The annual exam season began for schools, colleges and universities. A Reform Scotland report focused on the number of National Qualifications a student can take at S4. And SCQF Partnership encouraged employers to become ‘inclusive recruiters’ by using SCQF levels instead of specific qualifications in their recruitment processes.
Other items to highlight include:
Scottish Funding Council’s first statistical report on the articulation of HNC/HND students from colleges to universities
Finally, a quick mention with thanks to Edinburgh graphic designers, Mamook, who created the original Informed Scotland design and template – as you may have noticed they’ve provided a few new snazzy cover designs over the last year, and this issue features the final one. We hope you like them as much as we do!
This really is just a taste of all that happened last month! To keep on top of developments you need to become an Informed Scotland subscriber. Email info@ajenterprises.co.uk to request a sample copy.
As well as the
annual round-up of statistics, including on college staffing and higher
education students, qualifiers and retention rates, interesting items to highlight
include:
This really is just a taste of all that happened last month! To keep on top of developments you need to become an Informed Scotland subscriber. Email info@ajenterprises.co.uk to request a sample copy.
There was no shortage of learning and skills activity in blink-and-you-missed-it February. A range of hot topics, familiar and new, presented themselves across the landscape.
Inclusion was referenced in all sectors:
There is a new SCQF Inclusive Recruiter campaign; a new Creative Scotland Create:Inclusion Fund; a new HUB for SUCCESS offering support to care experienced young people in Edinburgh; and a new Prince’s Trust project to develop digital skills for unemployed and underemployed 16–30 year-olds across the UK backed by Google.org.
And look out for affordable coworking spaces opening up in libraries across the country, thanks to SLIC’s imaginative new Scottish Coworking Network. Take it from one who knows: coworking is to be recommended for micro-businesses, freelancers or start-ups – it absolutely creates opportunities for cross-fertilisation of learning and ideas!
Brexit made its way onto the cover of Informed Scotland for only the second time. There is much evidence of its increasing influence on the economy, business, employment and skills, with words and phrases like ‘gloomy’, ‘uncertainty and confusion’ and ‘threat’ littering forecasts.
The further and higher education sector is raising alarms and preparing for Brexit’s potential impact. The Scottish Funding Council published EU Exit and Scottish colleges and universities and added an EU Exit section to its website, while university bodies including Universities UK and the Russell Group, which is Chaired by the Principal & Vice-Chancellor of University of Glasgow, wrote a strongly worded open letter to MPs.
But there was plenty more learning & skills activity to fill this bumper double issue!
As well as the usual numerous statistical reports and annual reviews, other items to highlight include:
The sixth annual Informed Scotland Learning & Skills Hottest Topics list, plus a round-up of last year’s activity, is in an Annex to the digest. There’s also a link to an interview for Radio EDUtalk in January, when Angela Gardner and David Noble explored the stories behind the list, and looked at what’s on the horizon for 2019 (highlights here).
In an interview for Radio EDUtalk, Angela took David Noble’s listeners on the third annual whistle-stop tour of some of the items that will be shaping Scotland’s learning & skills landscape this year.
You can listen to a podcast of the show, which also reviewed the Hottest Topics in 2018. Below are links to some of the programmes, projects and events mentioned for 2019:
Applications for Erasmus+ funding are open to Scottish schools and organisations until 5 February (for mobility funding) and 21 March (for strategic partnership funding)
British Council has CPD workshops available in Norway, Albania and France for teachers in Scotland and the wider UK
Children’s University Scotland is keen to hear from schools interested in working with them on new ways to support children’s wider participation in learning outside of school and during holiday periods
The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) is continuing its national rollout of MyProfessionalLearning
SCQF Partnership has projects to recognise and map the skills of migrants and veterans
Keep yourself or your organisation better informed about what’s happening in learning & skills in Scotland. Find out how to subscribe here or contact info@ajenterprises.co.uk to receive a recent copy of the digest.
“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
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– Natalie Phillips, Education, Business & Community Growth Project Manager, Clyde Gateway
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