Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000
Ministerial Guidance on Gaelic education
Background
The Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000 ('the 2000 Act') places a duty on education authorities to publish an annual statement of improvement objectives. That annual statement of education improvement objectives must include an account by an education authority of:
(i) the ways in which; or
(ii) the circumstances in which
they will provide Gaelic medium education (GME), and where they do provide GME, of the ways in which they will seek to develop their provision of such education.
On 16 September 2003, the Minister for Education and Young People, Peter Peacock, announced steps to strengthen policy and action on GME. He stated that he had 'instructed officials to ensure that education authorities are clearly reminded of the duties which flow from the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000 in relation to Gaelic medium education and that authorities should account for those provisions within their reports and plans.' The Minister also noted that under the terms of the 2000 Act he had powers to issue statutory guidance for the further development of GME in Scotland.
The Minister announced in September 2004 that he was persuaded of the need for statutory guidance in order to:
- ensure the continued growth and improvement in provision of GME in Scotland
- bring consistency to, and set a minimum standard for, local authority reporting on GME provision and plans for development
- provide reassurance to parents that there is a national approach in place to support the continued provision and development of GME in Scotland
Consultation on draft Guidance
Draft guidance was published for consultation in September 2004. In summary, the draft guidance would require education authorities in receipt of Gaelic Specific Grant to prepare a policy statement explaining how Gaelic education would be delivered and developed in their areas. Education authorities in receipt of Specific Grant would also be required to report annually on the delivery of Gaelic education in their areas. The draft guidance also sought to simplify Gaelic education reporting requirements, by combining reporting under the 2000 Act, Gaelic Specific Grant reporting and Gaelic pre-school reporting into one report.
The draft guidance was issued for consultation on 17 September 2004 with comments invited from interested parties by 17 December 2004. Late responses were accepted. Consultation on the draft guidance coincided with progress of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Bill through the Scottish Parliament and its contents were noted during the taking of evidence by Parliament's Education Committee.
Consultation responses
In total 24 consultation responses were received and the full response of those bodies who were content that their views be made available in the public domain is available below. Two bodies requested that their response should not be made available in the public domain.
Aberdeen City Council
Aberdeenshire Council
Angus Council
Argyll & Bute Council
East Ayrshire Council
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
Dumfries & Galloway Council
East Dunbartonshire Council
City of Edinburgh Council
Falkirk Council
Fife Council
Glasgow City Council
Highland Council
Inverclyde Council
North Lanarkshire Council
South Lanarkshire Council
East Lothian Council
West Lothian Council
Moray Council
Perth and Kinross Council
East Renfrewshire Council
Renfrewshire Council
Comunn na Gàidhlig
Comann nam Pàrant
Learning Teaching Scotland
Summary of consultation responses
The Executive has produced a summary of responses to the consultation on the draft guidance [link to summary]. This summary document does not, and is not intended to, detail every point made by respondents to the consultation.
A number of general conclusions can be drawn from the consultation responses:
- guidance on the development of GME was generally welcomed, with a divergence of views on whether it should apply only to education authorities in receipt of Specific Grant
- standardisation of reporting on the development of GME was generally welcomed, with some concerns expressed about the level of detail required
- some respondees considered that there were national issues - such as teacher recruitment - requiring to be addressed in conjunction with the guidance
- some concerns were expressed about potential bureaucracy which the guidance might generate and the need for the Guidance to fit with other reporting requirements faced by education authorities
Next steps
Education issues featured prominently during the passage of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Bill and the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 contains provision relating to Gaelic education. The Executive will give consideration as to how this new provision should link with Guidance, and will give consideration to individual consultation responses, before issuing a final version of the Guidance in the autumn of 2005.