Posted by admin on December 20, 2018 ·
It’s time to say a big thank you to our wonderful clients, associates and coworkers after another busy year for AJ Enterprises!
We’ve been hard at work keeping Informed Scotland subscribers up to date with the changes and challenges in learning & skills throughout 2018.
As well as the monthly digests, we’ve provided Annexes with detailed actions from three key Scottish Government reports, and published the sixth annual Organisations & People Special.
Many thanks to our subscribers for the great feedback and for spreading the word about what we do! Also thanks to Geoff Leask of Young Enterprise Scotland and Sarah Philp of Osiris Educational for their enlightening guest blog posts, and special thanks to Janey Boyd at Mamook Graphics for designing new covers for Informed’s sixth anniversary!
We continued to promote hundreds of events via the Learning & Skills Calendar, and managed to attend a few ourselves.
We shared copies of Informed with delegates at Newbattle Abbey College’s national adult learning conference in April, and the West Lothian Inclusion & Wellbeing Service Partnership Planning Event in May. Thanks too to General Teaching Council for Scotland for displaying the Informed flier on their stand at the Scottish Learning Festival, and to the Graduate Engineer Show in Derby for featuring our advert in this year’s show programme. And thanks to David Noble for the invite back onto Radio EDUtalk to review the hottest learning & skills topics of 2017, and to look ahead to 2018.
We’ve also shared information widely via social media – @InformedScot now has over 3,700 followers on Twitter, up 400 from this time last year, and over 400 followers on Instagram, up 170 – thanks to all our engaged followers!
It was a pleasure to continue working closely with London-based associate, Elaine Hendry of emh connect, particularly on the quarterly Skills Research Digest that we produce jointly for Northern Ireland’s Department for the Economy.
Turning to other business, we’ve provided communications, copy-writing, editing and proofreading, research and horizon scanning services to old and new clients, with regulars including the global company Macmillan Education, Winmat Publishers in Ghana and Beyond Green here in Edinburgh.
Personal thanks are owed to associates it has been a pleasure to work with this year, including Kirstin who helped look after our Newbattle conference stand, and to Hannah at the start and Sarah at the end of 2018 for helping to keep the Events Calendar updated. Thanks also to supportive fellow local members of the Society for Editors & Proofreaders, particularly Lesley Ellen and Cathy Tingle – due to their persistent encouragement, I achieved Advanced Professional Member status in March!
Finally, I’ve enjoyed another year of coworking alongside a bunch of creative, talented people in Evergreen Studio in Edinburgh’s Old Town – 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.
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 2019.
Posted by admin on December 12, 2018 ·
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Diversity and inclusion were common themes across the learning & skills landscape in November.
From increasing ethnic and gender diversity among teachers, construction workers, engineers, interns and university boards, to teaching LGBTI equality and inclusion in schools, and recognising the skills of refugees and asylum seekers.
Check out Advance HE’s Diversity Principles and Board Recruitment Frameworks, Adopt an Intern’s Diversity Works, Construction Scotland’s new strategy, the National Centre for Universities & Business report on Engineering Skills and Education, Scottish Government’s Teaching in a diverse Scotland report and the LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group’s endorsed recommendations, plus Open University in Scotland’s report on its Refugees’ Educational Resources project.
Other items worth highlighting this month include:
Want to keep on top of all the developments? Become an Informed Scotland subscriber. Email [email protected] to request a sample copy.
Posted by admin on November 12, 2018 ·
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October was a busy month for meaty, fascinating reports on a range of learning & skills themes.
Word of the month was ‘meta-skills’ – or should that be ‘meta skills’ or ‘metaskills’? Spelling isn’t the main bone of contention here, so it’s good to see that defining these higher-order skills is an action in the Enterprise & Skills Strategic Board’s Strategic Plan, published last month. (Anyone else reminded of extensive debates about the definition of core/key skills…?)
As well as the usual annual studies, evaluations, outcome agreements and statistics, other reports worth exploring in detail include:
Among several developments, a new Skills & Employability Leadership Group is being set up by SCDI, chaired by Skills Development Scotland, and a new Scottish Government Learner Panel of 30 young people will help to shape educational policy and practice. There’s a new Men in Childcare Challenge Fund, aiming to increase the number of men in early learning & childcare; a new SQA Mental Health & Wellbeing Award; and YouthLink Scotland is launching a new Youth Work & Schools partnership programme.
