AJ Enterprises has been busy throughout another challenging but productive year. Angela has continued to work with, for or alongside some fabulous clients, associates and coworkers.
It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years since I took the plunge and began producing the learning & skills digest Informed Scotland. The 100th issue was published in April and the tenth anniversary was celebrated in May.
Informed Scotland subscribers have been kept up to date with learning & skills across the landscape throughout 2022.
As well as the monthly digests, I provided Annexes containing the recommendations from Prof Ken Muir’s report on school education reforms, and the actions from the new Adult Learning Strategy, both published by the Scottish Government.
I also produced the tenth annual Organisations & People Special in August. This now has links to over 420 organisations – more than twice as many as in the first edition in 2013.
Many thanks to each subscriber, from large national organisations to concessions, new and long-standing, for your continued interest, feedback and for spreading the word about the benefits of being kept well informed. Special thanks to all those who’ve been subscribing since issue #1 – it wouldn’t still be here without your early faith in its potential!
On social media I’ve kept over 4,400 followers regularly updated via @InformedScot on Twitter – thanks to all our engaged followers. In response to recent developments I’ve just ventured onto Mastodon @[email protected]. It will be interesting to see what happens with these and other similar platforms over the next 12 months. Thanks also to those who’ve shared and commented on my posts on LinkedIn.
The Learning & Skills Events Calendar, a popular resource pre-pandemic, has taken small steps out of pandemic hibernation as more in-person events have returned. Send us your face-to-face event details for inclusion.
It was a pleasure to continue working with London-based associate Elaine Hendry of emh connect, mainly on the quarterly Skills Research Digest that we’ve produced jointly for Northern Ireland’s Department for the Economy since 2017. We also worked together on desk research projects for EVERFI to inform developments by two multinationals: an insurance company’s new programme for schools, and an ecommerce firm’s new online science and maths resource for school pupils.
Working from home continued until April when I finally returned full-time to Evergreen Studiocoworking space in Edinburgh’s Old Town. It’s good to be back working alongside enterprising, hardworking people – thanks for the camaraderie, support, technical advice – and the regular sweet treats!
The annual Informed Scotland Hottest Topics in Scottish Learning & Skills will be shared here in January – see what made the list for 2021 – any predictions?
Finally, thanks to media & communications student Ross Nisbet for providing this year’s ‘festive’ photo of a frozen (aptly named) Ross Fountain in the gardens below Edinburgh Castle.
Email [email protected] for more information about any of the above, to subscribe to Informed Scotland, or to discuss how we could support your work in 2023.
Two themes featured across the learning & skills landscape in November – the cost of living crisis and wellbeing – with the former undoubtedly affecting the latter.
Wellbeing was also a main theme exactly a year ago, although then the driver was the Covid-19 pandemic.
This year the impact of the pandemic is only one aspect driving the relationship between learning & skills and the physical and mental health of individuals. Relevant reports to highlight include Thriving Learners from Mental Health Foundation & Colleges Scotland on college student wellbeing, and, as teacher strikes take place for the first time in almost 40 years, Education Support’s Teacher Wellbeing Index 2022.
November was a busier, more prolific month than the last couple, producing numerous items worth exploring:
The next issue will be the Dec/Jan edition out in February 2023. However in January look out for the tenth annual stocktake of Learning & Skills ‘Hottest Topics’ from Informed covers in 2022.
A year ago, ‘Climate change education’ made the Informed Scotland cover. It was pushed there by actions (such as these by Education Scotland) to coincide with Glasgow hosting COP26.
This year, Energy transition & net zero is on the cover while COP27 is taking place. However, this has less to do with COP27 and more to do with the growing demand for skills for transition, and the economic and social imperative to act on energy costs.
Actions being taken by colleges and universities to support students through the cost of living crisis, e.g. those uncovered in a Colleges Scotland survey
Want to keep on top of all the developments? Become an Informed Scotland subscriber. Email [email protected] to request a complimentary copy from Angela and discover what you’re missing.
However, the words of the month were discussion, review and reform. The processes and outcomes of the following are likely to shape much learning & skills debate over the months ahead:
Want to keep on top of all the developments? Become an Informed Scotland subscriber. Email [email protected] to request a complimentary copy from Angela and discover what you’re missing.
The 10th Informed Scotland Organisations & People Special has just been published to coincide with the start of the 2022–23 academic session.
This annual snapshot of a busy, dynamic landscape helps our subscribers to quickly locate the key organisations and make sense of where they fit into the bigger picture. They find it a useful directory of the main bodies and institutions operating across business, education, community & adult learning, government and wider society. Listings include:
Sector-specific skills bodies
Local authority education departments and regional improvement collaboratives
Colleges and universities
Teacher education institutions
Developing the Young Workforce regional groups
Knowledge exchange, research pools & innovation centres
National resources, libraries and science centres
There are now links to over 420 organisations, over twice as many as in the first edition in 2013.
