Scottish Government passes Education (Scotland) Bill, with amendments on BSL
- Area of Work: Children and Young People, Policy and Research, Scottish Sensory Hub
- Type: News Item
- Published: 27th June 2025

Qualifications Scotland must think about the needs of pupils who use British Sign Language.
On Thursday 26 June the Scottish Government passed the Education (Scotland) Bill.
Education Secretary Jenni Gilruth stated that, “the passing of the Bill shows that the Scottish government is serious about implementing the changes needed to drive improvement across Scotland’s education and skills system”.
The ALLIANCE has been supporting campaign work, led by the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS), to ensure that the Bill gave consideration to British Sign Language (BSL) medium education. We are delighted that all proposed amendments from the campaigning group have been accepted, and the new education bodies created by the legislation will have to give equal weight to both BSL and the Gaelic language. Qualification Scotland must also consider the needs of pupils who use BSL or learn in BSL.
More information on the Bill is available here.
The Parliamentary debate can be viewed here.
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