will my kids be bullied for english accents..

[jaeno76]

I grew up in Edinburgh in the 80s but with English parents and had an English accent - it was hard going and I remember a lot of prejudice and segregation.
thinking of relocating to Scotland, but kids are just coming up to school age and I worry about putting them through this.
Hopefully Edinburgh is more diverse now than then and attitudes have changed - but does anyone have any experience of whether this has been issue for them?
thanks all xx

This is frightening. The SNP projects such an inclusive and progressive image.
Just because the SNP include the words 'inclusive' and 'progressive' on their manifesto communications it doesn't mean that it translate to everyday actions. As a small recent example the SNP have banned the queen's jubilee booklet being freely distributed to all Scottish school children and attempted to erase the English 1966 World Cup victory from the contents.
When the Scottish government continually/daily talk of Westminster 'oppression' that is interpreted by a not insignificant part of the Scottish population as 'English oppression'
The lead up to the 2014 was horrific with neighbours, friends and colleagues being pitted against each other and all talk of a second independence referendum will stir all that up again I suspect. I hope your kids are going to a very good school as I unfortunately think if not their accent may make them a target if tensions are running high.

No they haven't stopped the Jubilee book being given out. We ordered it for pupils in my school and my son also got it through his.

OP - we have English family living in Edinburgh and I have taught in many schools there. There are a huge number of English pupils in most schools I've worked in. Of course, children can be mean and pick on others however having an English accent in Edinburgh is the norm in most schools.

I would have thought sooner than later is better. Younger kids don't tend to notice or bother.

I remember as a kid there was a boy who moved to my school. He had a strong edinburgh accent and had moved to Glasgow. Everyone used to mock his accent as well as his trainers etc felt sorry for him. It was mainly the boys that picked on him. We wld have been around age 10.

My older daughter has an English accent but no one has ever made a negative comment at primary at least. Her primary is diverse and if anything one of the boys was being teased for having a broad scots accent. I think it was just harmless jokes though.

In my experience the above is not true. I didn’t find the referendum “horrific” at all. Some people in Scotland are anti English yes, but I think that’s diminished a lot and isn’t a particular SNP thing either. My English relatives have had no trouble at all.

Holy Moly.

Of all the 'SNP BAAAAAD!!!!' nonsense this has got to be the peak.

I'm sure we can all hark back to the pre-2007 era when children were never bullied or mocked at school for somehow being slightly different to their peers 😢

Bloody 'separatist' SNP-brainwashed 5 year olds.

It is actually according to the Race Relations Act and now Equality Act.

There are more dc in DD's Edinburgh primary school class with English accents than there are with Scottish. It won't even be noticed anymore OP. I work in a school in a more deprived area and while there are less English accents, a huge number of the dc are EAL so do not have Scottish accents either although some develop them further up the school.

Tbf if you really want to move do it when they are young. My youngest has entirely changed her accent and now just sounds Scottish. My oldest could still be said to be English or maybe just posh. I don’t think it’s as much of an issue these days but especially not for young kids.

I do understand you are worried though- you want the best for your kids.

In my experience the above is not true. I didn’t find the referendum “horrific” at all. Some people in Scotland are anti English yes, but I think that’s diminished a lot and isn’t a particular SNP thing either. My English relatives have had no trouble at all.

Quite.

I find it truly bizarre that some Scots are seemingly incapable of going to a polling booth and placing an X in a box without simultaneously falling out with practically every other person they know beforehand. The fact this claim invariably comes from pro-union folk makes me wonder if it's something about them as a group, because it's self-evidently not an issue for Scots as whole

Where is all the teeth-gnashing and wailing about 'divisive' General Elections and Local Elections? Do people seriously fall out with their own family members every 5 years over those too? If anything is 'divisive' then it evidently exists purely in the minds of unionists. Scotland is split down the middle on an issue, two sides. Ignoring that isn't going to make it go away, and nor is acknowledging it in any way 'divisive'. Scotland is politically divided by definition. If you can't cope with that without falling out with people then the problem is you.

I got teased for having an Aberdonian accent when moving to Southern Scotland in the 1990s- got called a choocter!

