2022: Taking stock & saying thanks
AJ Enterprises has been busy throughout another challenging but productive year. Angela has continued to work with, for or alongside some fabulous clients, associates and coworkers.
It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years since I took the plunge and began producing the learning & skills digest Informed Scotland. The 100th issue was published in April and the tenth anniversary was celebrated in May.
Informed Scotland subscribers have been kept up to date with learning & skills across the landscape throughout 2022.
As well as the monthly digests, I provided Annexes containing the recommendations from Prof Ken Muir’s report on school education reforms, and the actions from the new Adult Learning Strategy, both published by the Scottish Government.
I also produced the tenth annual Organisations & People Special in August. This now has links to over 420 organisations – more than twice as many as in the first edition in 2013.
Many thanks to each subscriber, from large national organisations to concessions, new and long-standing, for your continued interest, feedback and for spreading the word about the benefits of being kept well informed. Special thanks to all those who’ve been subscribing since issue #1 – it wouldn’t still be here without your early faith in its potential!
On social media I’ve kept over 4,400 followers regularly updated via @InformedScot on Twitter – thanks to all our engaged followers. In response to recent developments I’ve just ventured onto Mastodon @[email protected]. It will be interesting to see what happens with these and other similar platforms over the next 12 months. Thanks also to those who’ve shared and commented on my posts on LinkedIn.
The Learning & Skills Events Calendar, a popular resource pre-pandemic, has taken small steps out of pandemic hibernation as more in-person events have returned. Send us your face-to-face event details for inclusion.
It was a pleasure to continue working with London-based associate Elaine Hendry of emh connect, mainly on the quarterly Skills Research Digest that we’ve produced jointly for Northern Ireland’s Department for the Economy since 2017. We also worked together on desk research projects for EVERFI to inform developments by two multinationals: an insurance company’s new programme for schools, and an ecommerce firm’s new online science and maths resource for school pupils.
I’ve enjoyed providing research, copyediting and proofreading services to clients old and new. Particular thanks to Hannah of the British Educational Research Association (BERA), and to Ross at the Commonwealth Secretariat. Thanks also to supportive fellow members of the Chartered Institute of Editing & Proofreading (CIEP).
Working from home continued until April when I finally returned full-time to Evergreen Studio coworking space in Edinburgh’s Old Town. It’s good to be back working alongside enterprising, hardworking people – thanks for the camaraderie, support, technical advice – and the regular sweet treats!
The annual Informed Scotland Hottest Topics in Scottish Learning & Skills will be shared here in January – see what made the list for 2021 – any predictions?
Finally, thanks to media & communications student Ross Nisbet for providing this year’s ‘festive’ photo of a frozen (aptly named) Ross Fountain in the gardens below Edinburgh Castle.
Email [email protected] for more information about any of the above, to subscribe to Informed Scotland, or to discuss how we could support your work in 2023.