Celtic Academies Alliance: Languages Symposium

On Wednesday, 29 April 2026, the Celtic Academies Alliance hosted a day of panel discussions around Languages at Tŷ Pawb Cultural Community Centre in Wrexham. The event brought together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from Wales, Scotland, and Ireland to explore the shared challenges and opportunities surrounding languages.

The day featured four panels bringing together scholars and speakers to discuss and raise awareness of Celtic languages, World languages, Language and (Dis)ability, and Languages and Culture.

Professor Catherine O’Leary, SAHA co-Chair, during the second panel, remarked on the importance of the Scottish Languages Act (2025), which brought languages back into the spotlight, and reminded everyone that Scotland is multilingual.

The recent report by Professor Alison Phipps et al (who also wrote an article for saha.scot, available here) and the ongoing work on Languages and AI by Professor Will Lamb (who also wrote an article for saha.scot, available here) are only some of the documents which show the necessity for a wider conversation about the sector.

For this reason, the Scottish Arts and Humanities Alliance is working on a report on Languages in Scotland. The report, due to be published soon, will also contain a series of recommendations.

Professor O’Leary noted the challenges the sector is facing at the moment, such as cuts in language offerings, teacher recruitment, and some existing negative preconceptions around language learning.

While talking about the upcoming SAHA report, Professor O’Leary anticipated that part of the recommendations will explore the possibility of a National Languages Strategy and consider best practices from Ireland and other countries, where languages uptake in secondary education is much higher.

Concluding her segment, Professor O’Leary offered a positive outlook:

“Despite the cuts, closures and negative discourse, there is some momentum in the sector and a desire to change the conversation.

“We need to take some responsibility for a positive discourse around languages and promoting languages.

“We are talking about a global Scotland, we are talking about wellbeing and inclusion, and let’s see if we can promote the language skills and competencies and the cultural and intercultural knowledge that will help to deliver on  governmental priorities in regional development, social cohesion and international economic and political relations that will be to the benefit of all of us.”