Immersion in Gaelic Medium Education

In Gaelic Medium Education pupils should be taught entirely in Gaelic for the first three years in primary school. This full immersion is very important and it means that children do not need to be able to speak Gaelic when they begin Gaelic Medium Education in primary school although it is recommended that children go to early year groups and Gaelic Medium nursery schools if they can. Gaelic Medium Education should also improve greatly on the language skills of those children who already speak Gaelic.

After P3, English skills are brought in little by little through the medium of Gaelic but Gaelic is still the main language of teaching for every subject and every part of the curriculum. When pupils reach P7 their language skills in English are in general better than children in monolingual education.

Immersion in the language should continue until the end of primary school with an expectation that it will continue to some degree until they finish secondary school.

This full immersion and immersion in the language ensures that the language skills of every primary pupil in Gaelic Medium Education are both suitable and complete – in terms of both Gaelic and English.  (Bòrd na Gàidhlig)