Posted by admin on February 1, 2013 ·
Final preparations are underway for attending the national education conference ‘Progress through Professionalism’ on Saturday 2 February at Stirling Management Centre. Organised by the Association of Chartered Teachers Scotland, the programme looks packed with interesting issues and speakers and will be a great opportunity to engage with many of the themes regularly covered by Informed Scotland. Particularly looking forward to hearing the keynote speakers Prof Sir Tim Brighouse, and Prof Christine Forde and Dr Margery McMahon, plus catching up with old friends and making new contacts.
As well as being a regular delegate, Angela will have a small stand showcasing Informed Scotland and our Learning & Skills Events Calendar. Attendees and presenters will be able to sign up to receive a complimentary copy of issue 7 of Informed Scotland due out next week. We’ll also have copies of UK Digest and Policy Primer on show, produced by our associate Elaine Hendry at emh connect. Hope to see you there!
Posted by admin on January 28, 2013 ·
Image is © Andrew Mackie
On top of the usual desk-based information gathering, it’s good to have opportunities to meet those at the sharp end of the ‘hot topics’ that feature each month, such as youth employment. Early in 2012 we organised a seminar for education and business looking at youth employability and the ‘challenges and opportunities of a changing recruitment market’.
In December, we were fortunate to attend ‘Your Voice, Your Future’, a Youth Employment Summit organised by the Scottish Youth Parliament and Young Scot in partnership with the Scottish Government.
With delegates including 120 young people, job and work experience opportunities; information, support and guidance; skills development, identification and matching – all featured high on the agenda.
In a group session looking at volunteering, it was interesting to hear the insightful reasons why young people said they had volunteered: ‘to improve confidence’, ‘to do something of value’, ‘as a stepping stone’, ‘to make better use of time while unemployed’, ‘to develop skills’, ‘for experience’ – and ‘to help get a job’. They had initiated their own voluntary experience, stumbled into volunteering by chance, heard about opportunities through relatives or friends, responded to poster campaigns or been prompted to volunteer by teachers or key workers. Whatever their route in, the experience and outcome was almost always positive for the young people involved – as it must surely have been for those who benefitted from their time and input. The power of volunteering, particularly in the current climate, shouldn’t be underestimated.
Posted by admin on December 19, 2012 ·
Image is © Andrew Mackie
…to all AJ Enterprises’ clients, associates, suppliers and collaborators, to contacts old and new – and to visitors to our website!
We’d also like to wish a very happy Christmas to Informed Scotland subscribers, a small but growing list of businesses, education organisations and individuals. The next issue will be the double December/January edition, due out in the week beginning 4 February 2013. It’s going to be another packed publication, with significant developments already mounting up – and we’re only half-way through December.
Make it your New Year’s resolution to be better informed about what’s happening across learning and skills in business, schools, further and higher education, community and adult learning, and government. Contact [email protected] to receive a recent sample copy and find out how to subscribe here.
Finally – I’m sure you’ve noticed the photos beginning to brighten up our news feed. Rather than using stock images, we’ve decided to highlight news items with photographs taken by talented and lesser known amateurs. We are delighted to introduce local photographer Andrew Mackie, who has very kindly agreed to provide us with our first batch of images. Watch this space for more of Andrew’s work!
Posted by admin on December 7, 2012 ·
It’s been a really busy month for interesting and ‘meaty’ reports, including the FSB Scotland’s Micros Untapped, the SCDI’s Skills Pulse Survey, The David Hume Institute’s Further Education, the Scottish Labour Market and the Wider Economy, and Nesta’s Decoding Learning.
Plus significant reports on teacher education from the National Partnership Group and on additional support needs from the Doran Review – and plenty of Government announcements, including the Post-16 Education (Scotland) Bill.
Informed Scotland provides helpful summaries of the main issues of these and much, much more. Don’t miss the important information – find out how to become a subscriber and get hold of your copy here.
Posted by admin on November 30, 2012 ·
Image is © Andrew Mackie
The November issue of Informed Scotland is due out on Friday 7th December. As usual, there’s going to be plenty to write about – in fact the hardest part is knowing when to stop!
There are a couple of things that Informed Scotland doesn’t usually feature – events, and competitions and awards.
Events are picked up in our Learning and Skills Events Calendar, which provides information about the conferences, seminars and exhibitions taking place across Scotland in the coming months.
There are probably enough learning and skills related competitions and awards happening to warrant a whole new publication or page on our website… when we’ve more time or encouragement, perhaps? But in the meantime, a quick mention for a few organisations who’ve held their 2012 awards in November, with congratulations to all those who organised, entered, judged and of course won the awards! The John Byrne Award, the SQA Star Awards, Scotland’s Colleges Annual Awards, and Scotland’s Modern Apprenticeship Awards.
Find out how to become a subscriber of Informed Scotland here, or email [email protected] with any queries.
