Chamber and committees

Thank you for that, James and Donald.

I will come to Joanna Peteranna to pick up on the point that has been made about wider issues, including culture. In your submission, you said:

“There are many wider contributory considerations in addition to Gaelic which are required for the communities and therefore the language to flourish, including factors such as housing availability, transport connections and digital connectivity. Acknowledgement of this within the Bill would be welcome.”

What do you think that the bill will do to support Gaelic, and what additional provisions would you like to see in the bill to address the issues that you highlighted?

I have one final question.

Thank you, convener, and good morning to our witnesses. Thank you for the information that you shared with us in advance of the meeting. My first question is broad: how will the bill support Gaelic and Scots in the medium and long term?

Thank you for that. In your submission, you said:

“Education by itself will not guarantee the future of Gàidhlig as a living, developing, widely used language. Accordingly, the main emphasis of the Bill should be directed towards reviving Gàidhlig in community settings.”

You have touched on some of that. Could you say a little bit more about what else you would expect to see in the bill in that regard?

Good morning to you all. Thank you for joining us. The inspectorate’s submission says that

“the Bill focuses on Gàidhlig language in isolation of interconnected factors that strengthen languages, such as socio-economic challenges”

and that

“from a national perspective, Gàidhlig needs considered across policy.”

My first question is for Joan Esson. Is the scope of the bill wide enough?

Do others want to comment on the points that have been raised about what we need to do to increase the uptake of SQA qualifications?

Sorry for the interruption with the technology earlier. I appreciate your patience on that.

I want to ask about the number of learners who are achieving SQA qualifications. We heard from CLAS in the first evidence session this morning, and its submission says:

“the number of pupils leaving GME with no qualifications in the language is of serious concern.”

The submission also notes:

“it is worth considering the numbers of pupils involved and whether an overall increase in 230 SQA awards over 36 years is satisfactory progress.”

Do you believe that that is satisfactory, given what we have all just heard is important for Gaelic education?

I have a final question for you, and then I have a question for Donald Macleod. How do you think the bill fits with wider reforms in education?

I appreciate that. Donald Macleod, if it is okay, I will come to you. We just heard briefly that the standards that the bill looks to include could be important in relation to Gaelic-medium education. How do your members feel about that, and how will they approach Gaelic-medium education going forward?

My final question is probably still for you, Donald, if that is okay. The policy memorandum lists quite a number of areas that the standards will need to comment on, including access to provision, access to Gaelic-medium education as a three-to-18 experience, subject choice, teacher and pupil support and resources, and class sizes. All of those are highlighted as needing to be addressed. What will your organisation and your members need in order to address all of those things?