Bilingualism Matters has been chatting to Mandy Watts from Education Scotland, who works as a Development Officer for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). Part of Mandy’s job involves contributing to the “New Scots” strategy for refugees, which has been drawn up by the Scottish Government in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and the Scottish Refugee Council.
With the strategy recently celebrating its first year, and with the Scotland, People, Language forum just days away, we asked Mandy to tell us more about the New Scots strategy and what it means for people living in Scotland.
What was the motivation behind the New Scots strategy?
The main purpose of “New Scots” is to co-ordinate the efforts of all organisations involved in supporting the integration of refugees and asylum seekers.
In 2002, the Scottish Government convened the Scottish Refugee Integration Forum to support integration of refugees and asylum seekers into Scotland’s communities. It created a positive impact. However, since the Forum last met over five years ago, much has changed in relation to the situation of refugees in Scotland as well as the wider political and economic context.
This includes the need to look at how services and agencies can better co-ordinate their efforts with limited resources to help support refugees and asylum seekers, the changes in arrangements for asylum accommodation and new research by the Scottish Refugee Council which gives evidence of the experiences of refugees in Scotland.
What difference will the strategy make to people’s lives in Scotland? When will we begin to see these changes?
The strategy’s vision is for “a Scotland where refugees are able to build a new life from the day they arrive in Scotland and to realise their full potential with the support of mainstream services; and where they become active members of our communities with strong social relationships.”
Implementation of the strategy is happening right now, and will continue up until 2017. As key organisations help to take forward the many actions within the strategy, I hope that this vision will begin to be realised.
How did Education Scotland get involved? What areas of the strategy are you working on?
Education Scotland lead on the education strand of the strategy. So we’re responsible for bringing together relevant agencies, organisation and departments within Scottish Government to work together on taking actions that support education outcomes.
For example:
Education Scotland are responsible for Scottish policy relating to English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), which ties in strongly with the English language outcomes of the New Scots strategy.
But at the same time, it’s not about forcing people to abandon their own languages. People who move to Scotland from abroad bring a huge range of skills and knowledge that includes languages and cultures. Making sure that we value this diversity is an important part of making sure that everyone is able to contribute to Scottish society.
You’re co-organising the Scotland, People and Language forum with Bilingualism Matters and Gathered Together. What prompted you to get involved in this event?
There is a real need for this event to find out what is happening in Scotland in terms of work that supports linguistic diversity. This will help us progress the action in New Scots to look at ways to promote linguistic diversity and community languages.
The collaborative nature of the forum is also really important – we hope that the event will help encourage people to share their experiences and examples of good (and bad!) practice. This type of collaboration and sharing is crucial to achieving the more general aim of the New Scots strategy, which is to co-ordinate the support for refugees and asylum seekers across organisations and sectors.
How can the public add to your work on the New Scots strategy?
It would be great to hear from people about what they are doing with community groups or within their work to support and promote linguistic diversity, and how refugee communities could benefit or are benefiting from this work. This will help us make sure we have the most up-to-date picture possible to help guide the strategy implementation.
So, if anyone is involved with or knows of a project supporting community languages in Scotland, I would encourage them to get in touch and let us know about it!
More information:
Read the strategy
New Scots: Integrating Refugees in Scotland’s Communities
Find out about resources and support for refugees and asylum seekers in Scotland
Scottish Refugee Council
