Informed Scotland September 2016 – findings & futures, from maths to tourism
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With the Scottish Government once again placing education as top priority in its programme for the year, and Education Scotland’s annual Scottish Learning Festival drawing the crowds, it has been another month of high profile activity.
There was a significant announcement about reducing the workload in school assessments and qualifications at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher levels, while numerous must-read reports were published:
The Making Maths Count Group final report, Skills Development Scotland’s updated Tourism Skills Investment Plan, the first national Digital Learning & Teaching Strategy, and a Work Placement Standard for Colleges – surprisingly the first produced for the sector – from the Scottish Funding Council.
This was all in addition to the raft of annual statistical reports on equality in colleges from ECU and college leaver destinations from SFC, graduate recruits from AGR, and engineering & technology skills from IET.
More consultations and surveys are looking for your views, including on school governance, NPFS’s parental involvement in schools, General Teaching Council for Scotland’s Fitness to Teach rules, and ARC Scotland’s map of support for 14–25 year-olds with additional support needs.
Libraries made it onto the cover for the first time as they strive to adapt and develop. In Glasgow the National Library of Scotland opened a centre outside the capital at Kelvin Hall, and a Google Digital Garage has ‘popped-up’ at the Mitchell Library. North Ayrshire Council opened its third Employability Hub in Kilbirnie Library, and SLIC and Carnegie UK Trust are behind a 4-day Product Forge Future Libraries Hackathon in Edinburgh this month.
Innovations that caught our eye this month include the Cell Block Science initiative run in three HM Prisons by University of St Andrews with New College Lanarkshire, and the new Social Bite Academy offering employability skills for homeless people.
Favourite feedback this month: ‘it’s an excellent resource with a fantastic range of information’. Become an Informed Scotland subscriber so you can keep on top of all the developments. Email [email protected] to request a sample copy.