Ethnicizing Ulster’s Protestants?: Ulster-Scots education in Northern Ireland

A Review from Northern Ireland of the Linguistic Devolution of Primary School Languages

“…Adams, 1977;Görlach, 2000) due to its close relationship and mutual intelligibility. Up until the 1990s, there was little interest in Ulster Scots from the supporting protestant community (Gardner, 2016). However, as the catholic community became increasingly associated with the use of Irish, so did the protestant community develop their closeness to Ulster Scots (Gardner, 2016;Gardner, 2018), resulting in a revival of this variety.…”

“…Up until the 1990s, there was little interest in Ulster Scots from the supporting protestant community (Gardner, 2016). However, as the catholic community became increasingly associated with the use of Irish, so did the protestant community develop their closeness to Ulster Scots (Gardner, 2016;Gardner, 2018), resulting in a revival of this variety. Although there is no agreed standard variety of Ulster Scots (DCAL, 2015), education programmes are now in place and government strategy plans for examination qualifications in Ulster Scots in the longer term.…”

Whither the Irish Language Act? Language policies in Northern Ireland

“…In the wake of such promotion, Gardner (2018) speaks of an 'Ulster Scots ethnolinguistic revival' in Northern Ireland. Gardner (2018) contends that promotion of Ulster Scots in schools represents 'ethnicisation of hegemonic identificatory systems of difference' and posits that this ethnolinguistic revival holds 'considerable potential for the deepening of normative senses of communal difference ' (p. 397-398). This information highlights the socio-political tensions in Northern Ireland and the academic discourse surrounding them.…”

Finding our true north: On languages, understanding and curriculum in Northern Ireland

“…In its Programme for Government 2011–2015, the Northern Ireland Executive (2016) included a Strategy for Ulster Scots to ‘provide sustainable and quality educational provision relating to all aspects of the Ulster‐Scots language, heritage and culture’ (Department of Culture, Arts, & Leisure, 2015, p. 4). However, as Gardner (2018, p. 402) notes, ‘The legitimacy of Ulster‐Scots is contested. Its categorization as a full language, a dialect (of English or Scots) or merely trumped‐up colloquialism is a source of contention in Northern Ireland’.…”