On volunteering: my natural progression into additional support needs and Gaelic Medium Education

Volunteering has always been important to me. I previously volunteered for charities and causes that have been close to my heart; for example, fundraising for and representing Breast Cancer Now and Beat. And long before this, as a child and into my teens I was a cadet with the St John Ambulance.

Volunteer work as parent

My volunteering these days is more focused on education and advocating for children, parents/guardians. I was asked to set up and I continue to co-chair the parent council for my children's newly established primary school which has been a real learning experience. Having valued their support throughout this, I have long championed the work of Connect and joined their Board of Directors in 2023.

As my children attend Gaelic Medium Education (GME), which is a growing route through state education in Scotland, I've also found myself sitting on number of working groups in relation to GME.

Perhaps my increasing volunteer engagement in education would always have been a natural development once I became a mother, but being a parent of children with additional needs has certainly shaped my proactivity in this area and seen me leading rather than just contributing to my current causes.

Dyslexia and Gaelic Medium Education (GME)

Some of you may know me as "that GME dyslexia woman" and I'm really pleased to say that the volunteer work I've done in this area in partnership with Dyslexia Scotland has led to improvements in understanding, and the resources available to staff and pupils in GME in relation to Dyslexia.

Dyslexia Scotland run a network of branches which provide information and support to parents of children with dyslexia through events, talks and sharing experiences. Having identified a need for specific support for pupils in GME, I contacted Dyslexia Scotland to explore how we can achieve this and now lead the Dyslexia Scotland GME branch. Some highlights include appearing on the BBC Alba TV programme Eòrpa in an episode focused on GME and dyslexia. Alongside other parents of dyslexic pupils in GME, I discussed the challenges of dyslexia and GME. You can watch the programme (when available) here and you can read an article about the programme here. At the Dyslexia in Education Conference 2023, there was a workshop on Dyslexia and GME presenting the work done to date to improve provision in this area, for staff, parents and pupils.  You can read more about my work on GME and dyslexia on this website: https://www.emmabolger.co.uk/p/gme-and-dyslexia.html

Wider work on Additional Support Needs (ASN) in Gaelic Medium Education (GME)

In collaboration with Glasgow City Council EducationServices, I have established an ASN in GME group, for parents or carers of a child/children who has an additional support need and attends, or plans to attend Gaelic Medium early years or primary school.

We run meet-ups open to Parents/Carers/Children/Siblings of children aged 0-P7 who currently attend or are planning to attend GME or Gaelic Early Years provision. Your child does not need a formal identification of an ASN to attend any of our meet-ups. This is a get together where like-experienced people can have a chat, and the kids can play in a safe, inclusive environment. We are joined by Gaelic-speaking facilitators, and have resources available to help support families in GME whose children have ASN.

I was awarded a grant to run an ASN in GME event during Seachdain na Gàidhlig 2025 (World Gaelic Week), the flyer for which is below. World Gaelic Week is packed with lots of other events and activities, most of them free, so do visit the website for more information!

Additional Support Needs in GME: further reading

I've collated a few resources below, in no particular order, which may be of interest if you are a parent/carer of a pupil in or considering GME, or just curious about additional needs and GME.

Dyslexia Toolkit: https://addressingdyslexia.org/gaelic-medium-education/

STAG: Speech Therapy & Gaelic: https://speechtherapyandgaelic.org/

DIFFERabled: https://www.differabledscotland.co.uk/

Bòrd na Gàidhlig Consultation Response to the Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill: https://www.gaidhlig.scot/en/response-learning-disabilities-autism-and-neurodivergence-bill/

TES article by Eilidh Graham, Why more ASN teachers are needed if Gaelic is to thrive: https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/why-more-asn-teachers-are-needed-if-gaelic-thrive

Education Scotland: Additional support for learning: https://education.gov.scot/parentzone/additional-support/

Enquire, the Scottish advice service for additional support for learning: https://enquire.org.uk/

Feumalachdan-taic (2013): https://www.storlann.co.uk/feumalachdan-taic/

Additional Support Needs: A Collective Resource for GME: https://www.storlann.co.uk/feumalachdan-taic/downloads/Storlann-ASN-Handbook210217.pdf


Flyer for ASN in GME World Gaelic Week Event - please message for full text
Flyer for ASN in GME World Gaelic Week Event
Funded by Seachdain na Gàidhlig’s Small Grants Fund with support from Bòrd na Gàidhlig


Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for posting a comment. I moderate comments to avoid spam so there may be a delay in your comment appearing.

Popular posts from this blog

Why would someone choose to be a careers adviser?

One of the modules I’m teaching this trimester at UWS is Career Development Theory, examining the theories that explain how and why people make career decisions. A career decision I often wonder about is “Why would someone choose to be a careers adviser?” I’m not being flippant; I see few reasons why the media representation of the role would influence anyone to become one. From the outside, it’s not a job that gets good press. There is a heck of a lot of bad-mouthing of the careers profession and its purpose, the occasional high-profile media story (nobody mention  Mary Poppins ) and then there’s the section in every celebrity life story ever: “They told me to/not to do it, the clueless adviser, and they were so, so wrong.” We know that high profile TV programmes boost the profile of certain careers.  CSI  led to a raft of wannabe forensic scientists.  Call the Midwife  and  One Born Every Minute  respectively give young people a dramatised and f...
Read more

Veilederforum, Guest Editor

I have again been working closely with colleagues in Norway, delivering training and recording resources and a podcast for the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills. The resources and podcast will be published later in 2023. I am also the current guest editor for Veilederforum , for whom I have been commissioning new articles by experts in career guidance and development. Two articles have been published to date (at the end of the articles linked below, you will find a link to the English language translation).  Dr Laura Lebec and Dr Louise Ritchie: Career guidance through the lifespan: Working with clients with dementia Gill Frigerio: Practitioner Wellbeing Two further articles are forthcoming, a piece focusing on career guidance work with refugees/asylum seekers and migrants, authored by Dr Deirdre Hughes & Prof. Füsun Akkök, and another on client mental health wellbeing authored by Dr Deirdre Hughes, Chris Percy & Liane Hambly.   I will be writi...
Read more

Exploring the relationship between guidance practice and self-care

I've published a new short article on LinkedIn, reflecting on my time as Guest Editor of Veilederforum, where I talk about some of the things that really matter to me as a career guidance professional and academic: continuous professional development; practitioner well-being; domestic abuse; equality, diversity and inclusion and, of course, the gender imbalances in our field. You can access the article here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/exploring-relationship-between-guidance-practice-self-care-bolger
Read more