High-level recommendations

Ensure a leadership culture that promotes and respects Gàidhlig as an Indigenous language of Scotland and promotes its use and growth within inclusive, equitable and strategic approaches.
Develop the curriculum and learner uptake for Gàidhlig Medium and Gaelic (Learners) at pace, with associated professional learning, resources and ongoing review and expansion as part of improving the curriculum. This should include developing a digital all Gàidhlig sgoil with a full curriculum offer for Gàidhlig Medium and Learner Education.
Provide professional learning and resources for the education workforce to meet the additional learning and development needs of children and young people in Gàidhlig Medium Education.

Continue to work collaboratively but at pace with the education workforce on the development of evidence-based legislation, strategy, policy and guidelines that supports high-quality Gàidhlig Medium and Learner Education. This should make clear who does what and by when. It would also be beneficial to have much better indicators of the pace of change.
Devise improvement and strategic planning guidance to assist sgoiltean, local authorities and partners plan a sustainable future for the Gàidhlig language, with progress in meeting timely targets as part of the National Improvement Framework and the local authority benchmarking tool.
Provide local, accessible and attractive high-quality initial teacher training pathways to increase and retain fluent, high-quality education. Work with local government partners to improve the recruitment and retention of teachers for Gaelic (Learners) and Gàidhlig Medium Education through staffing allocations that safeguard sufficient staffing for Gàidhlig to deliver an immersion curriculum and learning Gàidhlig as an additional language at any time as young people move through the sgoil.

Develop a planned, strong and outcome-focused school estate for Gàidhlig with strong total immersion experiences, Gaelic (Learners) and opportunity to use Gàidhlig for a range of purposes beyond sgoil.
Ensure language, education and curriculum policy in cròileagan (the Gaelic term for playgroup, although this can be an early learning and childcare setting in some areas) sgoil-àraich, primary and àrd-sgoil provide progress and capitalise on the benefits of early learning in immersion practices. All children should have access to a sgoil-àraich as a crucial way of accelerating progress and raising attainment. This would address a current inequality in provision.
Engage in Gàidhlig-specific self-evaluation that results in timely ongoing change, with educators receiving Gàidhlig-specific professional learning, dialogue and challenge.

Continue developing bespoke inspection frameworks and models, which are designed for Gàidhlig, rather than inspecting Gàidhlig solely as part of the English medium inspection framework.
Inspect Gàidhlig bespoke to its Indigenous, immersion and additional language context across sgoil sector, initial training education, local authorities, further education, national centre of excellence for teaching and Gàidhlig, community learning and development, and specific digital learning and initiatives.
Develop a risk and intelligence-based approach to inspecting Gàidhlig in education.

Systematically support the promotion of Gàidhlig at times of enrolment and as children and young people progress through sgoil.
Support sgoiltean with delivering the 3-18 curriculum for Gàidhlig Medium and Learner Education resulting in strong fluency.

Use the findings of this report to ensure that initial teacher education is delivering training to empower a high-quality education workforce for Gàidhlig Medium Education and Gaelic (Learners).
Proactively increase recruitment of education workforce planning, with strategies and initiatives to link with young people’s curriculum choices in the senior phase.
Support a high-quality education workforce with career-long professional learning that fulfils the professional standards required by the General Teaching Council of Scotland and similar bodies.

Critically reflect on this report to accelerate progress in increasing the number of speakers of Gàidhlig leaving sgoil with high attainment, fluency and literacy skills in Gàidhlig.
Continue to deepen understanding of how the curriculum includes important entitlements, such as Gàidhlig for immersion, as an additional language and as part of Scotland’s identity, culture and diversity. It is important that the curriculum promotes inclusion, linguistic equity and ensures children’s and young people’s sense of belonging to the Gàidhlig community.
Ensure that their curriculum offer for Gàidhlig is promoted and reviewed annually to ensure progressive high-quality learning.
Ensure strong continuity in learning Gàidhlig across stages leading to qualifications and awards in each year of the senior phase with high attainment that exhibits the benefits of bilingualism.
Ensure that personal and wider achievements are accredited using the Scottish Certification of Qualifications Framework.

Ensure that they engage with all opportunities to learn Gàidhlig and about its culture in and beyond sgoil.
Ensure they have their voice heard and actioned, and that they give back to the sgoil to support peers, including in their use of Gàidhlig for socialising.
Contribute to the survival and sustainability of the Gàidhlig language as an identity in itself and as part of their education, in their use of Gàidhlig for socialising, in the community and through learning for sustainability.
Develop a lifelong passion for Gàidhlig and a clear understanding of rights as Indigenous speakers of Gàidhlig.

What Scottish Government and all other stakeholders should do