoring the Gaelic Crisis, these custodians have merely reasserted a version of what constitutes Gaelic promotion while at the same time refusing to accept any responsibility for its societal failings. They have washed their hands of any linkage between their institutional power and the consequences of official inertia. The efforts of the MSPs to focus the parliamentary debates on the Gaelic Crisis evidence are to be especially commended, given the hostility of Gaelic officialdom to it. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In discounting the challenging lived reality of Gaelic speakers, the Bill was destined to veer back towards the ideological rigidities of established promotion efforts. Its social denialism is exacerbated by reiterations of official pieties and reassertions of symbolic appeals to the importance of Gaelic to a sense of Scottish culture, despite the obvious constraints on that social culture in supporting actual and viable Gaelic communities. The reality is that the Gaelic Crisis evidence has never been properly considered or debated in Scottish academia, in official language bodies or in governmental circles. Five years on, nobody in these key sectors for Gaelic affairs has sat down with the authors for an in-depth discussion on the implications of their research for the sustainability of Gaelic in Scotland. The Bill is an undemocratic reaction to the Gaelic Crisis, rather than an engagement with its evidence leading to its integration into policy developments. The Gaelic affairs power class in Scotland decided to enact a Languages Bill despite the demise of Gaelic communities, rather than instituting strategies to assist the Gaels in their current predicament. The official rejection of the third-stage amendments tabled by MSPs Pam Duncan-Glancy, Michael Marra and Ross Greer were instructive. The common denominator in these amendments was to propose strategic indicators of community agency and progress. This rejection would suggest that the status of 'Areas of Linguistic Significance' is to be adhered to more in a symbolic rather than in a practically productive manner. In the absence of a clear strategic intent, the Bill is more likely to generate a cottage industry of navel-gazing language politics, rather than offering practical help to a language community in existential crisis. The policies that emerged from the 2005 Act failed to generate much traction among the Gaels. Given the irrelevance of this Bill to the social circumstances of the Gaels, it is likely that this legislation will become the sociolinguistic equivalent of a religious liturgy for a non-existent congregation. In practical terms, the legislation amounts to a rebuff to the remaining Gaelic communities. In this situation, it might be wise for council and community leaders, Gaelic activists in the Gaelic districts and representatives of other Gaelic networks to call a Gaelic community summit to identify sources of practical and societal support, outwith the political sphere, which can bolster the remaining capacity. Besides availing of the limited opportunities from the Bill, it is clear that the Gaels are going to require a bespoke fund to support their collective efforts to reverse the current trajectory towards social erasure. The terminal decline of native-speaking Gaelic communities can be the only possible outcome of anaemic and untargeted official Gaelic promotion. Gaelic is in dire need of community protection rather than more symbolic promotion.
Scotsman
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Scotsman
Scottish Government officials accused of censoring experts who warned Gaelic will die out
Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Officials have been accused of colluding against and "censoring" experts who warned Gaelic-speaking communities will die out within a decade unless radical action is taken. Professor Conchúr Ó Giollagáin, who co-authored a landmark 2020 study into the crisis facing the language, published as The Gaelic Crisis in the Vernacular Community, said officials and academics had failed to properly engage with its findings. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He said the recently passed Scottish Languages Bill, which aims to support Gaelic in Scotland, was 'largely pointless' and weaker than what was originally proposed. The Scottish Languages Bill is 'largely pointless' | Getty Images But Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, who has responsibility for the language in the Scottish Government, insisted there had been 'an encouraging increase' in Gaelic speakers. Writing for The Scotsman, Prof Ó Giollagáin, of the University of the Highlands and Islands, said the Scottish Languages Bill failed to respond 'coherently and credibly to the documented reality of Gaelic community demise'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He said: 'The official and academic failure to engage sincerely with the reality check which the Gaelic crisis evidence engendered is also implicated in this misguided legislation. 'The book's evidence was subjected to an irrational academic and official antagonism in which custodians of existing Gaelic promotion colluded to ensure that the Gaelic crisis perspective would be denied a fair hearing. 'In censoring the Gaelic crisis, these custodians have merely reasserted a version of what constitutes Gaelic promotion while at the same time refusing to accept any responsibility for its societal failings. They have washed their hands of any linkage between their institutional power and the consequences of official inertia.' He added: 'The reality is that the Gaelic crisis evidence has never been properly considered or debated in Scottish academia, in official language bodies or in governmental circles. Five years on, nobody in these key sectors for Gaelic affairs has sat down with the authors for an in-depth discussion on the implications of their research for the sustainability of Gaelic in Scotland.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Prof Ó Giollagáin said the Scottish Languages Bill 'is more likely to generate a cottage industry of navel-gazing language politics, rather than offering practical help to a language community in existential crisis'. He continued: 'Given the irrelevance of this Bill to the social circumstances of the Gaels, it is likely that this legislation will become the sociolinguistic equivalent of a religious liturgy for a non-existent congregation.' The expert called for a 'Gaelic community summit' to identify sources of support outwith the political sphere, adding: 'Besides availing of the limited opportunities from the Bill, it is clear that the Gaels are going to require a bespoke fund to support their collective efforts to reverse the current trajectory towards social erasure.' Ms Forbes said: 'It is inaccurate to claim that the Scottish Languages Bill was weakened during its progression through Parliament. It was strengthened to make it easier to establish Gaelic schools and introduce targets on Gaelic speaker numbers. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'There has been an encouraging increase in Gaelic speakers and we are taking action to drive growth in Gaelic communities, so that more people who speak Gaelic continue to live in those areas.'
