Posted by admin on February 8, 2015 ·
There was no real lull in activity over the festive period, with major announcements and reports being published throughout the last two months. It’s been quite a task to make sure all of the items were squeezed in to our bumper double issue.
The annual round of statistics was released, including Summary Statistics for Schools from the Scottish Government, School Leaver Destinations from Skills Development Scotland, 2015 higher education applicant figures from UCAS, an overview of college sector statistics from the Scottish Funding Council, and Enrolments & Qualifications from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
The main item was the publication of Developing the Young Workforce, Scotland’s new Youth Employment Strategy, which is expected to drive much of the activity during the year ahead.
It’s not all hefty content, however, with plenty of people news and some delightful snippets, such as the Highland primary school planning to teach British Sign Language and Makaton as one of its languages; and the new University of the Highlands & Islands Honours degree where golf handicap is an entry criterion!
Some lighter reading is also included with our second annual top 10 Learning & Skills Hot Topics list, along with a look back over a busy year for Informed Scotland.
Become an Informed Scotland subscriber to keep on top of all the developments. Email [email protected] to request a sample copy.
Posted by admin on January 9, 2015 ·
Image is © Andrew Mackie
Here’s our annual list of Learning & Skills ‘Hot Topics’ that made it onto the cover of Informed Scotland over the past year:
- Apprenticeships (9 in 2013)
- Partnerships & collaboration (3)
- Digital literacy, inclusion & skills (1)
- Skills gaps & shortages (6)
- Work experience, internships & work-related learning (-)
- Raising attainment & widening access (10)
- Gender gaps, balance & roles (-)
- Knowledge exchange & business engagement (2)
- Innovation (-)
- Science, technology, engineering & maths (STEM) (8)
Missing but not forgotten from this year’s list were Youth employment & employability (5) and Creativity & creative skills (7). However, International collaboration & comparisons (4) didn’t get a mention on any cover in 2014.
The list was produced by pretty unscientific methodology – the ranking of some items will no doubt prompt debate – but we think it captures a flavour of the main issues last year. Well done @gradengshow for predicting that ‘Internships’ would make it into the chart!
What are your predictions for 2015? We predict more of the same, with a re-entry for youth employment following the new Scottish Government Young Workforce Strategy. Leadership is a strong new contender and perhaps STEAM (STEM + Arts) will finally break through! Let us know what you think – tweet us @InformedScot or comment on the Informed Scotland page on LinkedIn.
Make it your New Year’s resolution to be better informed about what’s happening across learning & skills in business, schools, further & higher education, community & adult learning, and government & wider society. Contact [email protected] to receive a recent sample copy and find out how to subscribe here.
Posted by admin on January 8, 2015 ·
Look out for our advert in the new edition of the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) Teaching Scotland magazine.
Wondering what Informed Scotland is all about?
Email [email protected] quoting the code in the ad for your free copy of the next issue.
You’ll also receive our Higher Attainment, Wider Access Special published in December.
Posted by admin on December 19, 2014 ·
Image is © Jonny Nisbet
…to all our clients, associates, suppliers and collaborators, to contacts old and new, to regular visitors to our website and Calendar, and to our followers on @ajentscotland, @InformedScot and LinkedIn.
We have the pleasure of working with and for some great people and organisations – advising, connecting, researching, analysing, evaluating, organising, reporting, writing, copy-editing and proofreading!
This year Angela’s also had the fantastic opportunity to spend a couple of days a week coworking alongside startup businesses in Edinburgh TechCube. Many thanks to Allan Lloyds of Product Forge for the invitation, the experience, the new skills and for the grand title of ‘learning & skills expert in residence’!
We’d also like to wish a very happy Christmas to Informed Scotland subscribers. It’s been a busy year, with three Special issues, support for four conferences, and four great subscriber guest blogs from UKCES, SQA, UCAS and Prof Laurie O’Donnell.
We’re already gathering content for the next issue, the December/January edition, due out in the week beginning 2 February 2015. It’s beginning to fill up with items, including the new Young Workforce Strategy, and we’re only half-way through December! Email [email protected] for more information or to request a sample copy.
