Chamber and committees

I am conscious that we are holding this inquiry while a wider debate goes on, marking the 25th anniversary of the Parliament, around Parliament’s capacity. The Presiding Officer and Murdo Fraser have both suggested that we look again at the number of MSPs, particularly in relation to our overall capacity to do committee scrutiny.

Mr Whitfield, a minute ago, you said something interesting about how the vehicles that are available to Parliament for scrutiny and accountability of the commissioners are not sufficient. Does that comment purely relate to capacity or could we reform other structural and process issues without opening the wider capacity question? It does need to be opened but for plenty of other reasons.

Yes, please do.

I am keen to hear from Gillian Munro and Lydia Rohmer on that, but first of all, I just want to check something. Does the current pathway involve getting a higher national diploma, or did you say that it was a higher national certificate?

And is that currently available only through UHI?

I will stick with Dr Munro for the next question. With the three-to-18 curriculum for excellence model, we have, in essence, a curriculum that is designed and produced in English, and we then work backwards to deliver it in GME. Would there be particular advantages to a curriculum model that originated in Gaelic? What would be the challenges in developing that?

Good morning, everybody. You might have caught some of the evidence from Donald Macleod in the previous session. We began to touch on the position in early learning and childcare, particularly some of the workforce issues.

This question might be for Inge Birnie in the first instance. What is the current qualification pathway for somebody who wishes to work in ELC in a Gaelic-medium setting?

Looking more widely—that is, beyond the initial qualification—we talked in the previous session about the workforce challenges with not only recruiting but retaining teachers in GME. Is the situation similar with the retention of ELC staff in GME settings?

That is all from me, convener, unless anybody else on the panel wants to comment on that point.

Lydia, would you like to add anything?

Can that course be delivered remotely at present, or is it delivered only as part of an in-person experience?