Courier letters wrote:We cannot afford Gaelic teaching in downturn
Sir,-With education facing a squeeze in the current financial climate, it appears strange that there is no shortage of money to promote Gaelic teaching in schools.
In modern Scotland, fewer than 100,000 people speak the language.
With Scotland competing in a global market, education should be broadening its curriculum accordingly.
R. H. L. Mulheron.
28 Cowgate,
Tayport.
agus seo a sgrìobh mi (tha mi 'n dòchas gum bi iad ga foillseachadh):-
mise wrote:Dear Editor,
It was quite eye-opening to realise the depth of ignorance surrounding the provision of Gaelic teaching displayed by R.H.L. Mulheron in your letters section.
Currently, for instance, Fife Council spends several million pounds on school teachers – quite rightly so. And not one penny of that is spent on Gaelic. The only Gaelic provision of any kind in Fife is for self-funding adult education classes, of which there are a growing number.
This illustrates quite vividly that there is a growing demand for Gaelic education in Fife. All very well, I hear Mr/Ms Mulheron say, but what of the relevance?
One way that Scotland “competes in a global market” is in the field of tourism. And the fact that there still are 100,000 or so Gaelic speakers is quite an attraction. Not only that, but Gaelic summer schools – to say nothing of Gaelic cultural events – bring in a considerable amount of foreign revenue to Scotland. But there’s just not enough teachers etc. to satisfy the demand: we need many more Gaelic teachers.
And we’re not going to get them by leaving it to the residual bands of Gaelic-speaking highlanders and islanders. We need to train up people from all over Scotland for the task. Just as we need to train up French teachers, German teachers etc.
While places such as Fife continue to ignore the need to produce this vital element in Scotland’s economy, it’s hard to see a way out of the current economic downturn.
So, let us broaden the educational curriculum in response to global demands – and introduce Gaelic into Fife schools.
I find this sentiment of Gaelic teachers costing more money really sad and infuriating.
I am a trainee secondary teacher (not Gaelic, although it is a subject that is not currently taught in Gaelic at the Glasgow Gaelic School - wee job for me in the future? :p) and the Scottish Government has funded my PGDE qualification this year.
At Strathclyde there is the option to qualify in Gaelic Medium for most Secondary subjects, if you are already a fluent speaker, at no additional cost to the taxpayer. I have funded myself number night classes and, if a certain Edinburgh college would ever return my calls, I had hoped to start working towards my Higher through distance learning this year, although too late to add on to my PGDE. I ticked the preference waiver box in the faintest hope that I may be located in a Gaelic speaking area to develop my Gaelic.
In short, I have done almost everything I can to try and develop the possibility of being a GME teacher in the future with no financial help. So that must mean the Gaelic provision is where the cost lies? As places at the Glasgow Gaelic School are some of the most coveted in Glasgow secondary schools, this proves that there is a demand from parents, so we are not going to see half empty schools, which work out more.expensive and I can think of a few English schools in my council which would fit that bill.
As GME develops, research is beginning to show that children catch up, and indeed over take, their English only speaking peers, bolstering the vast research that already advocates the benefits of a second language and the ease to pick up a third.
As an adult learner who has so far spent two serious years trying to learn what I feel should have been my heritage, I am still frustrated that I am more fluent In French. A language I studied the same topics over and over for 7 years at school and never seen the relevance.
I am heartened by the fact that so many parents attend the night classes to help their child through their GME, however we, the learners, really need more support and for Gaelic to be more prominent - similar to the revival in Wales.
Wee chi, you will notice perhaps in another news thread that Art MacCarmaig from Bòrd na Gàidhlig often visits here to make comments. Why not send him a PM to see if he has any suggestions for you to help achieve your goal.
Cùm ort a charaid, agus taing mhòr airson a bhith sgriobhadh an seo.