This is the tip of the information iceberg: become an Informed Scotland subscriber so you can keep on top of all the developments. Email [email protected] to request a sample copy.
Check out our latest guest blog post, Powerful professional learning by Sarah Philp, Director of Learning Scotland for Osiris Educational.
Posted by admin on October 23, 2018 ·
by Sarah Philp, Director of Learning Scotland, Osiris Educational. Continuing our guest blog series featuring Informed Scotland subscribers writing on the theme Making connections across the learning & skills landscape.
‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit.’ – Aristotle
We are all on a journey seeking ‘Excellence and Equity’, and while there are few who would deny these are worth striving for, this certainly does not make them easy to achieve.
In the context of education, we know that what happens in the classroom matters and we have a good history of supporting teacher professional learning in Scotland. That said, we still have some work to do. We need to make sure that we don’t get distracted and lose our focus on learning and teaching, and on ensuring that teachers have access to the highest quality professional learning.
Common barriers to changing our practice or engaging in learning, whatever line of work we might be in, are:
- Cognitive overload – I’m sure we can all recognise this feeling, that we can’t take on board new or additional information because we are overwhelmed.
- Relational trust – the glue that holds an organisation together. Having high relational trust allows us to take risks, to say we don’t know and to be open to engaging in learning.
- Accurate self-perception – the difference between our own assessment of our performance or impact and our actual performance or impact.
We need to be aware of these potential barriers and actively build a culture of learning with these in mind.
Before joining Osiris Educational, I was Principal Educational Psychologist with Midlothian Council. One of the core functions of an educational psychologist is to provide professional learning. It has been many years since we moved away from the tendency for this to be delivered as a ‘twilight’ session on a particular ‘topic’. We know this does not work, and we know it doesn’t work for the reasons above.
Professional learning has shifted away from a focus on one-off events as the main delivery mechanism, to a much more dynamic model which aims to reflect and meet the needs of all learners at different stages in the learning process.
Professional learning is only as good as the impact it leads to for the learners in our classrooms. I guess it’s the ‘So what?’ and ‘What now?’ questions – if we don’t create opportunities for teachers to engage with these questions alongside their learning experience then we will fail to see the impact for our learners.
There is no short cut to powerful professional learning.
It needs time and energy from those providing it, those engaging in it and those supporting it at the system level.
The Osiris Teacher Intervention (OTI), one of our professional learning programmes, works with teachers to build the habit of excellence in learning and teaching through the following processes:
- Building clarity – understanding what excellence really looks like
- Reflexivity – reflecting on practice using video (it might be scary at first but it is incredibly powerful)
- Levelling up – being clear about the incremental steps needed to ensure improvement and develop new habits and norms.
We also support school leaders through a leadership programme to develop a culture of effective professional learning across their school, using the key principles of what makes OTI so impactful.
Both of these programmes work well alongside the national model of professional learning launched by Education Scotland at the Scottish Learning Festival in September 2018.
According to the model, professional learning should be:
- Challenging, and develop thinking, knowledge, skills and understanding
- Underpinned by developing skills of enquiry and criticality
- Interactive, reflective and involve learning with others.
We couldn’t agree more and we look forward to using this model more in the future.
For further information contact Sarah at [email protected]
Website: https://osiriseducational.co.uk/impact-teach-scotland
Twitter: @sphilp2 and @OsirisEduScot Facebook: @osiriseducational
LinkedIn: Osiris Educational YouTube: Osiris Educational
Read previous guest blogs in the series, including those from Young Enterprise Scotland, Children’s University Scotland, GTC Scotland, SCEL, Clyde Gateway and EDT Scotland.
Posted by admin on October 10, 2018 ·
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The new academic session began relatively calmly for learning & skills after a long, hectic summer.
The Scottish Government continues to refer to its commitment to education as its ‘defining mission’ in its 2018–19 annual programme, Delivering for today, investing for tomorrow.
The hottest topic in September, however, was the continuing debate over the future of Scottish National Standardised Assessments in Primary 1. MSPs voted to halt them, but Cabinet Secretary John Swinney advised schools to continue with existing plans.
As well as the usual statistical reports and annual reviews, other items to look out for include:
There’s a new Fintech Skills Academy in Fife, a new national Developing the Young Workforce website. And Scotland’s new design museum, V&A Dundee, opened to much acclaim, offering learning opportunities galore.
