Chamber and committees

Madainn mhath. Tha e math gu bheil sibh còmhla ruinn an-diugh. Tha ceistean agam mu dheidhinn foghlam Gàidhlig.

The member continued in English.

Good morning. I am really glad that you are with us today. I have some questions about Gaelic education. Before I begin those, I agree with the comments about the use of Gaelic in the Parliament. I am sorry that you have not been able to give your evidence in Gaelic. It is not good enough that Scotland’s Parliament cannot conduct its business in Scotland’s language.

The member continued in Gaelic.

Tha mi duilich mu dheidhinn sin.

The member continued in English.

I am sorry about that.

One of the great successes of Gaelic-medium education has been its growth. I declare an interest in that both of my children—although they are now grown up—were educated at Sgoil Ghaidhlig Ghlaschu for primary and secondary school. I am an Ayrshire MSP, and I am delighted that we have bun-sgoil Pàirc Whitehirst, a primary school in Kilwinning. Parents drive that growth, not bodies. Parents start the nurseries and playgroups, and demand grows from the community, which is part of the success.

What is the overall goal for the breadth of access to Gaelic-medium education? Jim Whannel spoke a little about the role of the bòrd. Will you expand on that?

My colleague Graeme Dey will probably want to explore some of that with you, so I will go back to the question that I just asked. In some ways, you have already answered it, because it was about the challenges of being representatives. Given all the good work that is being done by the college itself to bring on representatives who feel able to challenge, have there been times when you have been able to challenge decisions and when you have felt that the work that was done helped you in that respect?

Do you feel that you can challenge decisions that you do not agree with?

Perhaps she can say what she wanted to say first. I do not want to cause any confusion.

That was helpful.

I am keen to hear from Heather Innes on this question. Obviously, you also have a big spread in the Highlands, and you have already talked about the number of leaders that you have had to engage with. I would be interested in hearing your perspective on this matter.

I am interested to hear what the other students have to say about that, convener.

It has been good to hear about the positive working between the students and the colleges and about their getting to know the board and being able to go to them. I am particularly interested in Amy Monks’s remarks about the work that they did on a shared vision. However, I just want to flip that slightly and ask whether that work helped. After all, the student voice will not always share the board’s vision, and there might be conflict when the board wants to change things or do something that students do not agree with. Did the work on the positive side of things help to deal with that kind of conflict? Have you ever had to disagree with the direction that the management wanted to go in or with a specific thing that they wanted to do?

On that issue of responsiveness to communities and to business and routes to work, how much influence do staff have on the choice and design of the qualifications that colleges offer? I put that to Stuart Brown.

Good morning to the panel. Obviously, colleges provide important access to education and routes to employment, as you have said. Will you share your reflections on how, post regionalisation, colleges are responding to the needs of learners and the communities that they serve? Stuart Brown spoke a bit about that, so I will come to him first. It would be good to hear about some of the good practice as well as the challenges.