December newsletter

Now in our 11th year, the CLD Standards Council continues to go from strength to strength.  Our partnerships with organisations such as Education Scotland, COSLA, TES, ACOSVO and SCURL are strengthening our Membership Offer and our numbers are steadily growing.  We now have a public register meaning that anyone can enquire by name to check the registration status and region of our 2500 practitioners.  We are delighted to hear from our international partners that our public register is the first of its kind and hope that we inspire many other countries to follow suit.  We have more than 5000 Twitter followers across our accounts and between launching “Working with Scotland’s Communities”, welcoming our new Chair, Mr Alan Sherry at our Annual Members’ Conference in March, it has been a busy year.  This work, together with on-going Approvals, Registration and Professional Learning activities would not be possible without the dedication and support of our members and I would like to thank you all for your continued contributions.

So, here’s to a well-earned rest over the Christmas holidays and here’s to the coming of age of CLD in the new decade ahead.

Best wishes

Marion

The CLD Standards Council 2020 conference will be on the theme of CLD – Values in Action. Registration will open soon – the last conference was heavily over-subscribed, so keep an eye on your inbox. As an added bonus, the CLDSC annual lecture on the theme of Theory in Action, will be on the evening of 24th March.

The register of members of the CLD Standards Council is now public.  Any interested person can now enquire online by name to find the membership status and geographical region the member predominantly works in.
The online enquiry function can be found on i-develop –
http://www.i-develop-cld.org.uk/blocks/membersearch/index.php
See full information on the website.

The CLD Standards Council and the Scottish Confederation of University and Research Libraries (SCURL) are delighted to have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding to support CLD professional learning and promote inclusive access to lifelong learning.
For details of free access to university and research libraries now available for members of the CLD Standards Council, go to  http://cldstandardscouncil.org.uk/memorandum-of-understanding-with-scurl/

Requests for members to renew their registration are being rolled out. Please don’t worry if you have not received your request yet – we have quite a backlog to get through – back to registrations in 2013 – so it may take us a few months to get through all outstanding renewals.
Please do make sure you keep us up to date with your contact details so we can reach you for renewal.
Also if you have any colleagues who are members but have not been getting updates from us please encourage them to make sure we have up to date contact information.
Please email any queries to contact@cldstandardscouncil.org.uk or phone 0131 244 3444.

Adult Learning Survey
The Adult Learning Survey, which is being conducted by the Scottish Government in partnership with Education Scotland and the CLD Standards Council, will be open until the 17th January.
It is designed to capture the views of all adult learners and in particular those who have faced barriers whilst trying to access and progress through learning. Information from the survey will be used to develop the Adult Learning Strategy for Scotland.
Please highlight this survey to adult learners to help build the future strategy to meet their needs.
https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/AdultLearningSurvey2019/

Survey on the Future of Youth Work in Scotland –
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/NationalYouthWorkStrategy2020-2025SurveyforYoungPeople
A survey by young people for young people to help to shape a renewed National Youth Work Strategy.

Survey closes on 24 December.

The CLD Standards Council continually promotes the essential role of professional CLD practitioners, and this is all the more important as resources get ever-scarcer.
The Why Employers need professional CLD practitioners paper sets out the ways in which professional CLD practitioners are not just valuable but indispensable.
The paper and further information are available on the  website.

The CLD Standards Council is delighted to once again sponsor the National Youth Work Award for Team of the Year. Nominations are now closed and we look forward to the awards ceremony in March 2020.

The CLDSC raised the profile of CLD at the SERA conference held in November, with Marion Allison presenting on the role of social capital practices in professional learning, and Colin Ross, together with John Galt of Education Scotland and Shannon Anderson of Rocket Science UK, presenting on the issues raised by the Working with Scotland’s Communities research.

Scotland receives over £780 million of funding through the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund under the current 2014-2020 programmes. The Scottish Government is consulting on a replacement funding vehicle.
Major elements of the European Structural Funds’ objectives align closely with the role of CLD. Can the potential replacement programme be designed to meet the needs of, and create opportunities for, communities, more effectively by utilising CLD?
The consultation paper is available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/replacement-european-structural-funds-scotland-post-eu-exit/pages/1/. The closing date for responses is 12 February 2020.
Please share your thoughts and comments, including any experience you have of using or engaging with the European Structural Funds, to inform the CLD Standards Council’s response by emailing us a contact@cldstandardscouncil.org.uk, and encourage your CLD colleagues and partners to feed in their views.

Anthony Beekman, Theresa Marsili, and Evelyn Scanlan (who work for Falkirk, Stirling and Angus Councils) were among members who benefited from passes, which the CLDSC offered to each CLD Professional Learning Network area, to attend the World Community Development Conference, held in Dundee in June.

They were impressed with a “particularly inspiring workshop on community development from the perspective of indigenous people combating the legacy of colonialism” and the “similarities of work done in other countries and how we are all tackling similar problems”; and commented that in the current “trying times” it was “excellent; eye opening, mind broadening, inspiring and engaging”, with “such a friendly and captivating atmosphere,” “a truly world conference with perspectives on community development from people around the globe”.

Ever wondered what goes on over in the Twitter-sphere?  Here’s a selection of #BecauseOfCLD tweets from the last few months.  See if you can spot anyone you know!  If you want to find out more, why not follow us @cldstandards

Open University Roadshows
Awards Network
Gift Tech – Giving the Gift of Technology
North Lanarkshire Carers Celebrating Success
Adult Education 100
Happy Birthday Lead Scotland!
Video – See Jamie talk about a life in care and his move to a career in CLD
Life after Graduating in CLD
A history of CLD? There’s a book for that!