Favourite feedback last month came from Natalie Phillips, Education, Business & Community Growth Project Manager at Clyde Gateway: ‘Excellent publication which enables us to keep well briefed and informed on all important education, business and skills updates! I can’t recommend it enough!’
Become an Informed Scotland subscriber so you can keep on top of all the developments. Email [email protected] to request a sample copy.
Posted by admin on September 27, 2018 ·
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The sixth annual Informed Scotland Organisations & People Special has been published.
It’s a snapshot of a busy and ever-changing learning & skills landscape, helping our subscribers to quickly locate the key organisations and make sense of where they fit into the bigger picture.
This year there are links to over 360 organisations, up from 330 in 2017 and more than twice as many as in the first edition in 2013.
Informed Scotland subscribers find it a useful directory of the main bodies and institutions operating across business, education, community & adult learning, government and wider society, including:
- Sector-specific skills bodies
- Local authority education departments
- Colleges & universities
- Teacher education institutions
- Developing the Young Workforce regional groups
- Knowledge exchange & innovation centres
There have been many changes since last year’s edition, including new organisations, mergers and closures, promotions, moves and retirements. We’ve added a new section of the six regional improvement collaboratives – regional alliances of the 32 local authority education departments – and a new section covering research & development organisations in community & adult learning.
All new subscribers receive a copy – join the growing list and stay well informed.
This is the tip of the information iceberg: become an Informed Scotland subscriber so you can keep on top of all the developments. Email [email protected] to request a sample copy.
You can also keep up to date via Twitter @InformedScot and Instagram informedscot
Posted by admin on September 14, 2018 ·
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It was pretty much business as usual throughout the summer, with little respite from policy developments, plans, pilots, research studies, surveys and statistics.
The Scottish Government’s first national action plan for parental involvement and family learning was one of the big items. Learning Together is not a quick read, however, with 13 goals and 52 (yes, 52!) actions spread over 51 pages. We’ve provided our subscribers with a helpful Annex containing the full list of goals and actions for ease of reference.
One of the most hotly debated issues over recent months has been the Scottish National Standardised Assessments, with the campaign to drop them in primary 1, led by Upstart, continuing to grow. The Scottish Government published a User Review of the assessments a year after they were introduced, including detail of some changes for 2018/19.
There are numerous other publications worth delving into
The word ‘new’ appears over 60 times in our latest issue
Creative Scotland launched Screen Scotland, with its focus including skills & talent development and film education.
A new Google Digital Garage was opened in Edinburgh’s West End offering digital skills training and advice. Marks & Spencer is creating a new data skills academy for its staff with the help of Decoded. Young Enterprise Scotland launched a new Circular Economy Challenge for primary and secondary pupils.
SCEL created a new Evolving Systems Thinking teacher leadership programme with the Ontario Principals Council. And several new courses were created, including for teacher education.
Feedback that made us smile this month from Ken Muir, Chief Executive of GTCS: Another really excellent edition. This is such a great publication – one to which every organisation and public body in Scotland should subscribe. It provides such a helpful summary of all the ‘goings on’ across Scotland. A real one-stop read for busy people.
Become an Informed Scotland subscriber so you can keep on top of all the developments. Email [email protected] to request a sample copy.
Posted by admin on July 9, 2018 ·
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The hottest topic in June was the Scottish Government’s last minute decision to ‘park’ the Education (Scotland) Bill, choosing instead to work with local authorities in a joint agreement to ‘fast-track’ school reforms.
The surprise shelving of the Bill (the Draft of which was still published) received mixed reactions, being described as both ‘welcome’ and ‘a shambles’.
In contrast, the decision not to create an Education Workforce Council has been widely welcomed, with the General Teaching Council for Scotland noting the recognition given to the value and benefits of its work. The National Parent Forum of Scotland, however, was disappointed that parental involvement legislation won’t be updated.
The first formal report by the International Council of Education Advisers was also published. One of its 19 recommendations – for a ‘collaborative’ rather than a ‘legislative’ route to school improvement – is acknowledged as influencing the government’s decision.
Brexit appears on our front cover for the first time, as organisations assess and prepare for its potential impact right across the learning & skills landscape.
It is one of the challenges highlighted by City & Guilds in its informative People Power report, which examines employers’ views of whether the UK economy has the skilled people it needs for the future.
Brexit is also mentioned by Audit Scotland in this year’s Scotland’s Colleges report, as a factor with potential risk to colleges’ future financial sustainability.
