Rocking around the Christmas Tree 2021 Style
Rocking around the Christmas Tree is certainly a challenge this Christmas and whilst we may not be able to fully celebrate the festive break in time honoured ways, CLD Standards Council members across Scotland continue to be the rock on which many communities, learners and young people depend. Collectively, our sector demonstrated resilience as we navigated COVID recovery and renewal and now need well deserved time to relax.
Resilience
As COVID advances through our lives, the resilience of our sector has been remarkable. The agility and ingenuity of our members does not go unnoticed as practitioners across the country continue to deliver learning opportunities, food and befriending support.
Supporting members in this work, the CLD Standards Council contributed to COVID guidance and professional learning sessions to help practitioners to deliver services safely. We also represented our collective experiences and ambitions at the Advanced Learning and Science COVID Recovery group which is chaired by Mr Jamie Hepburn MSP, Minister for Higher Education, Further Education, Youth Employment and Training.
Ongoing recovery from the impact of the virus has resulted in digital and blended learning opportunities being applied across all areas of CLD: adult learning, community development and youth work practice. Further to financial support from Scottish Government, the CLD Standards Council will be developing a CLD digital framework with and for the sector. Kirsty Gemmell has been appointed to contribute to the creation of a coherent space for CLD digital support and will work with members and other stakeholders to develop new and relevant digital competences in line with our professional competences, ethics and values.
Renewal
Renewal continues to be a recurring theme for us all. For the team, in 2021 we were sad to say goodbye to Colin Ross who retired in June and Willie Bhari who moved to a new role in Education Scotland in July. However, we were delighted to welcome Ruth Washbrook and Grant Garrett who are making huge contributions to our work. In January 2022 we will wave goodbye to Maggie Paterson who has supported the CLD professional pathways work and look forward to the appointment of new Development Officers and an Assistant Director in the New Year.
We also send our sincere thanks to Robert Hynd the previous Chair of the Approvals Committee welcome Graeme McMeekin to the role. We would also like to wish Ian McLaughlin, a long standing member of the Executive Committee a happy and healthy retirement and thank him for his wise and welcomed contributions to supporting the CLD workforce.
The renewed CLD plans for every local authority in Scotland were submitted in autumn of this year and we look forward to working with our partners in 2022 to consider the implications of the plans for our members. Furthermore, we were delighted to contribute to numerous national consultations and reviews including the proposed reform of Education Scotland and the Scottish Qualifications Authority, the review of the Scottish Funding Council and Skills Development Scotland and are grateful to all our members who participated in this work.
Relax
Staying connected with each other through our members’ conference and catch ups, social media and our weekly newsletter has sustained our health and well-being throughout the year and we want to say a sincere thanks to you all for continuing to support, develop and contribute our professional association. So here’s to celebrating in the “new, old fashioned way”! Wishing you all relaxing, safe and happy holidays and we hope to see you all in 2022.
Best wishes
Marion
CLDSC Members Conference Evaluation – last chance to complete
If you attended the conference and haven’t already done so, we’d really appreciate it if you could take 10 minutes to complete the conference evaluation. Your feedback will help us shape future member events and conferences, so please do let us know your thoughts.
Climate Emergency Training for Youth Workers in 2022
Dealing with climate change is an issue of the utmost concern, with young people aged 18-24 seeing it as an immediate and urgent problem. During COP26, young people in Scotland were engaged in issues around climate change to an unprecedented level.
The youth work sector has an important role to play in ensuring that this momentum is continued among young people, and YouthLink Scotland, Keep Scotland Beautiful and Young Scot are offering online Climate Emergency Training specifically for youth workers.
The course aims to build the confidence of youth workers in talking with young people about the climate emergency; providing a basic guide to climate science, policy, climate justice and youth climate action.
The training is split into three 2-hour modules which can be taken over three weeks or condensed into a single day. It is being offered completely free of charge for anyone in the youth work sector, whether paid or voluntary, until March 2022.
At the end of the course, youth workers will take an assessment and be certified as Carbon Literate, a nationally recognised certification. The next dates available to sign up for the training are:
Course Options:
- Option 1: 19 January / 26 January / 02 February – 10am-12pm
- Option 2: 19 January / 26 January / 02 February – 2pm-4pm
- Option 3: 28 January / 04 February / 11 February – 10am-12pm
- Option 4: 27 January – Full day.
You can find out more and sign up at the Keep Scotland Beautiful website.
Bespoke sessions are also available for organisations with a minimum of 20 participants, and can be arranged at a time that suits you.
Get in touch with Freya at faitchison@youthlinkscotland.org for more information.
Thinking Digitally Course
Lead Scotland will be delivering the Thinking Digitally course, free for disabled people, carers, and those who provide services for disabled people and carers. This course provides a supportive environment for learners to improve their digital skills, earn a qualification (12 credits at SCQF level 6), and create an accessible ‘digital artefact’, such as a website or blog. You may benefit from this course if you are looking to: improve your digital confidence and competence, learn about different online tools for communication and collaboration, and discover how to produce accessible online content.
The course will involve 13 one-hour tutor-led sessions delivered over Zoom, with 10 weeks of supported group learning and 3 weeks to finalise your digital artefact and e-portfolio. To take part, learners will need to have basic digital skills, access to a computer that supports videoconferencing, and a stable internet connection. Learners will also need to be able to complete a course at SCQF level 6. This requires learners to have the time and capability to study independently for a few hours a week, and to reflect upon their learning, with support.
Please visit Lead Scotland’s website for more information about the course or email BuildBackDigital@Lead.org.uk for enquiries or further information.
Upcoming Online SCQF Workshops
SCQF will be delivering online workshops in January 2022. Find out more and Save the Dates for February and March 2022.
CLDSC Festive Break
The CLDSC office will be closed for the festive break from Thursday 23rd December and will reopen on Wednesday 5th January 2022.
We wish you and your loved ones a peaceful festive season.