Informed Scotland Dec 18/Jan 19 – Where Brexit’s not the only story
Brexit made its way onto the cover of Informed Scotland for only the second time. There is much evidence of its increasing influence on the economy, business, employment and skills, with words and phrases like ‘gloomy’, ‘uncertainty and confusion’ and ‘threat’ littering forecasts.
The further and higher education sector is raising alarms and preparing for Brexit’s potential impact. The Scottish Funding Council published EU Exit and Scottish colleges and universities and added an EU Exit section to its website, while university bodies including Universities UK and the Russell Group, which is Chaired by the Principal & Vice-Chancellor of University of Glasgow, wrote a strongly worded open letter to MPs.
But there was plenty more learning & skills activity to fill this bumper double issue!
As well as the usual numerous statistical reports and annual reviews, other items to highlight include:
- The Scottish Government’s Review of Personal and Social Education report
- The Scottish Parliament Education & Skills Committee’s Note of Concern report of its music tuition in schools inquiry
- The annual National Improvement Framework and Plan for schools
- Launch of a new SCEL Legacy Fund to be managed by the General Teaching Council for Scotland
- Consultations on the construction industry and draft Youth Work National Occupational Standards
- Two interesting papers on colleges across and within the four UK nations, one involving Colleges Scotland, and one by Edge Foundation
- A new research project looking into the economics of education and educational policy by Strathclyde Business School
- Plus announcements about a new Aviation Academy, a new Graduate Outcomes survey, and a new Centenary Commission on adult education.
The sixth annual Informed Scotland Learning & Skills Hottest Topics list, plus a round-up of last year’s activity, is in an Annex to the digest. There’s also a link to an interview for Radio EDUtalk in January, when Angela Gardner and David Noble explored the stories behind the list, and looked at what’s on the horizon for 2019 (highlights here).
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