Gaelic Language Survey 2023
As part of our commitment to developing a bilingual workplace for our employees and to serving our Gaelic speaking customers and clients, Falkirk Council is required to conduct a Gaelic language survey of all employees every 2 years. This information will help us to measure existing Gaelic-language use, to assess our current capacity to provide services and to understand the Gaelic-language training needs of our staff. The information we gather from this survey will help us plan for the development of greater Gaelic language use and visibility at Falkirk Council.
The survey will ask you about your Gaelic-language ability, your Gaelic language training needs and your Gaelic-language use at work.
Phases
Sharing results
As part of Falkirk's Gaelic Language Plan we will carry out a staff survey every two years to find out what Gaelic language skills our staff have as well as gauge how many staff would be interested in learning Gaelic or increasing their skills. The recent survey results will be used to influence the training and opportunities we will offer across the council for staff to develop Gaelic language and culture skills. As part of our plan we hope to increase both residents and staff access and interests in Gaelic.
Out recent survey was completed by 93 participants, this was 1.2% of Falkirk Council workforce.
We had no employees that are currently fluent in the Gaelic language, therefore no employees able to assist Falkirk Council with high profile press releases. However 7 employees can understand simple greetings in Gaelic when someone is speaking slowly and clearly and 2 can pick up the general meaning of simple conversations in Gaelic if someone is speaking slowly and clearly.
65 employees would not wish to learn Gaelic however we did receive responses from 28 employees who expressed their interest in learning or improving their Gaelic. The respondents come from various service areas, including HR, operations, procurement, finance, and community services, among others. Overall, the responses indicate interest to learn or improve their Gaelic language skills.
61 advised they have no awareness of the Gaelic Language plan with only 1 advising they have full awareness.
The majority of the responses did not provide any suggestions for increasing the use of Gaelic at work, with many respondents indicating that they did not see a need for this. 32 employees said No and 42 employees provided suggestions.
One of the most frequently mentioned ideas was the provision of Gaelic language training or learning opportunities for staff. This included suggestions for in-house training, group training, and short staff training sessions or videos. Some respondents also suggested offering Gaelic lessons to employees and providing support and training for individuals interested in learning the language. Another common suggestion was to increase the use of Gaelic in communications and signage. This included ideas for issuing communications in both English and Gaelic, including Gaelic on office signs, and using Gaelic more on posters and correspondence. One respondent suggested that the council's branding and name could be bilingual. One respondent suggested that standardised templates and letters could include Gaelic language. A few respondents suggested creating opportunities for Gaelic speakers to meet and communicate in the language, such as Gaelic staff meet-ups and work groups between teams or services. Finally, some respondents suggested that the council should communicate more about the benefits of Gaelic and the progress of its Gaelic language plan, and one respondent suggested looking at how Welsh councils prioritise the Welsh language in communications.