As usual in June, a bundle of statistical reports and annual surveys was published, including on school leavers and looked after children, on higher education leavers from HESA and their academic experience from HEPI, and on apprenticeships from SDS.
What are you waiting for? Become an Informed Scotland subscriber and keep yourself or your organisation better informed about what’s happening in learning & skills. Find out how to subscribe here or contact [email protected] to receive a recent copy of the digest.
Posted by admin on June 11, 2018 ·
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Once again May has been a hotbed of must-read reports on a range of learning & skills topics.
The most significant item was the final report of the Scottish Government’s 15–24 Learner Journey Review. It is aiming to achieve a more balanced, coherent approach to education and learning that offers better advice and guidance, more work-based learning, and shorter post-15 learner journeys. We’ve included details of all 17 recommendations in an Annex for ease of reference.
A cluster of reports highlight current and expected skills shortages in a range of sectors, with some similar approaches suggested for filling the gaps – including raising their profile with young people. There’s a new Skills Investment Plan for Scotland’s Life and Chemical Sciences from Skills Development Scotland; an OPITO and Robert Gordon University report on the skills of tomorrow in the oil & gas industry; A Future Strategy for Agriculture from the Scottish Government; a Skills Review for the Aquaculture Sector from Highlands & Islands Enterprise; and a National Centre for Universities & Business report calling for a national campaign on digital health & care skills.
There are thought-provoking reports on future skills needs: Skills 4.0: A skills model to drive Scotland’s future by SDS and the Centre for Work-based Learning considers the implications of the fourth industrial revolution. Two papers on Future Teaching trends by researchers at Moray House School of Education look at the likely impact of automation and global societal shifts on education and teaching. And PASCAL International Observatory makes the case for Building entrepreneurship in sustainable learning cities.
Equality, diversity and inclusivity was another hot topic. In particular the second annual Report on Widening Access by the Scottish Funding Council, the first Equality Challenge Unit report on staff equality in Scotland’s colleges, and Glasgow City Council’s research into Ethnic Diversity in the Teaching Profession shared by Tes Scotland. They all indicate that progress towards equality is slow…
It’s six years since the first edition of Informed Scotland was published in May 2012! We’re celebrating with the first of a few new covers – many thanks to Janey Boyd at Mamook Graphics for continuing her great design work for us.
This is the tip of the information iceberg: become an Informed Scotland subscriber so you can keep on top of all the developments. Email [email protected] to request a sample copy.
You can also keep up to date via Twitter @InformedScot and Instagram informedscot
Posted by admin on May 8, 2018 ·
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The Easter holidays contributed to a slightly calmer learning & skills landscape in April, although there was no shortage of important developments to share.
Interesting items to look out for include Education Scotland’s How Good is OUR School? to support pupils’ involvement in self-evaluation and improvement; analysis of responses to the Scottish Government’s consultation on its Education (Scotland) Bill proposals; and an STUC/Scottish Government report on the positive and negative potential of Technological Change and the Scottish Labour Market.
April saw the launch of the Fair Start Scotland devolved employment service, the newly merged UK Research & Innovation and Tech Nation bodies, and the Workforce Development Trust‘s rescue of People 1st sector skills body from administration.
There were new qualifications from the SQA in childminding, developed with the Scottish Childminding Association, and in boat building & repair, developed with British Marine Scotland, plus new Awards in British Sign Language (BSL) are on the way for learners in schools and colleges.
Numerous agreements were made with organisations and institutions in China, following a ministerial delegation with a focus on education & skills. Collaboration agreements included with Edinburgh Centre for Robotics at Heriot-Watt University, on healthcare with University of Edinburgh and on video gaming with Abertay University. And University of the West of Scotland was accredited as an Overseas Training & Collaborative Organisation.
Events-wise, we took copies of Informed Scotland for delegates at Newbattle Abbey College’s national adult learning conference, where the focus was on guidance for adult learners. And keep an eye on our Calendar for a learning-packed week coming up this month:
With so many themes competing for the spotlight, whether by design or coincidence, it’s to be hoped they can all achieve their desired goals… However, the winner is certain to be learning for all!
Welcome to our new subscribers from further & higher education and local authorities! Why not join them and keep yourself or your organisation better informed about what’s happening in learning & skills in Scotland? Find out how to subscribe here or contact [email protected] to receive a recent copy of the digest.
