The Welcoming Languages workshop will gather key organisations who work on (language) education and integration in Scotland. The workshop will focus on ways in which we can support children and families from refugee backgrounds in Scottish education, particularly through the adaptation and expansion of the Welcoming Languages projects, which we conducted.
As part of the Welcoming Languages projects, we offered a tailored Arabic language course to education staff in Scottish primary schools, so they could welcome Arabic speaking children and families through their home language. This clearly aligns with the recently published New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy 2024, which defines refugee integration as “a multilingual process [one in which] the many languages spoken by New Scots are welcomed and included as part of processes of integration” (Scottish Government, 2024 p. 20).
On 13 June 2024 from 1:30 - 3:30 pm at the University of Glasgow, the Welcoming Languages workshop will explore expansion possibilities beyond primary education and potentially to other regions in Scotland. We’d be grateful to have you in this important discussion about the project's future. More importantly, we are keen to learn from you about how teaching the languages of New Scots to school staff could benefit the educators you work with and make schools a more welcoming and inclusive space for all learners, one that also strives to make space for languages as part of the process of integration.
The event is organised by the Welcoming Languages Projects in collaboration with the Glasgow Refugee Asylum and Migration Network (GRAMNet).
