The Scottish Government together with Education Scotland have now launched a joint policy for the promotion and support of the Scots language. Called the National Scots Language Policy, which was developed in consultation with a number of parties, the Scottish Government sets out its policy aims and how these might be achieved. It also sets out a range of actions that Education Scotlands Scots Language Co-ordinators will take in the coming months.

The policy was officially launched at Education Scotlands Scots in Schools conference held recently at Stirling and which was attended by Alasdair Allan who is Minister for Learning, Science and Scotlands Languages. In launching the policy, Allan recognised that Scots is spoken by 1.5 million Scots or 30% of the population and affirmed This policy will play a important role in continuing to show that the Scottish Government takes seriously the promotion and preservation of the Scots language as one of the three surviving indigenous languages of the country.

Allan was joined by Jane Renton who is Assistant Director at Education Scotland. Renton commented: This is a significant moment for the Scots language. It is a living modern language which children in their tens of thousands bring to school every day. She also added that by engaging with the rich literary heritage of Scots, by learning about and using language, children would also improve literacy skills.

You can read the Scots language policy by
following this link: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/ArtsCultureSport/arts/Scots/ScotsLanguagePolicy