Employment

Plockton High School’s project involved an interesting range of Gaelic/Gàidhlig-focused activities aimed at a number of year groups.

Each year, all S1-S3 Gàidhlig medium pupils at Plockton High School work together to conceptualise, write, produce and star in a short Gàidhlig film. This is done in partnership with FilmG run by Astar Media and is an annual film competition which promotes and encourages all young people to actively play a role in producing a short film in the target language. FilmG aims to encourage pupils to see the value in language learning and go on to have successful careers in film and television industry. Pupils communicated with industry professionals who visited Plockton High School over 2 days to help film this year’s competition entry. Pupils learnt how to use professional camera and sound equipment all through the medium of Gàidhlig. 

Due to the popularity of FilmG, Plockton High School has now introduced FilmG as an elective. In doing this, they have opened the doors to language learning in an active and practical setting to both learners and fluents. 

In November 2022, S5 pupils conducted interviews with various experts, across different sectors as part of a careers event. This was an opportunity for pupils to make connections, research into different companies and discuss protentional future employment opportunities. The aim of the careers event was to show pupils the significance that languages can make to their future employability options and encourage them to study Gàidhlig during their further education. Senior pupils conducted interviews with professionals at Astar Media, the Gaelic Curriculum Officer at Education Scotland, a lecturer at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and the Digital Engagement Officer for MG Alba. Conducting interviews with professionals from such a wide range of sectors allowed pupils to gain perspective into what working in each different sector is like on a daily basis. As such positive feedback was received from pupils, the school plans to continue to develop and run this event in future. 

This was a very interesting submission from Plockton High School with many good features. It builds on existing good practice and there is clear evidence of thorough planning and preparation around the projects described. The links made with employers and education experts from the Gaelic community are strong and purposeful and have excellent long-term potential. 

The verification team strongly commend the creation of a Film G elective as a result of the work done in this submission. The description given of how this has ‘opened the doors to language learning in an active and practical setting to both learners and fluents’ is a perfect description of the inclusive and relevant approach to language learning that the Scottish Languages Employability Award aims to encourage. It is great to see this in action at Plockton High School!

This submission meets the criteria for a Gold Award as it involves learners from four year groups – congratulations! We look forward to seeing how the integration of Employability into Languages classes at Plockton will develop in the future.

Tapadh leibh agus mealaibh ur naidheachd!

(The verification comments also advised as follows, which may be helpful for others to note:

For your information, the Scottish Languages Employability Award criteria […has just been…] revised; this is a process which […was…] ongoing for a number of months. The new arrangements […were…] published after Christmas, […and…] in future the criteria for a Gold Award will be ‘A range of projects which involve learners from 3 or more year groups, multiple partner organisations and incorporate more than one language’. If you wish in future to apply for a subsequent Gold Award, thereby becoming a Platinum Partner, this would simply involve some wider collaboration than is the case here, for example a careers strand specifically for Gaelic learners, or collaboration with the French department on an Employability-related approach/project. Please feel free to contact us if you would like some suggestions of how to strengthen any future submission in this way.)