Gaelic medium education
Encyclopedia
Gaelic medium education (G.M.E. or GME; Scottish Gaelic: Foghlam tro Mheadhan na Gàidhlig) is a form of education in Scotland
that allows pupils to be taught primarily through the medium of Scottish Gaelic, with English
being taught as the secondary language. Education projects in other Gaelic countries; Ireland
(see Gaelscoil
approx. 400 Irish-medium primary & post-primary schools and 221 preschools) and the Isle of Man
(see Bunscoill Ghaelgagh
).
Gaelic medium education is increasingly popular throughout Scotland, and the number of pupils who are in Gaelic medium education at primary school level has risen from 24 in 2 schools in 1985, to 2312 in 2010.
As there are still relatively few Gaelic schools, Gaelic medium education is mainly provided by Gaelic medium units within English-speaking schools. Bunsgoil Shlèite, on the Isle of Skye, is the exception in that it is a Gaelic school with an English Medium Unit.
The largest Gaelic school is Sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu
(Glasgow Gaelic School), which caters for pupils aged three to eighteen and has a capacity of 800 pupils though it may increase to 1200 by 2012.
In January 2008, Highland
councillors were presented with a report stating that demand for Gaelic medium education was so strong that four new Gaelic schools, in addition to the one in Inverness, were required. Plans were in place by mid 2009 to open two Gaelic medium schools in Fort William
and Portree
within two years and in August 2009 the Scottish government announced funding of £1.5m to speed up their opening.
which saw the Gaelic speaking nobility of Scotland forced to send their children to be educated in English
speaking Lowland Scotland; an act which has been described as "the first of a succession of measures taken by the Scottish government specifically aimed at the extirpation of the Gaelic language, the destruction of its traditional culture and the suppression of its bearers." This was followed in 1616 by an act of the privy council
which included a requirement that the children of the Highland
nobility must be capable of speaking, reading and writing English if they were to be recognised as heirs.
can be traced back to the early 18th century and the schools of the Scottish Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge or SSPCK. Ironically, one of the primary aims of the society was the de-Gaelicization
of the Highlands
and initially its schools taught exclusively through the medium of the English language with the equivalent use of Gaelic prohibited. However the insistence on teaching children in a language which was (in almost all cases) entirely foreign to them resulted in very little progress with regards to establishing literacy in the English language. This situation persisted until the collapse of the Jacobite
cause in 1746 with the Battle of Culloden
and the consequent collapse of the Gaelic speaking political structures and the pacification of the Highlands by the British Army
in the ensuing decades. The change in political atmosphere following the Disarming Act
, as well as campaigning by the likes of Samuel Johnson
- who was aghast at the fact the SSPCK was actively preventing the publication of the Bible
into Scottish Gaelic - led to the change in attitudes within the Society. Johnson had to say of the matter:
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. 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. A school in Inverness, Raining School, was also established to provide training for Gaelic speaking teachers.
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. The effect of the education act upon the Gaelic language has been described as "disastrous" and the continuation of a general policy (by both Scottish
, and post 1707
, British
) which aimed at Anglicisation
.
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. 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 well as the problems of financing the Education Act generally saw little use of the limited provisions for Gaelic within the schools. 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.
, Edinburgh
, Aberdeen
and Inverness
.
Education in Scotland
Scotland has a long history of universal provision of public education, and the Scottish education system is distinctly different from the other countries of the United Kingdom...
that allows pupils to be taught primarily through the medium of Scottish Gaelic, with English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
being taught as the secondary language. Education projects in other Gaelic countries; Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
(see Gaelscoil
Gaelscoil
A gaelscoil is an Irish-medium primary school in Ireland, of a sort found outside the traditionally Irish-speaking regions, especially in urban areas....
approx. 400 Irish-medium primary & post-primary schools and 221 preschools) and the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
(see Bunscoill Ghaelgagh
Bunscoill Ghaelgagh
Bunscoill Ghaelgagh is a Manx-language primary school in St John's, Isle of Man. It is currently the only school in the world where children are taught their lessons solely in Manx and which allows children to learn the language fluently...
).
Gaelic medium education is increasingly popular throughout Scotland, and the number of pupils who are in Gaelic medium education at primary school level has risen from 24 in 2 schools in 1985, to 2312 in 2010.
As there are still relatively few Gaelic schools, Gaelic medium education is mainly provided by Gaelic medium units within English-speaking schools. Bunsgoil Shlèite, on the Isle of Skye, is the exception in that it is a Gaelic school with an English Medium Unit.
The largest Gaelic school is Sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu
Sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu
Sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu or Glasgow Gaelic School is a school in Glasgow which teaches through the medium of Scottish Gaelic. This teaching method is commonly known as Gaelic medium education...
(Glasgow Gaelic School), which caters for pupils aged three to eighteen and has a capacity of 800 pupils though it may increase to 1200 by 2012.
In January 2008, Highland
Highland (council area)
Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole. It shares borders with the council areas of Moray, Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross, and Argyll and Bute. Their councils, and those of Angus and...
councillors were presented with a report stating that demand for Gaelic medium education was so strong that four new Gaelic schools, in addition to the one in Inverness, were required. Plans were in place by mid 2009 to open two Gaelic medium schools in Fort William
Fort William, Scotland
Fort William is the second largest settlement in the highlands of Scotland and the largest town: only the city of Inverness is larger.Fort William is a major tourist centre with Glen Coe just to the south, Aonach Mòr to the north and Glenfinnan to the west, on the Road to the Isles...
and Portree
Portree
Portree is the largest town on Skye in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It is the location for the only secondary school on the Island, Portree High school. Public transport services are limited to buses....
within two years and in August 2009 the Scottish government announced funding of £1.5m to speed up their opening.
