Prof Boyd Robertson

Bio

Professor Boyd Robertson is the Principal of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. He is a native of the island of North Uist where Gaelic was his mother tongue. After graduating from the University of Aberdeen in Celtic Studies, he trained as a secondary school teacher of Gaelic at Aberdeen College of Education. He taught at Oban High School in Argyll for 10 years becoming Principal Teacher of Gaelic. In 1982, he was appointed Lecturer in Gaelic at Jordanhill College of Education in Glasgow with responsibility for training teachers of Gaelic. Shortly after Jordanhill College merged with the University of Strathclyde in 1993, he was promoted to Senior Lecturer. He assumed his current position at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in January 2009.

He has extensive experience of designing and producing courses and resources for learners of Gaelic. He is co-author of the Teach Yourself Gaelic course and co-compiler of the TY Gaelic Dictionary. He was Director of the Abair E Gaelic Learners Project which created a progressive, multi-media course for learners in the first four years of secondary school and was Principal Language Consultant for the four part Scottish Television series, Speaking our Language. He has written widely on Gaelic education in publications such as Scottish Education, The Other Languages of Europe, Voces Diversae and Revitalising Gaelic in Scotland and compiled the dossier The Gaelic Language in Education in the UK for the EC Mercator project.

He chairs the inter-University Historical Dictionary of Scottish Gaelic Steering Committee, the Scottish Qualifications Authority Gaelic Assessment Panel and the Board of An Lòchran, the Glasgow Gaelic Arts agency. He was a member of Bòrd na Gàidhlig, the first Government appointed Gaelic development agency, Vice Chair of the language promotion body, Comunn na Gàidhlig and Chair of Comhairle nan Leabhraichean, the Gaelic Books Council.