In recent months the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has announced its intention to engage with people working within the education sector with regard to growing calls for distinct and separate provision for teaching and learning about the Scots language, or what the SQA terms “separate Units for Scots.” Pauline Rodgers, who is the Qualifications Development Manager at the SQA, has recently acknowledged that although there are some ways in which children and young adults may already receive some exposure to themes related to Scots, the current, anomalous structure does not provide the Scots language and its related culture with a place in its own right but instead places it within the subject ‘English’, a situation out of step with the European Charter which the UK ratified on behalf of Scots back in 2001. Rodgers indicated that the SQA would like to take steps to rectify this situation, particularly in relation to the new Scottish Studies Awards, and would like to begin taking evidence and opinions from those in the education sector. Therefore, the SQA is inviting opinions to establish the current level of interest for (a) developing separate provision for Scots, and (b) exploring key issues related to the language.  Those with an interest may take part in an initial online survey by answering a series of questions. The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete and may be accessed here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ScotsLanguage

The SQA may also be contacted by email: mycentre@sqa.org.uk, by phone on 0303 333 0330 or by mail at The Scottish Qualifications Authority, The Optima Building, 58 Robertson Street, Glasgow, G2 8DQ.

The deadline for completing the online survey is 28 June 2013.