The Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC) is a ten year programme to systematically review Scotland’s Curriculum in response to learners’ needs and societal demands.

We have two upcoming sessions for CLD practitioners and leaders where we will take you through a sensemaking toolkit for CLD. Join us to find out more about the CIC and discuss what it means for the CLD sector.

Book here: Curriculum Improvement Cycle – Sensemaking for CLD Tickets, Multiple dates | Eventbrite

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education in Scotland (HMIE) are the independent inspectorate of education in Scotland, inspecting and gathering evidence across all education sectors to assess quality, support improvement and inform policy.

They have a new website that you can refer to for information here:

https://educationinspectorate.gov.scot/

They also have a dedicated Youtube channel which you can subscribe to so that you are aware when new content is added: HMIE – YouTube

LinkedIn: His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) | LinkedIn

Facebook: HMIE | Glasgow | Facebook

Make sure you subscribe and follow to keep up to date !

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.

It was great to get confirmation that the UK will be part of the Erasmus+ programme from 2027. Erasmus+ provides funding to support mobility opportunities for young people and adults to gain international experience and develop skills; and providers to develop partnerships with relevant organisations in different countries.

The programme offers fantastic opportunities for community learning and development (CLD) organisations and groups in the public and third sectors, particularly through the strands for Adult Education and for Youth.

CLD organisations can apply to fund projects that contribute to the Programme Priorities to:

1. promote equal opportunities and access, inclusion, diversity and fairness
2. support digital transformation and address societal challenges such as AI or disinformation
3. build knowledge, skills, and attitudes on the environment, climate change and supporting sustainable development
4. address the challenges and barriers that limit citizens’ participation in democratic life

A fundamental aim of the current programme is to increase the number of opportunities offered to disadvantaged participants and to a wider range of organisations.

Find out more

Applications for funding will be open from November 2026 to February 2027. Look out for opportunities between now and then to find out more about how to get involved.

The UK Government is currently looking for views on developing the right support for Erasmus+ applicants and participants.  Please complete the survey which should take no more than 5-10 minutes.

The British Council has been appointed as the National Agency to support Erasmus+ across the UK. You can sign up here to make sure you receive updates from the British Council to prepare for Erasmus+. You can also follow the Erasmus+ social media accounts, which will begin providing regular updates soon.

X @ErasmusPlusUK

Facebook @ErasmusPlusUK

Instagram @ErasmusPlus.UK

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