Informed Scotland November 2017 – Keeping pace with change in learning & skills
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The latest issue is so packed with items it’s hard to believe it only covers one month!
The main publication was the Scottish Government’s consultation on the Education (Scotland) Bill, Empowering Schools, open until 30 January 2018. The proposals are far-reaching and somewhat controversial – we’ve included all 24 questions in an Annex for ease of reference.
Two other consultations opened. The Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board is gathering views on Defining an Apprenticeship until 20 December, and the Scottish Government on revised Guidance on the Presumption of Mainstreaming for pupils with additional support needs until 9 February.
Membership of the new Enterprise & Skills Strategic Board and the new Scottish Education Council were both announced last month; full lists are included in the Informed Annex.
November was also crammed with numerous important, useful and fascinating reports, including:
- the final report of the Independent Review of Student Financial Support
- a Universities Scotland report of the 15 actions institutions will take to widen access
- Skills Development Scotland’s first overview of Jobs & Skills in Scotland
- Languages for the Future: The foreign languages the UK needs to become a truly global nation by British Council
- a Tech know-how study by BT and Accenture, on the importance of investing in future tech literacy and computational thinking skills, and a Royal Society review of Computing Education in UK Schools, including in Scotland
- a British Academy report Celebrating Skills in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
- the first OECD review of Collaborative Problem Solving skills based on Pisa 2015 results, with Highlights from Scotland’s Results published by Scottish Government
- and Money Advice Service reports on the links between Numeracy and Financial Capability and a study of financial capability in Scotland.
There’s no space to mention all of the other meaty reports, such as on poverty, social mobility, young people’s attitudes, and not forgetting the UK Industrial Strategy white paper. We also saw the launch of the Year of Young People 2018 with a raft of announcements and reports.
Among several developments, a new Cyber Skills programme was launched by SDS for S1–3 pupils, and Glasgow School of Art and Renfrewshire Council agreed to set up a new School of Creative Education at Castlehead High. Meanwhile, another sector skills body, the Tech Partnership of digital skills employers (formerly e-skills UK) is to close in September 2018 due to ‘changes in government policy for skills’.
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.
Check out our latest guest blog post, Looking beyond the classroom to tackle the achievement gap by Children’s University Scotland Chief Executive, Neil Mathers.