Informed Scotland Dec19/Jan20 – Comparing, consulting, careers & concerns

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 […]

Informed Scotland Learning & Skills Hottest Topics 2019

We’re delighted to present the seventh annual list of Learning & Skills ‘Hot Topics’ that made it onto the cover of Informed Scotland over the past year: 1. Digital skills (=3 in 2018) =2. Widening & fair access (=3) =2. Diversity, equality & inclusion (=1) =4. Future education, skills & work (=3) =4. Partnerships, agreements […]

Taking stock & saying thanks

Time to reflect on another busy year for AJ Enterprises and to thank clients, collaborators, contacts and coworkers who’ve helped make 2019 a success! We’ve kept Informed Scotland subscribers up to date with learning & skills across the landscape throughout the year. As well as the monthly digests, we published a General Election Extra earlier […]

Informed Scotland November 2019 – Learning & skills making the headlines

Preparations for the General Election might have restricted some government business, but it didn’t stop the publication of a raft of reports worth highlighting on a range of topics. In particular: the Scottish Parliament Education & Skills Committee’s Report on STEM in early years education University of Edinburgh’s research Towards a sustainable solution for the […]

Informed Scotland General Election Extra 2019

Ahead of each major election we provide Informed Scotland subscribers with a quick scan of manifestos and resources focusing on or highlighting learning and skills issues. The UK General Election 2019 Extra includes links to manifestos from Universities Scotland, Children in Scotland & partners, Learning & Work Institute and NUS Scotland, plus YouthLink Scotland’s #InvestInYouthWork […]

Informed Scotland October 2019 – Equity, diversity & pause for thought

It’s extremely rare, but last month was a quiet one for learning & skills in Scotland. With mid-term holidays and the nation’s attention focused on… let’s just call them ‘other matters’, it wasn’t too surprising. Or perhaps the relentless pace of change and intensity of activity across the learning & skills landscape finally caught up […]

Informed Scotland September 2019 – Learning & skills for a better future

One of the main themes in September was ‘being better prepared for the future’, spearheaded by the Scottish Government’s new Future Skills Action Plan. The sense of urgency we reported last month has grown, affected no doubt by heightened public concern about the climate ‘emergency’, the Brexit ‘crisis’ and the ‘threat’ of technology – all […]

Informed Scotland July/August 2019 – Upskilling, reskilling & future planning

Learning & skills was a hive of hot topics over summer 2019. We could have added more to those listed on the cover, such as education & business engagement, mental health & wellbeing, community learning & development, STEM and skills for rural Scotland. The words of the season were ‘upskilling’ and ‘reskilling’. The need to […]

Who’s where? A snapshot of the Scottish learning & skills landscape

The seventh annual Informed Scotland Organisations & People Special has just been published. It’s a snapshot of a busy and ever-changing learning & skills landscape, helping our subscribers to quickly locate the key organisations and make sense of where they fit into the bigger picture. Informed Scotland subscribers find it a useful directory of the […]

Informed Scotland June 2019: Skills shortages, empowering schools & the digital divide

Skills gaps, shortages and plans were back as hot topics in June. Skills Development Scotland launched a Skills Action Plan for Rural Scotland and regional Skills Investment Plans for the south of Scotland and Glasgow City. The Open University’s Bridging the Digital Divide report examined the extent and impact of digital skills gaps. And CBI/Tata […]