Informed Scotland June 2024 – Bills, consultations & AI

Despite the run up to the General Election there was still a lot happening in learning & skills in Scotland in June.

There were three legislation announcements – all with consultations over the summer:

• The Education (Scotland) Bill, setting out legislation to replace the SQA with Qualifications Scotland and create an HM Chief Inspector of Education role to take on the inspection functions currently within Education Scotland. Two Scottish Parliament committees have called for views – deadline 30 August. Separate to the Bill, Scottish Government also announced a revised remit for Education Scotland.
• Scottish Government launched a consultation on legislation for Post-School Education and Skills Reform, proposing changes to the roles of the three funding bodies: the Student Awards Agency Scotland, Scottish Funding Council and Skills Development Scotland – deadline 20 September.
• A new Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) [Member’s] Bill to ensure that all pupils in state and grant-aided schools will be able to have at least four nights and five days of residential outdoor education during their time at school – deadline for Parliament committee calls for views is 4 September.

Meanwhile, across the learning & skills landscape, AI and generative AI continue to be a major focus for discussion and development, including:

• A Hays survey of AI use in recruitment by both job candidates and employers
• Tech Nation’s UK Tech in the Age of AI state of the nation report
• SQA’s Generative AI Consultation Survey: Preliminary results, on use of GenAI in schools by teachers and pupils
• Connect’s survey of parents’ experience and awareness of digital and online learning
• and Jisc’s new AI maturity toolkit for tertiary education.

Also look out for:

• The Open University’s annual Business Barometer of the skills landscape
• CIPD’s Working Lives Scotland 2024 report on job quality including training
• An EIS-commissioned research report on teacher workload
• A Design Council report on Design and Technology Education in schools in the UK
• QAA Scotland’s evaluation of the impact of 20 years of its Enhancement Themes activities.

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