After years of under-investment , the Scottish Government is spending a record amount of money on teaching the Gaelic language to pupils

Published on Monday 28 September 2009 11:08

IT'S the slightly funny sounding brogue you hear for a few, fleeting seconds after accidentally flicking on to BBC Alba.

That for many of us is the main contact we have with the Gaelic language, unless we choose to holiday in the isles.

As only one per cent of Scots speak the language, it's no surprise we don't hear it often down the pub or in the aisles of Tesco.

Despite its limited useage – there are fewer than 59,000 Gaelic speakers in Scotland – a record amount of money is being ploughed into teaching and promoting the language.

The Scottish Government recently announced spending on Gaelic will rise from 19.2 million to 21.7m in 2010-11, with another 2.15m – up 800,000 on last year – being ploughed into its Gaelic Schools Fund.

Probationer Gaelic teachers are being offered 6,000 'Golden Hellos' in a bid to tackle a desperate shortage in Highland secondary schools, while the Scottish Government has also announced plans to introduce Gaelic letterheads and envelopes, teach staff key phrases and issue Gaelic press releases.

With such small numbers actually speaking the language, there has inevitably been criticism of the moves, with the government being accused of pouring money into a futile effort to save a "dying language".

In Edinburgh, 500,000 is spent a year on Gaelic language teaching for just 130 full-time school pupils, plus around 50 nursery children and weekly sessions for 300 children. It is a considerable sum at a time when budgets are being slashed and schools are facing closure.

Liz Smith MSP, the Tory's Scottish education spokeswoman, has concerns about the growing funding levels.

"It is an integral part of Scottish heritage and we have no problem with the language being promoted, but we've got to keep it in perspective in relative terms to the numbers being taught," she says.

"Under the SNP government, there is quite an increase in spending on Gaelic and we will have to keep an eye on it.

"Because of the numbers in Edinburgh, I can see parents being a bit concerned.

"There's a lot of Edinburgh issues about schools closing down and that will definitely be a priority issue because the budgets are so tight.

"Council have to make some very tough decisions and I wouldn't have thought in Edinburgh that Gaelic would be the main priority."

Champions of the language though vociferously defend the investment in one of Scotland's native tongues, pointing to a resurgence of Gaelic speaking among children as proof the investment is worthwhile.

Professor Kenneth MacKinnon, Honorary Fellow of the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures at Edinburgh University, blames decades of poor funding for the language's decline in the first place.

"If we are going to use metaphors, we need to ask what the language is dying of. It could be anything from first degree murder to outright cultural genocide.

"We are already seeing numbers of people with Gaelic language abilities increasing amongst young people and I look forward to seeing that continue to increase."

While welcoming the Scottish Government's renewed commitment, he says more still needs to be done.

"Very few schools are able to offer Gaelic owing to the fact that there are limited numbers of teachers qualified either to teach the language or to teach through the language.

"I believe we must have a programme whereby teachers are encouraged to become qualified in this sector.

"A lot of people who say we are spending too much money on Gaelic forget that Gaelic people in Scotland are wealth creators who work and pay their taxes and contribute to the economy of Scotland.

"People should get a fair slice of the cake and for many years until very recently that fair slice of the cake was denied so that's one of the reasons why the numbers of people using the language are going down."

Evidence of the increasing use among young people is not hard to find in the Capital.

As well as the specialist Gaelic medium Unit at Tollcross Primary, P5 pupils at Stenhouse, Gillespie's, Sciennes, Royal Mile and Tollcross primaries all get weekly lessons.

The language is also thriving at James Gillespie's High, which currently has 35 pupils taking Gaelic at either Standard Grade or Higher level.

The school is a receiving school for Tollcross Primary, and as such gets a number of fluent Gaelic speakers coming through.

It will also soon start teaching core subjects like geography and personal and social education in Gaelic, while there are also plans to start offering taster sessions to pupils.

According to Alex Wallace, headteacher at James Gillespie's High - which is proud of it diversity and range of languages on offer - the language is popular with young people, who are enthusiastic about taking the chance to learn more about Scottish heritage.

He said: "This is reinforcing the fact that Gaelic is important, even in the central belt, where it can be viewed as less important.

"Aside from the pupils coming into the school from the Gaelic unit at Tollcross, others learn the language because it's on offer and because it interests them.

"Our youngsters are enjoying it. They recognise that they may not go on to Standard Grade and Higher, but they like to learn a little bit of it while they have the opportunity.

"What the head of department is trying to do is insert into S1 modern language courses a little unit in Gaelic for everyone, a little unit in Mandarin and one in Zulu so youngsters get the chance to explore a range of languages."

The school also won the national Gaelic debating championships last year, which Mr Wallace says was a "proud" moment for the school, given that their competitors were seasoned Gaelic speakers from the Highlands.

There is, it seems, still plenty of life left in the language yet.