A project that facilitated Arabic language lessons for staff in primary schools in Scotland has helped to make refugee children and families feel welcome in their local communities.

Welcoming Languages was a collaborative project carried out by an international team based at the University of Glasgow's College of Social Sciences and the Arabic Center of the Islamic University of Gaza (Palestine).

It explored the inclusion of a 'refugee language' in Scottish education as a way to enact the idea of 'integration as a two-way process' that is at the heart of the Scottish Government’s New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy.

The Welcoming Languages project started from the premise that, by learning language useful in a school setting, education staff can make Arabic-speaking children and parents/carers feel welcome, see that their language is valued, and that staff in their school are willing to make the effort to move 'towards' them.

The aims of this proof-of-concept project were to:

  • show that it is possible to build a culture of hospitality in Scotland that includes language as a crucial element
  • make space in Scottish education for the many languages that New Scots bring with them
  • give space in Scottish schools to a greater number of languages, including those of the people and the communities who have more recently settled in Scotland.

Twenty-five staff in four primary schools in Glasgow took up the offer of a tailored Arabic language course for beginners. The schools were St Peter’s Primary School in Whiteinch; Corpus Christi Primary School; Elmvale Primary School; and St Francis Primary School.

The positive outcomes of the project show that increasing the number of languages taught and learned in Scottish education is possible, and that it has positive impact on the whole school.

A short final report detailing the project's aims and outcomes is available on the Welcoming Languages website. 

An information session for MSPs on the Welcoming Languages project will be held at the Scottish Parliament in February 2023.

Find out more about the project on the School of Education website  



First published: 23 January 2023

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