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 is language, which was identified as the chief cause of barbarity, ignorance and popery" and can be seen as a continuation of such policies going back to 1609 and the Statutes of IonaStatutes of Iona
The Statutes of Iona, passed in Scotland in 1609, required that Highland Scottish clan chiefs send their heirs to Lowland Scotland to be educated in English-speaking Protestant schools. As a result some clans, such as the MacDonalds of Sleat and the MacLeods of Harris, adopted the new religion...
which saw the Gaelic speaking nobility of Scotland forced to send their children to be educated in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
speaking Lowland Scotland; an act which has been described as "the first of a succession of measures taken by the Scottish government specifically aimed at the extirpation of the Gaelic language, the destruction of its traditional culture and the suppression of its bearers." This was followed in 1616 by an act of the privy council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
which included a requirement that the children of the Highland
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
nobility must be capable of speaking, reading and writing English if they were to be recognised as heirs.
18th Century
The history of Gaelic language schools (in the modern sense) in ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
can be traced back to the early 18th century and the schools of the Scottish Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge or SSPCK. Ironically, one of the primary aims of the society was the de-Gaelicization
Gaelicization
Gaelicization or Gaelicisation is the act or process of making something Gaelic, or gaining characteristics of the Gaels. The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group who are traditionally viewed as having spread from Ireland to Scotland and the Isle of Man."Gaelic" as a linguistic term, refers to the...
of the Highlands
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
and initially its schools taught exclusively through the medium of the English language with the equivalent use of Gaelic prohibited. However the insistence on teaching children in a language which was (in almost all cases) entirely foreign to them resulted in very little progress with regards to establishing literacy in the English language. This situation persisted until the collapse of the Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
cause in 1746 with the Battle of Culloden
Battle of Culloden
The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Taking place on 16 April 1746, the battle pitted the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart against an army commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, loyal to the British government...
and the consequent collapse of the Gaelic speaking political structures and the pacification of the Highlands by the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
in the ensuing decades. The change in political atmosphere following the Disarming Act
Disarming Act
After the Jacobite Rising of 1715 ended it was evident that the most effective supporters of the Jacobites were Scottish clans in the Scottish Highlands and the Disarming Act attempted to remove this threat....
, as well as campaigning by the likes of Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
- who was aghast at the fact the SSPCK was actively preventing the publication of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
into Scottish Gaelic - led to the change in attitudes within the Society. Johnson had to say of the matter:
- "...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."
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. The change in attitudes resulted in the production, by the SSPCK, of a Gaelic version of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
in 1767 with the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
being translated and published in 1801. 1767 also saw the SSPCK switch from English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
to Gaelic as the language of instruction in their Highland
Highland (council area)
Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole. It shares borders with the council areas of Moray, Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross, and Argyll and Bute. Their councils, and those of Angus and...
schools. A school in Inverness, Raining School, was also established to provide training for Gaelic speaking teachers.
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. The society stated its purpose thus:- "(the) sole object being to teach the inhabitants of the Highlands and IslandsHighlands and IslandsThe Highlands and Islands of Scotland are broadly the Scottish Highlands plus Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides.The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act of 1886 applied...
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
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
and Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
. 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
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
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
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
medium education and led to the discouragement of Gaelic with pupils being punished by teachers for speaking the language. The effect of the education act upon the Gaelic language has been described as "disastrous" and the continuation of a general policy (by both Scottish
Parliament of Scotland
The Parliament of Scotland, officially the Estates of Parliament, was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland. The unicameral parliament of Scotland is first found on record during the early 13th century, with the first meeting for which a primary source survives at...
, and post 1707
Acts of Union 1707
The Acts of Union were two Parliamentary Acts - the Union with Scotland Act passed in 1706 by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act passed in 1707 by the Parliament of Scotland - which put into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union that had been agreed on 22 July 1706,...
, British
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
) which aimed at Anglicisation
Anglicisation
Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...
.
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. 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
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
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 well as the problems of financing the Education Act generally saw little use of the limited provisions for Gaelic within the schools. 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
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
with ever decreasing numbers of students studying the language.
Current provision
A number of councils throughout Scotland offer Gaelic Medium Education. Sometimes this is in the form of schools which only offer teaching in Gaelic, but often occurs in the form of Gaelic language units within schools that also teach subjects in English. Gaelic medium education is available in most of Scotland's major cities including GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
and Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
.
Gaelic medium units
Gaelic medium units are specialized units within schools which are not primarily Gaelic speaking or which did not originally provide Gaelic medium education.Figures
This table represents the number of pupils in different kinds of Gaelic Medium Educations, using data from the 2010 pupil census carried out by the Scottish government.| Number of Pupils | As a percentage of all school pupils in Scotland |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gaelic-medium education |
only through Gaelic | 1,007 | 0.15% |
| all curriculum through Gaelic or bilingual | 1,158 | 0.17% | |
| some curriculum through Gaelic, some through English | 482 | 0.07% | |
| Gaelic as subject | taught through Gaelic | 1,143 | 0.17% |
| TOTAL | 2,647 | 0.393% | |
See also
- GaelscoilGaelscoilA gaelscoil is an Irish-medium primary school in Ireland, of a sort found outside the traditionally Irish-speaking regions, especially in urban areas....
- Irish-Gaelic medium education. - Clì Gàidhlig - Organization supporting learners of the Gaelic language.
External links
- gaelicteaching.com - Information on Gaelic teaching for teachers, students and pupils.