Minutes of Meeting of the Gaelic Committee held in Council Chamber, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Thursday, 1 December 2011 at 10.30 am.
Present:
Mr H Fraser, Mrs I Campbell, Mr G Farlow, Mr W Fernie, Mr G M Smith, Mr W MacKay, Mr J McGillivray, Dr A Sinclair, Mrs M E Paterson, Mr C Fraser, , Mr A M Millar, Mr A Graham , Miss J Campbell, Mr F Parr, Mr K MacLeod, Mr T Prag, Ms J Douglas, Dr M E M Foxley, Mr B Gormley, Mr B Murphy.
Non-Members also present:
Ms L Munro, Ms D Mackay, Dr D Alston, Mr B Clark, Mr S Black, Mr D Fallows.
Officials in attendance:-
Mr H Fraser, Director of Education, Culture and Sport
Mr R MacKenzie, Head of Support Services, Education, Culture and Sport
Mr K Murray, Gaelic Development Manager, Education, Culture and Sport
Ms M A MacLeod, Gaelic Development Officer, Chief Executive’s Office
Miss J Maclennan, Principal Administrator, Chief Executive’s Office
Mrs F MacBain, Committee Administrator, Chief Executive’s Office
Also in attendance:-
Professor Antonella Sorace, Edinburgh University
An asterisk in the margin denotes a recommendation to the Council. All decisions with no marking in the margin are delegated to the Committee.
Mr H Fraser in the Chair
Business
Preliminaries
The Chair spoke of the success of the recent Royal National Mod that had been held in Stornoway and congratulated all those from within the Highland Council area, but especially the school pupils, who had performed so well at the the event. In particular, the Committee AGREED to send a letter of congratulations to Dingwall Gaelic Choir, who had won the prestigious Lovat & Tullibardine Shield.
1. Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Mr R Pedersen, Mr E Hunter, Mr J Finnie and Mr A S Park.
2. Declarations of Interest
The Committee NOTED the following declarations of interest:
Items 5 and 6 – Mr A Graham (Financial).
3. Revenue Monitoring – Report to 31 October 2011
There had been circulated Report No G-27-11 (123kb pdf) dated 23 November 2011 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport setting out the revenue budget monitoring position for the period 1 April to 31 October 2011, which projected an underspend of £54k.
It was explained that the only anticipated variance in the budget was the post of Gaelic Education Development Officer which was vacant because the Officer identified to fill the post had been required for classroom teaching in a Secondary school. New school transport contracts were due to start in January 2012 and progress with these would be closely monitored and reported in due course.
During discussion, Members commented that some shortfalls in implementation of the Gaelic Language Plan (GLP) 2007-11 could have been avoided had the Education Development Officer been in post and it was hoped that the post would be filled for the next GLP for 2012-16. It was explained that discussions were on-going, both inside and outwith the Council, as to how this could be addressed and interim measures included the provision of some development time from Gaelic Medium teachers within the secondary sector.
Members also asked whether fluctuating numbers of pupils starting Gaelic Medium Education had an adverse effect on the stability of the number of teachers employed. The Director replied that teaching numbers had been arranged around pupil bandings related to roll predictions so, while it was not possible to even out all fluctuations, many of the more dramatic swings in staffing levels that had been experienced in previous years were now less likely.
The Committee NOTED the projected outturn for financial year 2011/12 based on estimates at the end of October 2011.
4. “Bilingualism Matters” – A Presentation by Professor Antonella Sorace of Edinburgh University
There had been circulated Report No G-28-11 (27kb pdf) by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport which introduced Professor Antonella Sorace of Edinburgh University and outlined the Bilingualism Matters service – a research-based information and advice service on bilingualism for the general public.
