Informed Scotland March 2017 – Early learning, future skills
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Early learning made it onto the Hot Topics list for only the third time in 49 issues. The main reason was publication of the Scottish Government’s Action Plan for Early Learning & Childcare (ELC).
Even if ELC isn’t usually on your radar it’s worth taking a look, as there are actions relevant to pretty much all sectors. For ease of reference our subscribers will see all 31 actions in an Annex. Skills Development Scotland also published the first ELC Skills Investment Plan in March.
Another key report that spans most sectors is Education Scotland’s Quality & Improvement in Scottish Education, covering from early years to colleges and community learning.
Interesting reports to delve into this month include City & Guilds’ Generations at Work, the Association of Graduate Recruiters’ Student Development Survey, and Business in the Community and City & Guilds’ study of jargon-filled, off-putting entry-level job descriptions.
A new Centre for Work-Based Learning in Scotland was opened – not to be confused with the School for Work Based Education, formerly the Scottish Centre for Work Based Learning, at Glasgow Caledonian University. And it was announced that Individual Training Accounts are to replace Individual Learning Accounts later this year.
Meanwhile, both the Federation for Community Development Learning and UK Commission for Employment & Skills closed down. The response to the UKCES Chief Executive’s farewell comment on LinkedIn shows we’re not alone in mourning the loss of this unique organisation that straddled and made sense of the UK skills landscape.
It was a busy month on the Learning & Skills Events Calendar, too.
The 7th International Summit on the Teaching Profession took place in Edinburgh, organised by UK and Scottish Governments, OECD and Education International. As well as the annual Scottish Apprenticeship Week, the first Scottish Financial Education Week was held. We were delighted to showcase Informed Scotland at the final day’s conference at Murrayfield, live tweeting throughout. Thanks to visitors to our stand – we hope you’re enjoying your free copies of Informed!
We also made it along to two events looking to the future: Nesta’s Future Jobs; Future Prosperity at University of Edinburgh, and Goodison Group in Scotland’s debate on Future Schooling, Learning and Education Approaches at the Scottish Parliament, with discussion led by Prof Mark Priestley of Stirling University. This will feed into Scotland’s Futures Forum’s Scotland 2030 Programme, which also kicked off in March.
A reminder that we’re working on a Leadership Special commissioned by Scottish College for Educational Leadership to coincide with their annual conference in Perth on 3 May.
Feedback that made us smile last month: ‘Informed Scotland unlocks critical information for interested parties without them having to know or remember everything!’
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