Informed Scotland October 2016 – Futureproofing learning & skills

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In terms of learning & skills, October felt less frantic.

The main items this month were the Scottish Government’s Enterprise & Skills Review Report of Phase 1, and plans for apprenticeships following a consultation of views in Scotland of the UK Apprenticeship Levy.

In both cases this is unfinished business. For the former, the focus shifts to how the ten actions will be implemented in Phase 2. For the latter, we await further clarification of how the Levy will impact employers and apprentices.

Other, less mainstream, items of note included Creative Scotland’s detailed and broad Visual Arts Sector Review. And an Aquaculture Growth strategy, in which skills development is a core priority, produced by a group involving Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre and Scotland Food & Drink among others.

As well as the usual new initiatives, partnerships, websites and resources, October saw the opening of numerous new facilities, including Clyde Training Solutions’ marine training centre in Clydebank, Ayrshire College’s Kilmarnock campus, Borders College’s Business Development Centre in Hawick, and North East Scotland College’s STEM Centre in Fraserburgh.

We’re always interested in how a word or phrase suddenly crops up all over the place – have you noticed the growth of ‘future-proof(ing)’, with or without the hyphen? In the October issue, according to a report by School for CEOs, it’s CEOs who need it!

Are you on Instagram? We’ve just created a brand new informedscot Instagram account to share images of learning & skills from across the country. Connect with us and tag your pictures with #InformedScotland so we can help you to share them!

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