Informed Scotland February 2017 – Strategies, hubs & busting myths
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February might have been the shortest month, but it certainly wasn’t the quietest. As usual there were numerous sets of statistics, plus new strategies, task groups, courses, announcements, launches and partnerships.
The learning & skills word of the month was ‘hub’:
- Glasgow Science Centre is to set up science hubs in primary school classrooms across Scotland
- Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is to establish a new fair access arts hub in Fraserburgh with Aberdeenshire Council
- Newbattle Community High in Midlothian is to become a regional hub for digital skills, the first of a series of subject-focused centres of excellence in the authority
- Argyll & Bute Council received Digital Xtra funding for a digital learning hub in Dunoon
- RBS is to open a new fintech hub for start-ups at its Edinburgh HQ with Entrepreneurial Spark
- Scottish Government funding was announced for social impact hubs to support the new Social Enterprise Strategy.
Interesting reports published in February included Education Scotland’s first Review of Family Learning, City & Guilds’ survey of companies eligible to pay the Apprenticeship Levy, and the Sutton Trust’s Global Gaps analysis of the latest OECD PISA results, prompting quite a debate. (Worth checking out an article in TESS on the Sutton Trust report, from the Scottish Network for Able Pupils.)
There was also an increased focus on the role of evidence; in the current climate of ‘fake news’, anti-experts, anti-intellectualism and ‘data deniers’, this is to be applauded and encouraged! For example, EIS published Myths of Immigration booklets for teachers, Education Scotland started an #InspectionMythbusters series, and Alliance for Useful Evidence & CarnegieUK Trust published The Scottish approach to evidence discussion paper.
A reminder that we’re working on a Leadership Special commissioned by Scottish College for Educational Leadership to support their annual conference in Perth on 3 May. There might even be spaces left to attend – if you’re quick!
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