The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on learning & skills has been swift and significant. Like the rest of normal life, it has affected all sectors, all learners, practitioners and their support networks, and all institutions, organisations and systems.
An Informed Scotland COVID-19 Response & Support Extra aims to provide a useful snapshot of what’s been happening and the support that’s available. It pulls together links to:
government and national body announcements
new guidance and resources
information and services from a range of organisations.
As always it looks at learning & skills right across the landscape – in business, schools, further and higher education, community and adult learning, and wider society. The majority of the items appeared in more detail in our March and April main digests, however the aim is to provide subscribers with a helpful compilation, with quick links to more detail when they need it.
Not a subscriber? The Extra is available free of charge. Contact [email protected] for your free copy.
While March was a month of two worlds, before and during lockdown, April was all about learning & skills in lockdown and a recognition of the emerging new normal.
The focus has shifted from closing down and moving as swiftly as possible to online and remote learning, to developing and sharing, discovering new ways to connect and learn, and checking how everyone, including learners and practitioners, is coping. There’s also a growing emphasis across the landscape on finances and funding, with concerns expressed, and answers and sources sought.
I have also been compiling a COVID-19 Response & Support Extra – more on that later.
Thanks to one of our subscribers for this heart-warming feedback: ‘It is at times like these when organisations look to cut back however I have been most grateful for the Informed Scotland contribution that it brings and your continued support of our work online and therefore happy to continue to subscribe…’
Become an Informed Scotland subscriber so you can keep on top of all the developments. Email [email protected] to request a sample copy.
March was a month of two worlds for learning & skills: before and during lockdown.
The impact of COVID-19 could have been the only Hot Topic listed on this month’s cover, however the rapid shift to online and remote learning and teaching, and the surge in the need for basic digital skills for everyone have also been paramount.
Digital skills has been the hottest topic around for many years, but tackling the challenges of digital inclusion has reached a new level of importance and urgency.
Compiling this edition presented its own challenges. How to provide subscribers with information in the most helpful format? How to keep them up to date with such fast-moving decisions? We opted to include a ‘COVID-19 response & support’ section for each sector of learning & skills and key items published or announced in April. Feedback will determine how helpful this has proved.
March wasn’t all about COVID-19 however. There were plenty of other interesting reports and developments.
Finally, I’d like to pay personal tribute to the hard work, ingenuity, generosity of spirit and collaboration of individuals and organisations right across the landscape at this time of crisis, in addition to all those who are risking their own health and lives to support others – it is both awe-inspiring and heart-warming.
For a short(ish)
month there was plenty happening, with numerous reports, strategies and
announcements across the landscape.
Three new national strategies were published: a seminal one on career education & guidance, one on culture with much to say about learning & skills, and one on the environment with surprisingly little relevant content
Scottish Parliament’s Education & Skills Committee published analysis of a survey for its inquiry into recruiting & training new teachers; and the Equalities & Human Rights Committee launched a new inquiry into racial equality, employment & skills
Education Scotland published Being me, updated national practice guidance for early years
City & Guilds’ Missing Millions on ‘the untapped potential’ of working age people in the UK
Demos’s The Learning Curve on how the UK is harnessing the potential of online learning
Jisc’s Future of Assessment on how universities and colleges could use technology to transform assessment
The Open University’s Leading in a Digital Age survey of business leaders on the impact of digital training.
Our favourite new word of the month was ‘microcredentials’ – although perhaps the term is familiar to others? Check out the new microcredentials courses on the FutureLearn website, including one for teachers on mental health in the curriculum.
School education
has been a political hot potato in the last two months, with aspects of
attainment and international comparisons in particular creating headlines and
much debate.
Meanwhile Brexit is
back as one of our hot topics, with concerns for skills shortages ramping up,
and various organisations looking to reassure or seeking reassurances.
As well as the
usual numerous statistical reports and annual reviews, other items to look out
for include:
The first Employer Perspectives Survey specific to Scotland, a rich source of detailed information on the labour market
This is the tip of the information iceberg: become an Informed Scotland subscriber so you can keep on top of all the developments. Email [email protected] to request a copy of the latest issue.
“Informed Scotland has become a well-established element of our monitoring role for education and skills policy across the UK. It is one of the few publications that manages to combine a high quality overview of the education, skills, business and labour market information for a nation. There is an understanding of the relationships between these factors that is rarely recognised or captured in such a succinct way. A vital read for all who operate or who aspire to operate in this sector.”
– Patrick Craven, Director of Quality, Policy & Stakeholder Engagement, City & Guilds
“This is such a great publication – one to which every organisation and public body in Scotland should subscribe. It provides such a helpful summary of all the 'goings on' across Scotland.”
“Excellent publication which enables us to keep well briefed and informed on all important education, business and skills updates! I can’t recommend it enough!”
– Natalie Phillips, Education, Business & Community Growth Project Manager, Clyde Gateway
“Informed Scotland allows us to keep up to date with the issues and developments that matter to us as a small educational charity; it saves us time and keeps us all informed.”