Professor Sorace’s presentation highlighted the importance of bilingualism to the survival of the Gaelic language and detailed the benefits of bilingualism to both children and adults. Research, including techniques to study young babies’ reactions to different languages, had proven that children were instinctively able to distinguish between different languages and also developed an early understanding of which language to use when speaking to different people. These, and other skills, gave bilingual children transferable skills which could lead to other educational advantages, such as early reading and linguistic skills, an earlier understanding that other people can have a different perspective from them and an improved ability to switch between different tasks.
Evidence had suggested that these skills could last to adulthood, with further research required to determine the long-term benefits of bilingualism, which appeared to include protection against the deterioration of cognitive abilities in old age and the delayed onset of dementia by up to 4 years. Key to the success of bilingualism was the importance of children hearing a sufficient amount of both languages, ideally from a variety of people both within their family and from the wider community. With children’s sensitivity to people’s attitudes towards language, it was important that they were given a positive impression of any second language and, contrary to the beliefs of some, it was not necessary for a child to gain a full understanding of one language before starting another.
Having been operational since 2008 and having worked extensively in other countries with areas of bilingualism, notably Sardinia and Norway, Bilingualism Matters had launched a new Branch in Stornoway on 20 October 2011. One of the aims in the Western Isles was to train a group of committed people to communicate the benefits of bilingualism to the community, to support parents to raise bilingual children from early childhood and to enable families to make informed choices about the benefits of Gaelic Medium Education (GME). They also planned to inform teachers and health professionals so that they too could provide appropriate support to bilingual families.
Members thanked Professor Sorace for her presentation and asked that the information contained in it was made available to them to help with the promotion of GME, either on DVD, via the Bilingualism Matters website, the Council’s webcast or in hard copy.
In support of the ongoing work being done by Bilingualism Matters, Members referred to the educational language DVD ‘Muzzy’, which was designed to introduce young children to new languages. It was hoped that this or a similar programme might be made available in Gaelic in the future. Some Members voiced concern about the lack of investment in modern language education for pre-school and primary-age children while others pointed out that, although there was not capacity to offer full bilingualism in other modern languages, Scotland was fortunate to have the expanding provision of GME, which brought with it all the benefits of bilingualism.
In response to these and other Members’ comments, Professor Sorace explained that:
- Bilingualism Matters did not, at present, have sufficient budget to produce a professional DVD containing the information that had been in the presentation;
- as part of an ongoing commitment to increasing investment in the early introduction of language acquisition, a pilot project was being implemented to train a group of teachers to raise awareness of other languages at age 4-5 in eight primary schools in Edinburgh and East Lothian. Responding to a question from Members about whether a short burst of a different language was compatible with a bilingual education, it was explained that any exposure to different languages was beneficial and that it was important to rouse a child’s natural curiosity for language from an early age; and
- any information the Council wished to provide on GME in the Highlands for the Bilingualism Matters website would be welcomed.
The Committee:-
i. NOTED the presentation;
ii. AGREED that a copy of the presentation be made available to Members and for use in the promotion of Gaelic Medium Education; and
iii. AGREED that information on Gaelic Medium Education in Highland be provided to for use on the Bilingualism Matters website.
5. Gaelic Language Plan 2007-11 – Implementation Update
Declaration of Interest
Mr A Graham declared a financial interest in this item on the grounds of his employment with Bòrd na Gàidhlig and left the room.
There had been circulated Report No G-29-11 (217kb pdf) dated 22 November 2011 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport which provided Members with an update on the implementation of the Council’s Gaelic Language Plan 2007-11.
