An Apple for Teacher. . .Mandarin for all Pupils

Mandarin for all pupils, says Ed Balls, so goes the headline in the Daily Telegraph. No, not an update of the apple for teacher routine but a plan by the aptly named Balls to allow all children to learn the Chinese language. He also thinks that more children should be able to study Polish, Russian and Arabic up to GCSE level. It's all very laudable but like so much Nu-Labour policy it's all about the soundbite, grabbing the headlines with little or no attention paid to the reality of delivering on the ideas. How will schools cope with yet more subjects to schedule? Could we just get the basics right? In Scotland, and to be fair Balls has nothing to do with the situation north of the border, one in five children leave school without being fully literate. It may be better in England, but i suspect not by much. . .

Should We Have a Scots Language TV Channel?

In the Scotsman this morning someone by the name of Paul Henderson Scott has written a piece saying, in short, that there should be a Scots language channel alongside the Gaelic TV channel to preserve the Scots language. While I concur that it would be wonderful to find a way to do such a thing the problem is on the one hand money and on the other hand the fact that the language is in decline anyway. All in all a bit of a catch twenty two. However, and isn't there always he says.

"A London-controlled broadcasting service naturally gave preference to the great majority of its audience south of the Tweed. This destroyed the self-confidence of many Scots by giving them the impression they lived in an unimportant backwater which had never achieved anything of importance. It also meant that English voices, and hardly ever a word of Scots, penetrated into virtually every household north of the Border."

It's this kind of thing that really undermines the whole argument. Haven't we got numerous Scots on TV? In high office? In Business? Do they speak Scots? Did any of this sap their confidence? No of course it didn't. Its about education and no one can tell me we should be educating Scottish school kids in the Scots language to go out into the world to prosper, at the expense of teaching English. Of course we should be teaching them to appreciate Scots literature, but the language of the world is English; mostly for reasons that have little to do with 'that damned government in Westminster." The challenge of educating children is, for reasons I don't understand, greater than ever, to add the Scots language into the mix will do nothing but confuse the issue.

Ed 'Go' Balls

Ed 'Go' Balls has just been on Channel 4 news. It was utterly bizarre. He talked in political riddles. He even announced how much education standards had risen in the last ten years. So why all the changes if it's doing so well? Still it's only the English that are in trouble as education is devolved. ( Hang on - A study of primary-age children in 45 countries and provinces saw Scotland fall from 14th place in 2001 to 26th position in 2006 in the international league table of literacy.)

Whose Language is it anyway?

A row has erupted in the Borders after a councillor used the words ‘immigrants’ and ‘indigenous’. Sandy Aitcheson of the Borders Party tabled a question about the Additional Support for Learning Act of 2004, in which English language training is a right of all immigrant children. He asked. “Due to the massive increase in immigration into the Borders, what extra provision is being proposed by Scottish Borders Council to provide a better service for the benefit of immigrant children, indigenous children and the staff who are providing an excellent service with the limited resources available to them?”

He was accused by Councillor Bahtia of, “using the emotive language of the far right which has no place in Borders. It is quite legitimate to ask about how the council is supporting children who do not have English as a first language, but to label children as either ‘immigrant’ or ‘indigenous’ is absolutely abhorrent.”

This is typical of what is restricting our society from tackling such an important issue (and it’s not restricted to the Borders or the subject of immigration). Instead of dealing with the problem it turns into an attempt at political points scoring. It’s also political correctness gone potty and it’s exactly what happens when national party politics are imported to local issues.

Just for the record, Ms Bahtia should be reminded that using the word indigenous about people who come from or live in a particular area is an absolutely correct use of English. Similarly ‘immigrant’ is a word to describe someone who comes to live permanently in a foreign country. The truth is that this is a pathetic, childish politics about a subject that is of major concern not just in the Borders but across the country. It is perhaps a bigger problem for the Scottish Borders Council to tackle given the vast area that the Borders covers and the fact that traditionally there have been few ‘immigrants’ in the Borders and there’s been a net out flow of people for years. Accusing someone of using the language of the BNP does nothing but play into the hands of racist bigots and encourages them to think they have control of the language.

Interestingly in answer to the question about what support there is in the Borders for English language teaching. There are two teachers covering 36 schools and arguably they spend nearly as much time driving between schools as they do in schools.