Latest News

A selection of language-related news. Does not claim to be comprehensive or represent the views of SCILT.

Schools told to increase use of Scots language in lessons

24 April 2015 (The Herald)

Schools have been urged to increase the use of the Scots language as part of a wider drive to improve literacy.

Using Scots in lessons could improve pupils' engagement with learning as well as increasing their understanding of Scottish culture, according to curriculum quango Education Scotland.

Over the past five years, the language has become recognised in the classroom under the Curriculum for Excellence, which calls on schools to support children in maintaining their own first language.

However, there are still negative attitudes towards Scots, with some arguing it is a dialect rather than a language and others believing it to be a slang form of English. An official survey found that nearly two-thirds of the Scottish public do not believe that Scots is a real language.

Read More...

Related Links

Your views  (TESS, 23 April 2015) a letter from Matthew Fitt, Scots writer and teacher – Scots isn’t a language? I’ve something to say about that…. 

Your views (TESS, 18 April 2015) - a letter from Steve Ainsworth, freelance writer and researcher - Inconvenient truths about Scots.
University of Strathclyde Education Scotland British Council Scotland The Scottish Government
SCILT - Scotlands National centre for Languages