ABSTRACT
As part of the Scottish Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, all mainstream schools closed in March 2020. As schools rapidly adapted to delivering remote learning and teaching, so too did complementary schools, teaching community languages to a significant number of children and young people in the evenings and at the weekend. Previous studies have demonstrated the many challenges faced by complementary schools, including unsustainable funding, lack of professional development for teachers and limited access to technological resources. The research outlined in this chapter is based on national data gathered from two studies over four years. The first study involved a national questionnaire of complementary schools (n = 21) in 2017 which sought to capture insights and perspectives on the Scottish Government’s 1 + 2 Language Strategy in relation to community languages. The second study draws on an online questionnaire (n = 34) and interviews (n = 13) in 2020–21 with representatives of complementary schools which captured evidence about remote learning and teaching during school site closures. Together, these studies shed light on ongoing policy and practice of complementary schools in Scotland over a number of years, including strategies to make the schools sustainable. Furthermore, it demonstrates ongoing challenges in gaining mainstream recognition despite the existence and intentions of national policy to engage with “language communities” and evidence of adaptability and innovation during the COVID-19 lockdown, including the creation of new online spaces for learning community languages that cross borders and break down barriers. The chapter concludes with recommendations to help inform how the teaching of community languages can be supported in the future within the context of Scotland’s ambitious 1+2 Language Strategy and the new pedagogy and practice introduced by schools during the lockdown.