Finally – thanks to another talented local amateur photographer, Jonny Nisbet, who has very kindly provided us with some images to brighten our news page.
Posted by admin on December 12, 2014 ·
Image is © Andrew Mackie
Copy-editing is always enlightening, whatever the topic or format. But occasionally the content is so absorbing, the editing turns into reading.
Over the summer Angela copy-edited Universities in the Flux of Time: An exploration of time and temporality in university life published this month by Routledge. Researching and writing so regularly about higher education – from governance to students, qualifications to knowledge exchange, courses to international collaboration – it was fascinating to view universities from a completely different perspective.
As usual with a multi-authored title, the edit wasn’t entirely straightforward. However, working closely with one of the editors, Professor Paul Gibbs, Director of the Centre for Education Research & Scholarship at Middlesex University, we successfully met a tight deadline for our client, Florence Production Ltd.
We were delighted to receive Paul’s comment: ‘Your help has been invaluable‘. Another project where everyone was more than satisfied.
Find out about our writing, copy-editing & proofreading services.
Posted by admin on December 8, 2014 ·
An Informed Scotland Higher Attainment, Wider Access Special is being published to coincide with our participation in the MacKay Hannah Poverty & Attainment in Education Conference on 11 December.
In the Special, the conference chair, education consultant David Cameron states, ‘This needs to be more than a conference, it needs to be a step towards substantive progress in changing outcomes for young people born into poverty. We’ve talked long enough’.
The Special captures highlights from the last three monthly issues, demonstrating the breadth of relevant activity right across the learning and skills landscape.
Copies of the Special will be available to pick up from our stand at The Carlton Hotel in Edinburgh. Delegates will also be able to sign up for a pdf version with links enabled – and a complimentary copy of the latest issue of Informed Scotland.
We’re also exhibiting at the MacKay Hannah Digital & ICT Skills in Scottish Education Conference at Sun Oracle in Linlithgow on Tuesday 9 December. Tuesday’s delegates will also be able to sign up for the publications, view previous Special issues on Learning Technology and on STEM, and browse our Learning & Skills Events Calendar.
We’ll be tweeting when we get chance: @InformedScot plus #DigiScots14 on Tuesday and #povertyattainment on Thursday. Or if you’re attending, come and say hello!
Keep on top of all the developments – email [email protected] to subscribe to Informed Scotland.
Posted by admin on December 6, 2014 ·
Every month we summarise statistics and surveys, and the findings of research, studies and evaluations. November was no different – it was full of useful, rich reports waiting to be delved into.
The Employer Perspectives Survey from UKCES; the latest Modern Apprenticeships statistics from SDS plus the Apprenticeships for the Future report from AAT. The Robert Owen Centre evaluation of the School Improvement Partnership Programme, the CAS Scotland report on computing science teachers, the SFC’s Learning for All statistics on higher education participation. And many more…
The growth of infographics and other innovative methods of reporting has made it easier for researchers to entice and explain their findings to a wider audience. The challenge facing report authors, however, is how to get us to explore further – to read, to learn from, and to make connections with what we read.
Our Learning & Skills Events Calendar demonstrates the numerous opportunities to engage with this kind of information and those who have created or gathered it – at conferences, seminars and workshops, many of which are free to attend.
@realdcameron tweeted this week, ‘we are very good at piloting, but not so good at getting widespread change off the ground’. A similar challenge perhaps – making sure we not only learn, but build on our learning.
There’s a rich mine of learning amassed – time to dig deep.
Become an Informed Scotland subscriber to keep on top of all the developments. Email [email protected] to request a sample copy.
Posted by admin on November 10, 2014 ·
The word of the month was ‘innovation’, from innovative projects to the challenges of managing innovation.
Two new knowledge exchange Innovation Centres were launched – the Data Lab and Construction Scotland, bringing the total to eight Scottish Funding Council supported Centres.
Nesta and Innovate UK, the re-branded Technology Strategy Board, set up a new Innovation Growth Lab.
A European Commission study on innovation in higher education was published, with input from the PASCAL International Observatory (the University of Glasgow leads PASCAL in Europe).
Glasgow Caledonian University was awarded Changemaker Campus status, for its role in ‘promoting social innovation education’.
