In 2016/17 we started delivering the Scots Language Award (SCQF Level 5) to 20 candidates in S5 and S6. This group of candidates had also chosen Scottish Studies as their social subject option from their timetables.
We had introduced the Scottish Studies Award in the same year. As part of this Award we offered a Language component “The History and Development of Scots”. We selected this because it fitted in with the expertise of the members of staff teaching the class and complimented the other component units of the Scottish Studies Award.
We felt that offering the Scots Language Award broadened the choice available to senior candidates. The benefits of studying Scots were, in our view, far reaching. It provides the candidate with a set of transferable linguistic skills which can be applied to the study of English and other languages; studying Scots develops linguistic confidence, providing candidates with the opportunity to freely express themselves in their mother tongue; and a sense of identity and self-worth and citizenship can be fostered for candidates.