Nursery World - Gaelic course for early years staff

Apart-time postgraduate course for early years practitioners wishing to work in Gaelic-medium pre-school education is being developed by Aberdeen University, building on its existing BA in Early Childhood Studies. The pre-school programme is due to be launched in August, alongside a postgraduate qualification for primary school teachers. The new programmes, both provided on a distance learning model, follow discussions between Highland Council and staff at the university on ways to solve staffing shortages in Gaelic-medium education and will seek to boost Gaelic services in nurseries, playgroups and schools, as well as the use of the language at home.

The pre-school programme is due to be launched in August, alongside a postgraduate qualification for primary school teachers. The new programmes, both provided on a distance learning model, follow discussions between Highland Council and staff at the university on ways to solve staffing shortages in Gaelic-medium education and will seek to boost Gaelic services in nurseries, playgroups and schools, as well as the use of the language at home.

Lynne Schiach, director of the university's B.Ed programme, said that so far there was very little training available for Gaelic-medium educators in pre-school settings. She said she felt confident that the distance learning approach would help to counter staff shortages in the primary sector by enabling people living in remote areas to access training.

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