Impact case study database

Research led by the University of Aberdeen has impacted the policy, structure and delivery of adult learning of Gaelic in Scotland and worldwide by:

● informing key funding decisions regarding learning methodology by Bòrd na Gàidhlig;

● developing frameworks to assess language competencies;

● developing innovative learning materials.

Informing Bòrd na Gàidhlig strategy

MacLeod and Macleod’s Ùlpan report [P3] has been used by Bòrd na Gàidhlig to re-design their policy on supporting and developing adult language acquisition. According to Bòrd na Gàidhlig ‘The research was invaluable in informing our policy decisions regarding adult language acquisition and informing the National Gaelic Language Plan 2018-23’. Bòrd na Gàidhlig confirms that the report ‘has had a significant, positive impact on Gaelic for adults in Scotland and has been an important part of the development of this sector in recent years’ [S1]. Prior to Aberdeen’s research, Bòrd na Gàidhlig allocated most of its funding for adult learning through the Ùlpan method: this method, as reported by MacLeod and Macleod, was not well supported by materials outside of the class, leading to reduced engagement by learners, who in turn faced difficulties assessing their own progress. MacLeod and Macleod’s findings raised Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s awareness of the issues regarding the Ùlpan method and helped to inform Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s decisions regarding funding allocation [S1].

Developing frameworks to assess language competencies

Michelle Macleod worked with the University of Glasgow to create the first empirically derived framework for the measurement of Gaelic linguistic competencies. The Comasan Luchd-ionnsachaidh na Gàidhlig / CLAG framework (based on the international standard Common European Framework of Reference for languages) has been adopted by Learngaelic.net (the national portal for information about learning Gaelic) to support learners’ progression. Macleod’s contribution led to the production of linguistic baselines for measuring competency, derived from native speaker recordings, and also aligned the CLAG framework with existing measures (e.g. the SQA and SCQF) with the new one. This provided an objective means of describing learner proficiency. The pages went live on the LearnGaelic.net website on 6 January 2020 and, as of December 2020, 4371 people have accessed the site’s self-assessment tool [S2]. Bòrd na Gàidhlig has said, ‘ The resource will sit within a suite of resources envisaged in the strategy currently being developed by the Bòrd and other national partners’ [S3]. With funding support from Bòrd na Gàidhlig, Watson and Macleod undertook a CEFR-GLAG test implementation pilot for the first level of the framework with 12 adult learners from across Scotland, which took place on 1 August 2020 [P5; S4]. Agreement has been reached with LearnGaelic.net to roll out more tests at different levels in the future.

Developing innovative learning materials

Macleod and MacLeod’s research [1] pointed to the need for more innovative learning materials. In 2017 Dr Watson worked with international language company Glossika (https://ai.glossika.com/\), to develop language courses for a global audience for Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Welsh and Breton Fluency 1-3 [P4]. Glossika is an immersive learning portal, supported by a team of linguists and polyglots based in Taiwan, dedicated to helping learners achieve fluency through a spaced repetition language-learning method, which is completely audio-based. Watson worked with Glossika to develop content for both Scottish Gaelic and other Celtic languages. The Scottish Gaelic course, which is freely accessible on the website, is available via the Glossika app and has had 2514 registered learners (4 December 2020) [S5]. The online newspaper Isle of Man Today cited the Manx language development officer for Culture Vannin saying: ‘ This is a fantastic addition to the already substantial body of on-line material available for the learner of Manx. It is also great that Glossika are providing the course free to learners as a way of supporting minority languages. This will be of long-term benefit to the language and culture of the island’ [S6]. According to Glossika, Gaelic was the third most popular free course on Glossika [S7]. In addition to the Glossika materials, and in line with one of the recommendations of [1] that there was a need for more learning materials, Watson has published three new Gaelic textbooks during the census period adding to his Progressive Gaelic series:

Progressive Gaelic 3, Aberdeen: Follais Books, 2017: pp. 220.

Progressive Gaelic 4, Aberdeen: Follais Books, 2018: pp. 230.

Gaelic Workbook 1, Aberdeen: Follais Books, 2020: pp. 222.

His most recent edition, ‘Gaelic Workbook 1: Progressive Gaelic Level 1 Workbook’, published in May 2020 remains #2 best seller out of 64,000 [S7]. A user review from Reddit Gaidhlig [S8] highlighted the accessibility of his research material:

‘I have found the best books so far, for me, have been the Moray Watson Progressive Gaelic books (on Amazon). Very strong but operate at a pace that respects the capacity of the learner’ [S8].

Local impact was complicated by the presence of criminal armed groups, which had infiltrated state institutions. Nevertheless, Stack drew on the research since 2007 [P1-3] to guide and strengthen local organizations looking to respond to crime and violence, within and beyond Michoacán state. He achieved this by communicating his findings to local security stakeholders, including officials and associations, especially via public forums and local citizen security councils. The UK Co-Investigators ensured the research impacted on international practitioners in development and security, primarily through an ODI roundtable and briefs.

