Community Languages Policy in Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

1) I would like to know current policy on community languages in Scotland.

2) In particular do you provide Arabic tuition in Scotland for high schools alongside other languages such as European languages which seem to be the norm in Scottish high schools.

3) Do you also provide funding for such teaching subjects especially in SVQ's , GCSE and A level in Arabic or any other qualification suitable for High schools?

4) How many Arab ethnic origin secondary school pupils do you have in Scotland?

Response

Question 1) I would like to know current policy on community languages in Scotland.

Answer 1)

Learners’ “home languages” – the languages that they speak at home or within their community - are supported and protected in Scotland through a number of policies, which I have captured below for your ease:

• UNCRC: Articles 8, 12, 14, 29 & 30

- United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill: leaflet - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
- https://www.unicef.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/UNCRC_united_nations_convention_on_the_rights_of_the_child.pdf

• Equality Act (2010): For most English as an Additional Language learners (EAL), the most relevant protected characteristic (PC) will be Race, although some of the other PCs may also be relevant.

- Equality Act 2010 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Equality Act (2010) | Resources | Education Scotland

• Standards in Scotland’s Schools Act (2000): Every child or young person has the right and the entitlement to education, as detailed in this act.

- Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. Act 2000 (legislation.gov.uk)

• Additional Support for Learning Act (Scotland) Act 2004 (as amended 2009): Education authorities have a series of duties to ensure that children and young people who have additional support needs get the support they need to achieve their full potential. English as an additional language has been specifically identified as a potential additional support need within the Supporting Children’s Learning Code of Practice.

- Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act (2004) | Resources | Education Scotland
- Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (legislation.gov.uk)

• Scotland’s Curriculum (Curriculum for Excellence): Curriculum for Excellence gives teachers the freedom to adapt the curriculum to reflect the needs of the children and young people they work with, enabling the curriculum to be inclusive of the cultures and languages of EAL learners.

- What is Curriculum for Excellence? | About Curriculum for Excellence | Curriculum for Excellence | Education Scotland

• Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC): Taking a GIRFEC approach allows teachers to meet the health and wellbeing needs of EAL learners. Using the wellbeing indicators helps teachers to identify particular needs that some EAL learners have, such as experiencing racism or having to develop new friendships.

- Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

• How Good is Our School? (4th Edition): The self-evaluation framework How Good is Our School? provides challenge questions around how well a school is doing to ensure the best possible outcomes for all learners in relation to wellbeing, equality, inclusion, attainment and achievement. The use of a wide range of approaches to embed language learning within the curriculum will ensure that practitioners build an inclusive learning environment; it is important to remember that a pupil’s first language can support their learning.

- How good is our school? (4th edition) (education.gov.scot)

My answer to question 2 below provides some further information on where the 1+2 languages policy in schools is relevant to this theme.

Question 2) In particular do you provide Arabic tuition in Scotland for high schools alongside other languages such as European languages which seem to be the norm in Scottish high schools.

Answer 2)

In 2013, the Scottish Government introduced the 1+2 languages policy which aims to create the conditions to provide all pupils with an entitlement to learn two additional languages throughout the Broad General Education (BGE) (the 10 years from P1 to the end of S3).

Within that approach, high schools can choose to teach Arabic as the second additional language (also known as L3). L3 tuition will typically start in primary school from P5 at the latest, and in secondary school at some point during the BGE. Pupils may not learn the same language continuously as an L3, and instead may be taught about various languages and cultures.

The Scottish Government does not mandate what languages individual schools will teach. In line with the flexibility of the Curriculum for Excellence, it is the responsibility of local authorities and schools to provide the language curriculum best suited to their learners and local circumstances. Our latest survey of local authorities, carried out in 2023 showed that high schools tend to focus on languages that learners can take as National Qualifications, also known as L2s[1]. By contrast, a small number of primary schools reported teaching Arabic.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance, the Scottish Government does not hold information on individual school and cannot confirm which schools may be offering Arabic tuition. You may wish to contact each individual local authority who may be able to provide you with the relevant information. Links to each local authority website (which will contain contact details for each authority) are available at the following web page under the header “Scottish Local Authority”: https://www.mygov.scot/organisations#scottish-local-authority.

Question 3) Do you also provide funding for such teaching subjects especially in SVQ's, GCSE and A level in Arabic or any other qualification suitable for High schools?

How we interpreted your question:

We interpreted your question as ‘Do you provide funding in the academic year 2024-25 for pupils to take exams in Arabic in high schools including SVQs, GCSE and A level and any other qualifications suitable for high school’.

Answer 3)

Funding for education provision, including the staffing costs for teachers, is a matter for individual local authorities. Local authorities are provided with their overall funding for education via what is known as the “block grant to local authorities” under the local authority finance settlement. Decisions on how to target their available funding for education is then a matter for each local authority.

It is possible for local authorities to present pupils for GSCE or A level exams in Arabic, however the Scottish Government does not hold information on how many pupils or how many schools do so. You may wish to contact each individual local authority who may be able to provide you with the relevant information. Links to each local authority website (which will contain contact details for each authority) are available at the following web page under the header “Scottish Local Authority”: https://www.mygov.scot/organisations#scottish-local-authority

However, Scottish Government funding can help to support community language provision in more indirect ways, in particular via the funding of Scotland’s National Centre for Languages (SCILT) based at the University of Strathclyde. SCILT provides professional learning to teachers as well as guidance and materials to assist schools. As part of this role, SCILT have developed the ‘Discovering the World of Arabic resources for beginners / non-heritage learners in schools. Furthermore, Education Scotland, an agency of the Scottish Government, has also published resources for practitioners to support bilingual learners: Learning in two languages.

Question 4) How many Arab ethnic origin secondary school pupils do you have in Scotland?

Answer 4)

As per the 2023 pupil census data, there are 1,930 Arab ethnic origin secondary school pupils in Scotland. Further detail is available in table 3.9a of the published pupil census supplementary statistics.

Further information

The Scottish Government is aware of the Glasgow University-led project, Welcoming Languages project which explores how the inclusion of a “refugee language” in Scottish education, in particular Arabic, can be a way to enact the New Scots Refugee Strategy. The report is available at thefollowing hyperlink:  https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/news/headline_908983_en.html#:~:text=Welcoming%20Languages%20is%20a%20collaborative,Arts%20and%20Humanities%20Research%20Council.

Officials from the Scottish Government Directorate for Education Reform and Education Scotland are in contact with the University research team and will meet with them to discuss their findings in more detail.

A first additional language, or L2, should be taught continuously from P1 through to the end of S3. While there is no hierarchy of languages within the 1+2 policy, an L2 must be a language that can be taught to the level of a National Qualification. It can therefore currently only be one of the following: Cantonese, French, Gaelic (Learners), German, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish and Urdu.

About FOI

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