Having heard a summary of the report, Members made the following comments:-
- the importance of the 0-3 age group was emphasised and progress in this sector should be reported to a future meeting of the Committee, with a duly updated action plan. Ongoing progress reports were also requested on the strategic mapping of the Gaelic Medium provision around Associated School Groups, notably the progress with the pilot initiative employing 5 fulltime equivalent (FTE) early years workers across Highland, which would be taken forward as part of the GLP 2012-16;
- in the ‘All-Gaelic schools’ section of the Implementation report, it should be clarified that significant work was underway on stand-alone Gaelic schools in Portree and Fort William, with Members being optimistic that additional funding for these schools would be forthcoming;
- it was disappointing that Gaelic provision at secondary level continued to be ‘mixed’, with reference being made to Lochaber High School having only one Gaelic Medium teacher. Considerable work was required to attract additional Gaelic Medium teachers to the secondary sector but, in the meantime, to achieve a better result overall, it might be necessary to take a more strategic approach to Gaelic Medium Education (GME) provision across Highland, rather than reacting to pockets of local enthusiasm;
- the public should understand that the GLP 2012-16 was intended to build on the GLP 2007-11 and should not be considered a ‘new’ Plan, with particular mention being made of the need to review the bilingual signage policy for the GLP 2012-16;
- further action was required to improve Gaelic nursery and wraparound care provision and it was hoped that any new Gaelic school would provide this type of care;
- the importance of maintaining links with partners in other countries was recognised and Members asked about visits to areas that had similar minority language issues; and
- information was sought on the availability of Gaelic resources in Highland libraries, especially for younger primary school children in Gaelic Medium Education.
In response, the GME mapping exercise was taking a strategic approach to maximising the current Gaelic Medium capacity in Associated School Groupings. In relation to the importance of early years GME, much work had been undertaken on the pilot project to employ 5 FTE early years workers in conjunction with Bòrd na Gàidhlig, the Care and Learning Alliance (CALA) and the Council’s Early Years Team. Bòrd na Gàidhlig already employed 2.5 FTEs with Gaelic ability within the Council area and meetings with both CALA and Bòrd na Gàidhlig were to be held in the near future to make further progress on this project. Further work, at national level, was being undertaken with Education Scotland which was creating a national network of early years education practitioners with the Council nominating people to represent the Highlands within this network. The challenges in GME were noted; particularly those in the secondary sector and this, as an area of concern nationally, would be taken forward through the GLP 2012-16. With regard to visits to minority language areas in other countries, it was noted that Officers had arranged to meet a colleague from Nova Scotia during the Royal National Mod in Stornoway and that, given the current economic climate, contact would have to be maintained in many different ways including internet discussion.
The Committee:-
i. APPROVED the progress report subject to the amendments made
during discussion;
ii. AGREED that it be submitted to Bòrd na Gàidhlig; and
iii. AGREED that information about where and how much Gaelic material
was available for children in Highland Libraries, be provided to
Members.
6. Gaelic Language Plan 2012-16 – Update on Public Consultation Exercise
Declaration of Interest
Mr A Graham declared a financial interest in this item on the grounds of his employment with Bòrd na Gàidhlig and left the room.
There had been circulated Report No G-30-11 (27kb pdf) dated 22 November 2011 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport which provided Members with information on progress in preparing the second generation Gaelic Language Plan, scheduled to be approved in May 2012, and the ongoing Council public consultation exercise.
Members were reminded that eight public consultation meetings had taken place throughout Highland. The deadline for responses was 4 January 2012 and the public were being encouraged to participate in the process as much as possible. Discussions had also taken place with Bòrd na Gàidhlig (BnG) who were consulting on the Draft National Gaelic Language Plan and officers had attended those BnG consultation meetings which had been held in Highland. Many of the same points raised at the Council’s consultation meetings had been raised at these meetings and all the information was being collated and would be submitted to the Committee’s next meeting.
In discussion, appreciation was expressed that a consultation meeting on the Council’s Gaelic Language Plan had been held in Aviemore and which had proved to be instructive and informative. However, there was disappointment that BnG had not held an event in the Badenoch and Strathspey area and it was important that, where consultation events were being held in Inverness, the public in Badenoch and Strathspey were made aware of the opportunity for them to participate in such meetings.
The Committee:-
i. NOTED the completion of the eight public consultation meetings;
ii. NOTED the closing date for public comments on 4 January; and
iii. AGREED the revised timetable.
The meeting concluded at 12.40pm.