Within Michoacán state: Challenging assumptions about citizen participation and security

In April 2018, Stack presented his research on ‘citizen participation’ at a meeting of the Security and Justice Working Group in the city of Zamora (SJWG-Zamora), where he had conducted fieldwork. The meeting was attended by the Michoacán state governor and other officials, alongside Zamora citizen representatives. Stack’s research helped to frame a debate on the concept of ‘citizen participation’, which paved the way for the SJWG-Zamora coordinator to propose more robust citizen participation, in the form of Neighbourhood Police, to which the governor responded positively. This proposal was subsequently incorporated into the manifestos of several candidates in the 2018 municipal election. Although the elected mayor did not enact the Neighbourhood Police proposal, the SWJG continues to pursue the possibility [S1].

At the same 2018 meeting, a neighbourhood association PODEMOZ drew on Stack’s research to challenge the governor’s claim that security was improving, and to call for effective citizen participation in security matters. In May 2018, Stack and PODEMOZ co-organised a public forum to address security issues. They partnered with Observatorio Regional Zamora (ORZ), a civil association addressing security and corruption. The forum brought together state officials with residents and other associations, including the SJWG-Zamora. Stack, PODEMOZ and ORZ (with another researcher Jenny Pearce) helped the neighbourhood associations to engage better with officials and with the relatively elite SJWG-Zamora members. In the 2018 elections, PODEMOZ put forward a mayoral candidate funded by the SJWG-Zamora coordinator, and included security-related proposals in its manifesto.

Subsequently, ORZ decided to focus on enhancing collaboration between an addiction treatment clinic and state institutions, because Stack’s research indicated that ‘ other topics of collaboration in security matters are unlikely to prosper, since security agencies are generally little receptive to CSOs [Civil Society Organisations], as evidenced by the SJWG meetings’ [S1].

In another Michoacán city, Apatzingán, Stack held public forums in October 2019 with local organizations, neighbourhood leaders and municipal officials, co-hosted with a local security-focused association: the Observatorio Regional de Seguridad Humana de Apatzingán (ORSHA). The ORSHA President observed that ‘Stack’s research [4] has helped us to see that the SJWG [Apatzingán’s Security and Justice Working Group] is limited in its effectiveness because, among other issues, the government officials dominate its meetings, and they are unwilling to listen to the CSO representatives present’. As a result, ORSHA decided to pursue a grassroots response to security which offsets the state-centric approach of SWJG-Apatzingán [S5].

Beyond Michoacán state: Challenging policy paradigms and building capacity through dialogue

In October 2018, Stack and team staged a public forum in Mexico City to bring the project’s findings to the attention of policy makers and national social actors. It was attended by senior officials including the Federal Attorney’s Office’s head of Crime Prevention, and national civil society organisations. Stack’s ODI Co-Investigator observed: ‘ State officials initially sceptical of learning from local-level experiences of societal responses to violence such as those studied in the project, responded positively, expressing their appreciation of learning how local citizen security councils had in some cases improved levels of trust in local police; how individuals and communities affected by violence were using art and performance as one possible pathway to giving voice to the experience of violence; and the merits of working with civil society actors to invest in social resilience’ [S2].

Another public forum was held in May 2019 in Mexico’s second largest city, Guadalajara, where civil society was flourishing but was not addressing the issue of security. An exception was the association with which Stack co-hosted the forum, Delibera. Delibera’s director explained the forum’s impact: ‘ Not only did [it] give [other local organizations] a rare opportunity to discuss security matters in public, in a relatively risk-free space, but it also allowed them to network with organizations from the state capital’ [S3].

On the strength of the initial impact, Delibera joined with ORZ and other practitioners across Mexico in partnering with Stack in a successful Newton Fund Impact Scheme bid. Though the project starts in 2021, the team met monthly in March-December 2020 to agree on impact strategies informed by the research, and to support ongoing engagement such as Delibera’s role in state-hosted debates about police abuse [S1, S3].

International contexts: Informing policy debates and interventions

Discussions of the findings at an ODI roundtable event in November 2018, attended by organizations and officials including the Home Office’s lead on Serious and Organised Crime, led to peer-reviewed briefing papers [2]. Stack’s ODI Co-Investigator reports: ‘ The briefs have received positive feedback from individuals in INGOs and government agencies on the timeliness of the research, as international responses to conflict increasingly engage in more sophisticated analysis of what drives and sustains conflict-related violence’ [S2].

In 2019, Stack’s other UK Co-Investigator, involved in a Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs scoping project on support for anti-smuggling councils in Libya, observed that ‘Stack’s team’s study of local security councils and autodefensas was helpful in designing the approach, as it highlighted some of the challenges likely to arise, and strategies to overcome them’. On the strength of Stack’s research, she invited him to act as Adviser for two Rapid Evidence Assessment projects commissioned by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office in 2020 [S4].