Informed Scotland March 2022 – Strategies & reforms
Issue 99 includes key Covid-19 guidance and announcements up to 11 April.
The hottest learning & skills topic in March was Prof Ken Muir’s eagerly anticipated report for school education reforms: the replacement of the SQA, the reform of Education Scotland and removal of its inspection function. We’ve provided subscribers with a helpful Annex containing his 21 recommendations and the Scottish Government’s response.
March saw the publication of several national strategies, all relevant to learning & skills. For Scotland there’s a new ten-year Strategy for Economic Transformation, a ten-year Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care, a five-year Retail Strategy and a Blue Economy Vision for marine sectors to 2045. There’s also a new five-year strategy for UK Research & Innovation.
Numerous interesting reports were published, including:
- FutureLearn’s The Future of Learning on trends in education, learning and skills
- two from the National Centre for Universities & Business on business–university interactions
- findings from Engage Scotland and Queen Margaret University’s research on engagement with the visual arts & design in secondary schools
- Education Scotland’s thematic review of health & wellbeing by HM Inspectors
- and a topical briefing paper on Learning with and from refugees and the role of adult learning by PASCAL Observatory and CR&DALL, University of Glasgow.
Also look out for the Scottish Parliament Education, Children & Young People Committee’s new colleges regionalisation inquiry, ten years on from the creation of 13 college regions in 2012. Particularly interesting as three colleges are currently involved in the Rural & Islands College Merger Project due to be finalised in January 2023.
This is the tip of the information iceberg! Want to keep on top of all the developments? Become an Informed Scotland subscriber. Email [email protected] to request the latest copy.