PS – A quick thank you to @neiledinburgh for his very flattering tweet this week, which compared Informed Scotland to the mighty Times Educational Supplement Scotland: ‘Will this rival TESS in due course?’! Informed Scotland is a very different product to TESS – but the mention gave us a warm glow!
Posted by admin on November 26, 2012 ·
Time for a quick update about some of our ‘wordy’ projects…
Angela is in the middle of copy editing and proofreading primary science workbooks and teacher’s books in support of the Jamaican primary science curriculum for long-standing client Macmillan Education. The task includes artwork briefing, cross-checking content against curricular guidance and liaison with authors David and Penny Glover.
We recently finalised a report for another returning client, Glasgow based futures organisation 3rd Horizons Ltd. A quick piece of work on a short turnaround time helped them meet their own client’s tight deadline.
It was also great to hear from one of Angela’s first dyslexic higher education student clients, who contacted her out of the blue to find out whether she was still offering a proofreading service. Essay and dissertation writing can prove to be a particularly stressful experience for anyone with dyslexia, so it’s really good to know that a rapport and relationship of trust had been built between proofreader and student on this occasion!
Posted by admin on November 8, 2012 ·
The common threads running through business, education, community and government during October were enterprise and the development of an array of skills. This issue of Informed Scotland features some interesting collaborations and networks emerging to further these themes in all sectors.
With school education having a relatively quiet month, the focus is on further and higher education, weighted towards the changes and challenges taking place in the college sector. Other items to look out for include strategies on parenting and construction, and campaigns on youth employment and international study.
Find out how to get your copy here.
Posted by admin on November 1, 2012 ·
While the October issue of Informed Scotland is being written for publication next week, there’s chance to reflect on what’s been happening in addition to the desk-based information gathering.
Enterprise and financial capability have been common threads running through a number of the meetings and discussions held over the last month, including those with contacts from NACUE, ‘stimulating and supporting student enterprise’; pedagoo.org, the forward-thinking community of teachers; and leadership development organisation Common Purpose.
At the Scottish Financial Education Forum in Glasgow, run by Education Scotland’s financial education champion Jim Lally, these two themes were brought together. Fantastic to hear Mick Jackson, creator of the Wild Hearts Micro-Tyco enterprise business challenge, deliver an inspirational presentation. Through WildHearts’ ‘compassionate entrepreneurial revolution’, Mick is addressing what he describes as the different kind of poverty that exists in Scotland – a ‘poverty of ambition, of role models’. We also heard about the successes of On the Money and Skint!, books that tackle financial capability for young and older learners, produced by Scottish Book Trust, Education Scotland and Standard Life.
In recent weeks, pfeg has been doing much to drive the case for financial education to be a core part of the curriculum across the UK. With the energy demonstrated at the Glasgow gathering, and financial education already part of Curriculum for Excellence, it’s probably fair to say that Scotland is ahead of the game. Though there’s never room for complacency…
Informed Scotland issue 5 October 2012 is due to be published 7 November. Click here to find out how you can subscribe.
Posted by admin on October 10, 2012 ·
When people from business and industry want to get involved in supporting schools and colleges, or when a company or professional body wants to get a feel for the current business engagement landscape in Scotland, it can be difficult to know where to begin.
In the days of the Scottish Government’s Determined to Succeed team, and before that when Education Business Partnerships were in place across the country, the route to find out was much clearer. And who else remembers even further back when the CBI’s Understanding British Industry team was the source of all knowledge?
There are still plenty of people who can provide this information today – if you know where to look…
AJ Enterprises was recently asked by ICAEW Scotland to help inform their Scotland Strategy Board about some of the key organisations and projects currently active in schools and colleges, especially those relevant to the world of accounting and finance. Although a number of ICAEW members are already involved in supporting education, including those who are currently acting as business advisers on the StartUp Britain Bus, the Strategy Board wanted to get a broader picture of activities.
We produced a brief paper summarising the key initiatives, focusing on programmes in which volunteers work with young people and their teachers as mentors or advisers. The paper was found useful in informing their discussions.
If you would like to receive a copy of the paper, or would like information specific to a different business sector, get in touch with [email protected]
Posted by admin on October 5, 2012 ·
With the Scottish Government back after the summer recess and education settling into the new session, the September issue of Informed Scotland picks up where we left off before the break.
There are plenty of interesting reports on skills, employment and unemployment statistics, though the focus this month has been more on initiatives, resources and action. Not forgetting budgets, plans, announcements and a plethora of university surveys and league tables…
Find out how to get your copy here, and join the growing list of subscribers.
Final preparations are underway for attending the national education conference ‘Progress through Professionalism’ on Saturday 2 February at Stirling Management Centre. Organised by the Association of Chartered Teachers Scotland, the programme looks packed with interesting issues and speakers and will be a great opportunity to engage with many of the themes regularly covered by Informed Scotland. Particularly looking forward to hearing the keynote speakers Prof Sir Tim Brighouse, and Prof Christine Forde and Dr Margery McMahon, plus catching up with old friends and making new contacts.
