Throughout 2025, we’ve been exploring what the changes at Education Scotland (ES) should mean for our CLD support. These discussions have been extremely helpful in shaping our plans and CLD stakeholders have encouraged us to continue to engage with them as the refocused ES takes shape.

In August, we published a discussion paper which summarised the feedback we’d had so far and outlined what we planned to do next.

Based on the feedback, our priorities have been to:

1. Support the CLD sector’s contributions across key areas of the Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC)
2. Continue to develop our CLD professional learning (PL) offer
3. Play our part as part of the Strategic Leadership Group to implement recommendations from the Independent Review of CLD
4. Continue to explore how Education Scotland’s refocused role can best align with the priorities and improvement needs of CLD stakeholders

As part of that fourth priority, we hosted 2 further webinars with stakeholders on September 16^th and October 3^rd to discuss the points raised in the August paper.

A few strong themes stood out across the feedback from both sessions:

• There was broad agreement with the themes identified in the original discussion paper.
• Stakeholders told us that they were looking for leadership and practical support from a refocused ES to support the CLD sector’s contributions to education priorities.
• The strongest messages concerned funding and workforce. There were calls for longer-term national investment in CLD; and doing more to address workforce challenges around recruitment and access to effective professional learning.
• There was a consistent message about raising the profile and identity of CLD and highlighting the positive impacts of youth work, adult learning, and community development.
• Stakeholders want ES to promote understanding of CLD’s distinct role within Scotland’s learning system. There were clear calls for greater parity of esteem between CLD practitioners and formal education.
• Participants highlighted the importance of continuing to support strong partnerships between CLD and schools.
• Stakeholders in both sessions identified the need for investment in shared data systems that better capture CLD’s impact.
• There continues to be a strong desire for ES to make more explicit links between the 3–18 curriculum and adult, family and community learning.
• ES’s work to increase opportunities for joint training and shared learning between CLD and schools’ staff was broadly welcomed.

Education Scotland (ES) is, as of the first of November, a curriculum focused organisation, with a commitment to embed collaboration in everything we do. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with our CLD partners in our changed role.

If you would like to comment on any of the points in this blog then you can use this Form or email: john.galt@educationscotland.gov.scot

We have released new dates for PL on the Youth Voice Toolkit. Find more information in our events area or sign up directly at the links below:

Youth Voice Toolkit: Professional Learning (November) Tickets, Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 4:00 PM | Eventbrite

Youth Voice Toolkit: Professional Learning (December) Tickets, Thu, Dec 11, 2025 at 10:00 AM | Eventbrite

We are seeking applications for Education Scotland Associates (ESA) with a specialism in Community Learning and Development (CLD) for roles which will focus on enhancing practice through digital approaches and/or stakeholder engagement.  The posts are on a part-time, pro rata basis and will be based throughout Scotland. Base location can be flexible.

ESAs will work to support improvement with a CLD specific focus in the areas of resource development, professional learning, stakeholder engagement and framework design, and utilising digital approaches to enhance impact. They will make an important contribution to our professional learning programmes, drawing on their experience as educators, their specialist skills, and their educational and system knowledge.

To find out more information and apply please see the link below:

Education Scotland Associate: Community Learning and Development | Vacancies | Education Scotland

Applications are now live for the seventh cohort of Education Scotland’s Building Racial Literacy programme (close Friday 5^th September).

The national Building Racial Literacy programme promotes anti-racism as a baseline professional value, empowering educators to identify and implement anti-racist behaviours and processes in their everyday practice. The ultimate goal of the Building Racial Literacy programme is to make every educator in Scotland racially literate, effective at dealing with racism and confident in leading anti-racism.

We have had a high number of CLD participants on recent cohorts of the BRL programme and they have spoken of how much they have gained from taking part. Further information and application form: Building Racial Literacy | Programmes | Professional learning programmes, webinars and events | Professional Learning | Education Scotland

This programme can support aspiring middle leaders to develop their understanding of the roles of middle leadership and the skills required to carry out the main aspects of these roles.

The programme is also suitable for new middle leaders, those in an acting middle leadership role or those who are new to leading an area of work in their setting. If you are more established in your middle leadership role you might want to consider the Middle Leaders Leading Change programme. Although the underpinning research is schools based, Aspiring to Middle Leadership is open to CLD and ELC educators and practitioners as well as teachers.

We would love to see more CLD representation on this programme and would see it as applicable to those in a senior CLD practitioner role. For further information and application form: Aspiring to Middle Leadership | Programmes | Professional learning programmes, webinars and events | Professional Learning | Education Scotland. Please note you can also undertake the AML programme through self-directed learning.