To add many of dd1's friends who have strong English accents have been born here and been through a local nursery and primary school but have a parent who speaks with that accent at home. They are all heading in to S2 now so obviously haven't felt the need to try and modify their accents. Neither of my dc were born here although did attend education from nursery. They have accents which sound Scottish to non Scot's but English to strong Scottish speakers. Come to think of it I can't think of any one of Elyse DC's friend who speak the strong local dialect. All just speak English's with a Scottish accent if that's makes sense unlike some of the dc I work with that I still find cute when they are saying Aye, nut, it's oan the groond etc 😆

I think at secondary school ANY strong accent of another place could be something that kids will target because kids that age are so often brutal to each other.

Depending on where you go, i think scotland is so much more diverse than even a few years ago and majority of people wouldnt even bat an eyelid.
I used to feel really ashamed of my english accent when in glasgow in the 80s and 90s, but now when i go up there there are so many accents and loads of english people

I think at secondary school ANY strong accent of another place could be something that kids will target because kids that age are so often brutal to each other.

At DD's high school there are around 50 different first languages spoken by the pupils. Targeting someone on their accents when so many have different accents is far less common than in the past when there might only be one or 2 in a class

I was bullied late 90's by a Glaswegian colleague purely for being English. Actually his words.
We had another Scottish colleague from Glasgow who use to stand up for me and he would dismiss their stance purely because they were a Ranger fan (again - his words) and would tell her to be grateful they had an English colleague as it gave them a reprieve

I would hope things have moved in since then because even when I look back now the whole situation just seems so bizarre that he genuinely believed I deserved it based on where I was born and raised.

I had my accent kicked out of me within a fortnight age 7. A nice welcome to Scotland after a move up. It depends where you move to. That was East Kilbride. And I hope things have improved since then but the attitudes of some parts of the separatist movement are not helping.

And I hope things have improved since then but the attitudes of some parts of the separatist movement are not helping

What about the attitudes of some parts of the divisive British Nationalist movement? I take it they don't count? Or is it somehow just one side of an issue responsible for all these completely imaginary problems?

My dad is Scottish, but we grew up in Essex. We'd often spend the summers in Scotland, however, and I would usually play with Scottish kids. In spite of my English accent, I never experienced any bullying or nastiness.

That was in the 1980s, however. I'm not so sure I'd want my kids to go to a Scottish school today - not with an English accent. I can never forgive the SNP for stirring up anti-English feelings among the young. It's the one thing I really hate them for. I have had a few conversations with Scottish nieces and great nephews, etc, at family weddings that really upset me.

I don’t see British nationalists in the national press doing these sorts of things:

twitter.com/agentp22/status/1279392915568156672?s=21&t=GkFaOA56In87IhI-V1NAJQ

It isn’t racism. The English are not a race and they most certainly are not systemically oppressed.

I live in Edinburgh now, and my mum's family were Scottish living in Newcastle. I lost my Geordie / Scottish accent because people in London couldn't understand what I was saying, but I haven't had any obvious prejudice about my accent in Edinburgh. When I first moved here I was worried that I was mispronouncing words, until a lovely Edinburgh taxi driver said that I shouldn't change my accent, because it was part of who I was. That was such a kind and welcoming thing to say that I haven't forgotten his advice. Glasgow might be different though

The law says you're wrong about that.

Then you are wilfully blind.

A tiny number of well known idiots attach themselves to the Indi movement and are in no way representative, derided by all and sundry, yet far larger numbers of idiots gather in public places to wave union flags, dish out nazi salutes, destroy the area, assault ordinary members of the public, harass minorities, fight pitched battles with the police, and belt out antagonistic and illegal songs, and this happens with an astonishing regularity, yet you don't see it?

Complete and utter bullshit.

It varies so much it's hard to say. I've two of mine in the same secondary, one has had so much shite about her mixed accent - including from a teacher that I had to get involved with as he made daily remarks on it that was fueling the bullying & made my child feel shite - and the other who sounds the same has had no issues whatsoever there even with the same teacher before I got involved.

Will their accents not change if they are still little, so it wouldn't be a problem for a long time?

It may, but not always. My kids picked up some of my mixed accent, and even having lived in the same city their whole life hasn't changed it.

I'm not in the central belt but grew up there. Attitude outwith there is so different. Welcoming and not obsessed with religion! I've seen kids teased and bullied for being different but not for accents. One child has been targeting a child of Pakistani heritage (for not being white) and has found herself alone.

Being English or having an English accent may Mark you out as different but I genuinely have never experienced anti English attitudes in the years I've lived here. Shod say that DM is from lanacashire and there's no hiding that accent! We used to tell other kids that at least we could play for england!