On the 26th of March 2026, Learn North Connect and Reflect Community Learning & Development (CLD) Conference was held in Inverness, for Community Learning and Development (CLD) practitioners delivering learning for community based adult learning, ESOL, adult literacy, youth work, community development and volunteering from strategic managers to practitioners. There was attendance from approximately 70 at the in person event.

Learn North is the CLD professional learning alliance that connects over 300 practitioners from eight local authority areas – Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Argyll & Bute, Highland, Moray, Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles. It is the biggest geographical region in Scotland. Its goal is to improve professional development for the CLD workforce, offering opportunities based on needs of practitioners across all sectors of CLD.

Education Scotland was invited to support development of the Conference as well as have an active role during the day, delivering workshops on Youthvoice Toolkit, Community Needs Analysis, Attendance in Schools – partnership & multi-agency toolkit and a whole room input on the use of AI in CLD practise. There was further inputs from CLD Standards Council as well as local authorities sharing their practise in relation to a huge range of areas, some included, Highland adult learning voice following funding from the Scottish Education Exchange Programme, Aberdeen Youth Movement, Shetland Youth Voice, Gaelic awareness, learning communities for adults with enduring mental health illnesses and Aberdeen student teacher programme with CLD family learning team. You can read more through the online programme created for the event which details each input.

SIDA’s Global Citizenship Engagement Officer Hannah Clyne joined Mya Chemonges Murzynowska from ACAMHA and Catriona Willis from Highland One World gave a stand out presentation on the importance of anti racist education in community settings. They showcased that through the conference professional learning can go further, stating “It’s about creating spaces where social justice is lived, community voices are heard, and where global citizenship is part of everyday life”. Read more on their blog here entitled “Action is the antidote to despair”.

Learn North, the CLD professional learning alliance is now working on how to promote the learning across the region allowing for those practitioners who could not attend in person to learn and connect from others in the region. A conference with a focus on connection and reflection – including a lasting legacy which Education Scotland is happy to support.

New Education Scotland Associates (ESAs) in Education Scotland CLD Team – 2025 / end March 2026

 

During 2025 Education Scotland recruited Education Scotland Associates (ESAs) across the organisation to support and develop key projects. The ESA’s are all CLD practitioners working in the field who joined Education Scotland on a part time basis.

 

The Community Learning and Development team recruited four ESAs who came with a variety of different working knowledge, skills and were located in different locations across Scotland. The experience of the ESAs covered CLD in local authority, College and voluntary sector and included youthwork, community development and community-based adult learning backgrounds.

 

The four projects carried out were:

 

• Project 1 – Digital Skills – Caroline Whitson (Jamie Dungavell)

Engage with the CLD sector on the ‘Digital Skills for Scottish Educators’ resource to develop an understanding of what is needed to scaffold implementation including piloting the resource and supporting development for a CLD context.

• Project 2 – Professional Learning – Rhonda Leith (Susan Epsworth) 

Consider and exploreprofessional learning activities (PLA’s) that could be developed, based on evidence available and from other ESA projects.. An example taken forward was the development of a new misinformation/disinformation PLA.

• Project 3 – CIC Sensemaking – Tracey Kernaghan (Julie Beckett)

Joint pilot delivery of stakeholder engagement sessions with the CLD sector on the sensemaking toolkit of the Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC). Gather feedback to inform, develop, design and publish a CLD version.

• Project 4 – Research: What does UK and international practice tell us about greater synergy between CLD and Curriculum Improvement Cycle – Fiona Robertson  (John Galt / Laura Starkey)

Building on the initial Literature review published in July 2024 on Community Learning and Development (CLD) as part of the Still report and as part of Education Scotland’s changing role from Education Reform. Education Scotland delivered engagement sessions in 2025 which led to the publication of a discussion paper. This research project was to further investigate what community education/CLD approaches exist across the UK and internationally in relation to curriculum and produce a publication to share the findings.

 

We await further information on the Education Support Assistant pilot project as to whether this will continue in future. Some quotes from the evaluation of the project include:

• Really enjoyed the whole experience – happy to be involved in the future and to advocate for it to others
• Really hope this continues going forward – has felt like projects will have real impact on the sector
• Has felt responsive to needs of the sector

We will be adding further details of the projects to this website during the next couple of months so please do check back for further updates.