Career prospects of Gaelic education studied for the first time
The career prospects for Gaelic Medium Education have not previously been studied - but the benefits are clear
A landmark research project has revealed the employment benefits of immersive Gaelic education.
For the first time, the post-school career advantages of learners who study in Gaelic Medium Education (GME) schools has been studied.
However, experts say the job opportunities offered by GME must be better supported and signposted in schools to help pupils into the labour market.
Led by Dr Emma Bolger and Ann Morrison, the data has been presented at the Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig conference at Glasgow University.
Dr Bolger, a former senior lecturer and programme leader at University of the West of Scotland, said: “My hunch for a long time, as a careers expert, has been that there is a benefit to GME that was not being explored.
“Families who choose GME quite often come up agains the question, ‘What use is Gaelic education once you leave school?’
“There’s an assumption pupils will go on to be a teacher but that’s not the only career route for them, as our research has shown.”
Some 17 local authorities in Scotland offer GME provision with secondary GME now available in 11 of 32 local authorities.
In 2024-25 there were 2,011 pupils in secondary GME across 33 schools.
The study surveyed young adults aged 17 to 25 who had been through GME, to explore its relevance to their career outcomes.
Independently funded by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, the research reveals that immersive Gaelic education delivers long-term impacts.
Young people said that GME provides benefits that enhance employability, career opportunities and overall wellbeing
These happened during school, post-school, and into the early stages of their careers.
While pupils reported appreciating the value of Gaelic fluency, research also found they could be better equipped and supported to fully leverage these skills while job hunting.
“People make assumptions about Gaelic education and parents’ reasons for wanting to put their children through GME,” Dr Bolger said.
“I’ve long felt the young people’s voices are completely lost in the politicised debates around Gaelic, you so rarely get to hear about their thoughts, their feelings, their experiences, their aspirations.
Young people spoke of a sense of community among Gaelic speakers.
Researchers found that teenagers in GME are more likely to take part in extracurricular activities than their non-Gaelic speaking peers.
The majority said they had not needed Gaelic for their first job after school but by their 20s they had begun to use it as a highlight of their CVs.
Dr Bolger added: “It shows that in a really tough labour market you have a commitment to something.”
There were concerns about losing fluency after leaving school and a lack of opportunity to speak Gaelic daily.
Young people said they were trying to find ways to maintain communities and spaces where Gaelic is spoken.
One criticism was the lack of Gaelic-specific career planning on the Scottish government’s My World of Work website.
A previously available page on My World of Work on Gaelic careers is no longer live.
Work done in schools was described as “ad hoc and dependent on staff capacity”.
Dr Bolger said: “Despite this, so many young people who've gone out and found really valuable, meaningful work, and have been able to use their Gaelic language skills in in such a broad range of career areas that we've never really, we've never really captured that before.”
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