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SLG

Deal puts English unit in Gaelic-speaking school

Sounds like a good compromise. But I'm not sure how it can work. Where there are Gaelic medium units in English schools, all the Gaelic medium pupils speak English. The English medium pupils here are unlikely to speak Gaelic, so how will the school be able to function through Gaelic?

Quote:
Deal puts English unit in Gaelic-speaking school
DAVID ROSS

HIGHLAND Council's Education Committee yesterday agreed to create the first English language unit in a Scottish school and house it in the first all-Gaelic school in the region.
The move is a compromise in the debate over the future of Sleat Primary on Skye. However, it seems to be pleasing few and will be debated again next month by the full council.
Currently there is only one dedicated Gaelic school in Scotland, at the former Woodside Secondary in Glasgow's Charing Cross which caters for pre-fives to 18-year-olds.
But Highland Council had been asked by local parents to turn Sleat Primary into a Gaelic school, because it was effectively becoming that anyway.
The school had 71 pupils, 28 in the mainstream classes and 43 in the Gaelic medium education unit. Pupil numbers being taught in English had fallen from 38 in 2002-3 to 32 last year, and no new English medium pupils were due in primary one.
The council agreed in January to go out to consultation on two options: the status quo; or designating Sleat a Gaelic school with English medium pupils travelling a round trip of up to 45 miles each day to Broadford Primary.
Of the 66 parents and pre-school parents who responded to the consultation, 39 supported the status quo and 27 supported an all-Gaelic school.
It was the Skye and Lochalsh area committee of the council who suggested the creation of an all-Gaelic school but with the possible addition of an English medium unit for local parents who wanted it.
Bruce Robertson, the council's director of education culture and sport, recommended the proposal to the committee yesterday. He said he had concerns about five-year-olds travel all the way to Broadford.
Bill Fulton, the councillor for Sleat, regretted that the issue had divided the community as Sleat was becoming a Gaelic school anyway. He felt he had to advocate the status quo. "We should support the views of the parents as expressed in the consultation," he said. Nobody had been consulted on the idea of an English medium unit, he added, and if the council was to proceed, there should be a fresh consultation.
But a majority believed a Gaelic school the best way to promote the Gaelic language and voted 19 to 12 for the director's compromise.
However, Lisa Mehan, one of the parents who had been campaigning for the Gaelic school and had travelled from Sleat for the debate, said: "I have three children in the Gaelic medium unit just now and we wanted a Gaelic school. This is a compromise and it will be difficult for both sides.
"We wanted a level playing field with all children having two languages. That won't be the case, but we will have to see how it works in practice."
Meanwhile, Neil Robertson, chairman of the Sleat Primary School for All campaign said that he was deeply disappointed that the status quo had not been supported.
He added: "We have no details at all from Highland Council about how this English unit would work and what the ramifications are. Until we do we can't really comment. We will have to go back and consult in the community."


http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/70551.html
Cymro

Its a logical compormise, but unfortunalty in this ind of scenario only one language will thrive- English. That will be the language of the playground.
garye

Re: Deal puts English unit in Gaelic-speaking school

SLG wrote:
Sounds like a good compromise. But I'm not sure how it can work. Where there are Gaelic medium units in English schools, all the Gaelic medium pupils speak English. The English medium pupils here are unlikely to speak Gaelic, so how will the school be able to function through Gaelic?


I agree it sounds like a good compromise. Good because I think within ten years the English unit will wither on the vine. If there was no English intake this year and the English Nursery closed due to lack of uptake then who would send their kids to the English unit to be monolingual when the majority of the rest of the kids are bi-lingual in Gaelic and English and all of the communal activities are in Gaelic? You would have to be either pretty stupid, very short sighted or extremely bitterly anti Gaelic. And if Gaelic is taught in the English unit then why not just send your kids to the Gaelic unit?

I disagree with Cymro here, I think (especially given the stushie the whole episode caused) gaelic is the winner here.
Cymro

Im sorry Garye, but this will only mean that some children will have Gaelic education. English will be the only language on the playground believe you me. Through my work I visit Welsh schools with English units, and also Welsh language only schools and unfortunatly by far English is the main language.

I realise this caused a lot of arguments but it seems some lost some bottle by the end and looked to 'appease' at the expense of the language. It's a small step forward from where you where stood but a larger step back from where you could have been.
garye

Cymro wrote:
Im sorry Garye, but this will only mean that some children will have Gaelic education. English will be the only language on the playground believe you me. Through my work I visit Welsh schools with English units, and also Welsh language only schools and unfortunatly by far English is the main language.

I realise this caused a lot of arguments but it seems some lost some bottle by the end and looked to 'appease' at the expense of the language. It's a small step forward from where you where stood but a larger step back from where you could have been.


Sorry taking ages to reply, two kids under two means not alot of time for message boards.

The main thrust of my point is more that I don;t think the EMU will be viable long term. There is no EM nursery in Sleat (it closed due to lack of uptake) and this years intake into P1 was 12 kids solely into the Gaelic
Unit. It was always the point of the pro Gealic campaigners that the school would end up being all Gaelic anyway and they wanted to speed the process along.
Cymro

I appreciate that Garye, it's a good thing that the number of people wanting to go into the English language unit are low at the expense of the Gaelic unit, and it's quite possible within a few years the English unit will close completley. The only problem I can see in the meantime is as I noted earlier, English will remain the language of the playground due to an however small number of English speakers.

A Gaelic school would be able to promote Gaelic as the natural language of the play ground - discourage English on the playground. This is sure to upset some parents but my response would be "if you don't like it, you know what you can do".

Some parents are sure to be put off my worries like "My childs English will suffer", "They are too young to cope with more than one language", and "That school is only for those from Gaelic families" - I hear these worries/excuses everyday by parents here in Wales regarding Welsh language education. These wories are also pushed by English language schools, who obviously want to boost their own numbers. At the end of the day people need to realise A Gaelic school is atually a bilingual school - children will have to reach the same standards in English as those in Monoglot English schools while also being able to communicate in Gaelic. So to all extent and purposes they will have to work harder.

A Gaelic unit or Gaelic school is only one part of the battle to ensure the survival of the language.
SLG

I mind hearing about the product marketing of new toys in the US. Sales folk would go to a playground or something and watch for a while, figuring our who the most popular kid was. They then gave them a free toy, whetever it might be. All the other kids would then see the cool kid playing with the new toy and all want one as well. The same strategy could be used with Gaelic in the playground.
garye

I wonder what the playground language tends to be in Sgiol Ghaidhlig Ghlaschu?
Cymro

English I'd imagine. Which proves my point exactly, the danger is that people think Gaelic language education means the battle has been won. It hasn't, it's one part of a very long an complex battle. The most difficult bit is changing attitudes.
garye

Cymro wrote:
the danger is that people think Gaelic language education means the battle has been won. It hasn't, it's one part of a very long an complex battle. The most difficult bit is changing attitudes.


Given the amount of anti Gaelic articles that I can see coming along the same lines as the Times one I think this is a very salient point Cymro.

The Gaelic school with English unit has now been confirmed:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/6085690.stm

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