Gaelic in Families with Young Children: Education and Language Choice
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Gaelic in Families with Young Children: Education and Language Choice Kirstie M. MacLeod Thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2017 Abstract This study examines the role of Scottish Gaelic in families with young children, in Edinburgh and Barra, focusing on parents’ education choices and language socialisation of their children aged 0–5 years. The study proposed to investigate why and how families socialise their children as Gaelic speakers, and what aspirations parents have for their child’s future Gaelic use. The fieldwork for this study involved twelve months of ethnographic research between 2013–14 and included participant observation at parent-and-child groups, visits to Gaelic-medium nurseries and semi- structured interviews with parents, teachers, play leaders, and representatives from organisations who support families with children in Gaelic-medium education. The study found that the choice of Gaelic-medium education and the language socialisation of young children are situated in specific local contexts and in individual families who differ in terms of the factors that have an influence upon them, their interests and their experiences to date. The choice of Gaelic-medium education should be viewed as a process that parents take part in and where motivations, concerns, and experiences interact. The choice of Gaelic-medium education can be viewed within a wider parental endeavour to identify a ‘good’ school. The Gaelic language socialisation of young children is highly varied, with distinctive challenges and opportunities in both locations. Overall, Gaelic language socialisation relies on parents’ taking a proactive approach to providing or accessing Gaelic opportunities for their children. Parents’ aspirations are varied and only some clearly have aspirations for future Gaelic use. ii Declaration of authorship I confirm that this thesis has been composed solely by myself, and that the work contained within it has neither previously been published nor submitted for another degree. Kirstie M. MacLeod iii Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... ix Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 Section 1 ................................................................................................................... 1 History of Gaelic .................................................................................................. 2 Gaelic in Education in Scotland ........................................................................... 4 The Inverness-shire Gaelic Education Scheme ................................................ 8 The Western Isles Bilingual Education Project ............................................... 8 Gaelic-medium Education .............................................................................. 11 Gaelic Language Shift ........................................................................................ 15 Gaelic Revitalisation .......................................................................................... 20 Language Socialisation ...................................................................................... 21 Language Ideology ............................................................................................. 23 Parental choice and GME ................................................................................... 24 The field sites: Barra .......................................................................................... 28 Gaelic in Barra ............................................................................................... 29 Education in Barra .......................................................................................... 33 Edinburgh ........................................................................................................... 34 Gaelic in Edinburgh ....................................................................................... 35 Education in Edinburgh .................................................................................. 36 Summary ........................................................................................................ 37 Section 2: Methods ................................................................................................... 39 The Participants ...................................................................................................... 39 Linguistic backgrounds of families .................................................................... 39 Edinburgh ........................................................................................................... 39 iv Barra ................................................................................................................... 41 Work patterns of parents .................................................................................... 42 Parental educational qualifications .................................................................... 42 Family size ......................................................................................................... 43 Lone parents ....................................................................................................... 44 Field sites ............................................................................................................... 45 Ethics and Consent ................................................................................................. 45 Recruiting participants ........................................................................................... 47 Interviews ............................................................................................................... 50 Limitations of this study ......................................................................................... 52 My position as a researcher .................................................................................... 53 Comparison ............................................................................................................ 54 A qualitative approach ........................................................................................... 55 Describing Gaelic in families ................................................................................. 55 Aims of this thesis .................................................................................................. 56 Chapter outline ....................................................................................................... 57 Chapter 1: The Context ........................................................................................... 58 Barra: The Language Shift Context ....................................................................... 59 Gaelic proficiency in today’s Barra parents ....................................................... 62 The lived reality ................................................................................................. 66 The political context ........................................................................................... 69 Rural schools ...................................................................................................... 72 ‘Gaelic school’ status ......................................................................................... 74 A campaign for a standalone Gaelic school in Barra ......................................... 78 Strengthening Gaelic-medium provision ........................................................... 81 GME v. English-medium education ................................................................... 82 Edinburgh ............................................................................................................... 87 The Cròileagan ................................................................................................... 88 A meeting place .................................................................................................. 90 v Learning Gaelic together .................................................................................... 92 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 93 Chapter 2: Choice as a Process ............................................................................... 94 Choice in Scottish education .................................................................................. 96 The Stages of Choice ............................................................................................. 99 Sources of awareness ......................................................................................... 99 Researching choice ........................................................................................... 104 Decision-making .............................................................................................. 107 Choice as contested .............................................................................................. 111 Re-evaluating choice ............................................................................................ 117 Continuity ........................................................................................................