The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee will conclude its work this Parliament in March 2026 ahead of the next Scottish Parliament election. So the Committee has time to complete its work, it has agreed not to consider petitions submitted after 10 October.
The Committee will continue to meet but given the volume of petitions and agreed work programme it is unlikely that the Committee would be able to meaningfully progress work on petitions submitted after 10 October ahead of the election. Petitions lodged after this date will not fall when the Parliament is dissolved and will be for the successor committee to consider in the new session.
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Closed petition PE1867: Establish a new national qualification for British Sign Language (BSL)
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to encourage the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) to establish a National Qualification in British Sign Language (BSL) at SCQF Level 2.
Previous action taken
I have contacted Collette Stevenson MSP who is supportive of my petition.
Background information
Currently there is no SQA British Sign Language (BSL) at SCQF Level 2 unlike French, Spanish, German, Italian, Gaelic (for learners), Urdu, Mandarin and Cantonese.
As a result, BSL cannot be taught from Primary 1 as an "L2" language. It is currently an "L3" language which means it can only be taught from Primary 5 onwards. A BSL SCQF Level 2 qualification would allow for pupils to be taught signs while they are learning English, minimising the barrier of communication between hearing and non-hearing children and adults.
The Scottish Government BSL National Plan, established in 2017, encourages more students to learn BSL in schools. However, I do not think it takes enough action to support this. I think that establishing this new qualification would lead to a higher uptake of children learning BSL, in both Primary and Secondary education.
This petition was considered by the Scottish Parliament
163 signatures