The 157 Group of further education colleges, which counts North East Scotland College amongst its members, published Future Colleges, calling for greater ‘freedom to innovate’.
Favourite recommendation on Twitter this month was from Radio EDUtalk’s @parslad who described Informed Scotland as ‘Best out there for regular updates on learning and skills in Scotland’. Become an Informed Scotland subscriber to keep on top of all the developments. Email [email protected] to request a sample copy.
Posted by admin on November 3, 2014 ·
UCAS infographic UK country flows 2014-15
by Helen Thorne, Director of Policy and Research, UCAS. Continuing our guest blog series featuring Informed Scotland subscribers writing on the theme Making connections across the learning & skills landscape.
Almost 1,500 more students started degree courses at Scottish universities this autumn compared to last, as the country continues to attract well qualified students from across Scotland, the rest of the UK and internationally.
UCAS’s interim report on acceptances to full-time undergraduate courses for entry in the 2014/15 academic year shows total recruitment to Scottish universities rising by 4% to 42,000 compared to the 2013/14 entry year. In particular the recruitment of international students increased by 7%.
Within that total the number of Scottish students accepted is up by 2% to 28,500 – the highest level recorded at this point in the admissions cycle.
Our analysis also shows over 4,600 English students chose to study in Scotland, up 11% on last year, plus more than 4,300 from the EU (up 5%) and 3,300 from outside the EU (up 7%), building on a trend of recent increases.
For the first time UCAS has produced an infographic map showing where UK students have chosen to study in different parts of the country. Around 30,000 UK students (about 7% of the total) have chosen to study in a different UK country to the one they live in this year.
While the long-term trend remains for Scots to continue their education in Scotland, nevertheless over 1,500 (5%) began courses in England this year. In contrast, 4,600 (just over 1%) of English students started their studies at Scottish universities. Scottish universities also attracted just under 1,000 students from Northern Ireland.
Elsewhere, some 10,600 students are going to study in Wales with 8,000 travelling the other way across the border.
Amid so many positive indicators, the fact that this year our Daily Clearing Analysis showed that over 55,000 more women than men have been accepted into UK higher education so far should continue to give everyone in the education sector pause for thought. This is a gap that continues to grow across the four countries, with a persistent difference of around 5,000 in Scotland.
With around 98% of acceptances included in these figures, the picture is very close to what we’ll see at the end of the year. The final position will be described in our End of Cycle Report published in December with growth for Scottish universities likely to look healthy, as total UK acceptances to full-time higher education moves towards half a million for the first time.
For further information contact [email protected]
For the latest UCAS analytical releases follow @ucas_analysis on Twitter.
Read our previous guest blogs: Prof Laurie O’Donnell’s Digital creativity and computing in the classroom, SQA’s So what is open education? and UKCES makes connections between disparate ideas.
Posted by admin on October 28, 2014 ·
Informed Scotland is delighted to be supporting two MacKay Hannah conferences examining important themes for learning and skills.
On 9 December we’ll be exhibiting at the Digital & ICT Skills in Scottish Education conference in Linlithgow. The emphasis will be on tackling the digital and ICT skills gap and the sector Skills Investment Plan published earlier this year.
A great line-up includes speakers from the Scottish Government, City of Edinburgh Council, Skills Development Scotland, Oracle, ScotlandIS, e-skills UK, CGI and SCVO.
On 11 December we’ll have a stand at the Poverty & Attainment in Education conference in Edinburgh. The focus will be on closing the attainment gap in schools, with professionals sharing best practice and discussing how to ensure equality in attainment for young people. The programme is packed with influential presenters, including speakers from the Scottish Government, Education Scotland, Scottish College for Educational Leadership, City of Edinburgh Council, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, University of Strathclyde and Barnardo’s Scotland.
We’re working on an Informed Scotland Wider Access, Higher Attainment Special for delegates and subscribers, to highlight the breadth of relevant learning and skills activity across the landscape. More on that later…
Informed Scotland subscribers can buy tickets to attend these conferences at a discount rate. Contact [email protected] to obtain the promotional code or for information about becoming a subscriber.
Follow the conferences on Twitter at #DigiScots14 and #povertyattainment
