Happy Christmas & heaps of thanks!

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 […]

Informed Scotland November 2018 – Diversity for excellence

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 […]

Informed Scotland October 2018 – Skills: untapped, mismatched & ‘meta’

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 […]

Powerful professional learning

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 […]

Informed Scotland September 2018 – Looking beyond the headlines

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 […]

Who’s where? Making sense of the learning & skills landscape

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 […]

Informed Scotland July/August 2018 – Plans, pilots, policy & practice

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 […]

Informed Scotland June 2018 – School reforms, skills gaps & Brexit

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 […]

Informed Scotland May 2018 – Learner journeys, skills shortages & equality

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 […]

Informed Scotland April 2018 – How good is our learning & skills?

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 […]