Notes throughout highlight the changes over the past year, including new organisations, mergers and rebrands, and new senior appointments, promotions and retirements.
All new subscribers receive a copy, then the monthly issues keep them updated about further changes throughout the next 12 months.
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 sample copy.
The ongoing problem of skills shortages was the focus of much attention in June. Their impact on recruitment, staff workload, business output, profitability and growth, and even the ability to meet net zero targets and manage energy costs, is highlighted in a range of reports, including:
Want to keep on top of all the developments? Become an Informed Scotland subscriber. Email [email protected] to request a complimentary copy from Angela and discover what you’re missing.
This edition marks 10 years since the first issue of Informed Scotland!
As long-standing subscribers and followers know, each year at this point I like to remind us all that in May 2012 youth unemployment in Scotland stood at a miserable 23.1%. It currently stands at a much improved 5.6%, which looks even more impressive when compared to the UK’s 9.7%. And yet challenges remain, albeit not all the same.
Developing the young workforce is still a hot topic, with more Young Person’s Guarantee funding announced, and numerous new initiatives to prepare young people for work or to help them make better informed career decisions.
It was good to see adult learning as a hot topic in May, with publication of the long-awaited first Adult Learning Strategy for Scotland. To help subscribers, Informed 101 includes the strategy’s 23 actions in an Annex.
Issue 100 includes key Covid-19 guidance and announcements up to 5 May.
With the Easter break in April and local government elections approaching, it was a relatively quiet month for learning & skills, with no major announcements.
There are a number of items worth highlighting, however:
The Open University’s report with Public Sector Executive on Embracing Flexibility in new hybrid working and learning models
Scottish Government’s annual survey of local authorities on the 1+2 Languages Policy in schools – a policy introduced in May 2012 and covered in the first issue of Informed
EngineeringUK’s study of how parents and their school-aged children view a career in engineering
It’s hard to believe that this is the 100th issue of Informed Scotland – and that next month will mark 10 years since the first edition in 2012! More on that in June. In the meantime, thank you to all those who’ve been subscribing since issue #1 – it wouldn’t have happened without your faith in its potential.
Want to keep on top of all the developments? Become an Informed Scotland subscriber. Email [email protected] to request a free copy of the latest edition.
Issue 99 includes key Covid-19 guidance and announcements up to 11 April.
The hottest learning & skills topic in March was Prof Ken Muir’s eagerly anticipated reportfor school education reforms: the replacement of the SQA, the reform of Education Scotland and removal of its inspection function. We’ve provided subscribers with a helpful Annex containing his 21 recommendations and the Scottish Government’s response.
and a topical briefing paper on Learning with and from refugeesand the role of adult learning by PASCAL Observatory and CR&DALL, University of Glasgow.
Also look out for the Scottish Parliament Education, Children & Young People Committee’s new colleges regionalisation inquiry, ten years on from the creation of 13 college regions in 2012. Particularly interesting as three colleges are currently involved in the Rural & Islands College Merger Project due to be finalised in January 2023.
This is the tip of the information iceberg! Want to keep on top of all the developments? Become an Informed Scotlandsubscriber. Email [email protected] to request the latest copy.
February was a relatively calm month in learning & skills terms.
The most significant item was the report of the ‘comprehensive, end-to-end’ review of career services commissioned by Skills Development Scotland a year ago. The Scottish Government has given the green light to all ten recommendations, so the Career Review Programme Board is now taking them forward.
Other items of note included:
City & Guilds’ Great Jobs report, highlighting essential jobs and kicking off a campaign seeking to address the challenges to fill them
two reports on outdoor learning – Education Scotland’s ‘national thematic review’ by HM Inspectors, and YouthLink Scotland’s report on the impact of the Covid-19 Outdoor Education Recovery Fund
the Independent Commission on the College of the Future’s report on the importance of collaboration between colleges and universities
the UK Government’s somewhat controversial white paper on Levelling Up.
The following were also included, despite being announced in March. For very different reasons, it would have been remiss to make Informed subscribers wait for next month’s edition:
The Scottish Government’s announcement about school education reforms, alongside the publication of Prof Ken Muir’s eagerly anticipated report. A more detailed summary will be in next month’s issue.
With the horrors of the war in Ukraine occupying everyone’s thoughts, Education Scotland has created a helpful resource on ‘Teaching about conflict and war’ on the National Improvement Hub.
Want to keep on top of all the developments? Become an Informed Scotland subscriber. Email [email protected] to request the latest copy.
Our monthly intelligence digest of Scottish Learning and Skills
“I find Informed Scotland incredibly useful for keeping up to date about issues. It very much delivers what it sets out to achieve – ensuring people are informed about updates that matter to them in an accessible and concise a way as possible.”
“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
“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, Sustainable Communities Development Manager, Clyde Gateway
“Always find something of interest in Informed Scotland – either recent reports or the people moving into new roles.”
