Up and coming events from the CLD Standards Council

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EDI Member Forum: Gaming/Gambling Harms training for Faith and Community Leaders – Tuesday 23 September 2025
10am-12.30pm

Delivered by Ygam, this engaging, evidence-based training, will help you develop a deeper understanding of how gaming and gambling affect young people in marginalised communities and faith groups, increase your confidence in addressing these sensitive topics, and give you practical strategies for prevention that respect cultural values. Topics will include:

  • How young people encounter gaming and gambling in their daily lives
  • The role of advertising, social media, and evolving gaming mechanics
  • Understanding vulnerability factors in marginalised groups
  • The role religion and culture can play in relation to gaming and gambling.
  • Gaming, gambling, and their impact on mental health and wellbeing
  • The blurred lines between gaming and gambling
  • Understanding in-game purchases, microtransactions and virtual currencies
  • Spotting the changes in behaviour that may signal harm
  • Supporting young people through effective conversations
  • Signposting and connecting young people with appropriate support

A greater understanding of these important and senstive areas can support our work with learners and communities. As always, we aim for this to be a safe, inclusive and positive space for CLD practitioners to share expertise, ask questions and develop knowledge to inform practice. All links, presentations and resources will be available for you to access on our ED&I i-develop group after the session.

Rural CLD Practitioner Network: Climate Anxiety & Eco Distress – Wednesday 8 October 2025 3-4.30pm

This Rural CLD Practitioner Network session will explore climate anxiety and eco-distress in the context of Community Learning and Development in rural areas.

As the climate changes, negative environmental effects are being felt and seen around the world. The effect that climate change has on mental health is often termed climate anxiety or eco distress. This feeling can manifest as a “chronic fear of environmental doom”. Recent studies have shown it is being felt by young people all over the world, as well as by a significant number of adults.

(World Economic Forum, How do scientists feel about climate change? )

During this session, we will have a specific focus on rurality, and will consider:

  • Current research, facts and figures,
  • Views of children and young people,
  • Sharing helpful tools and resources,
  • Time for questions and professional dialogue.

Member Meet-up: The Community Empowerment Act 10 years on – Community Empowerment and Local Democracy – Wednesday 22 October 2025 14:00-15.30pm

A decade since the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 was passed, this session will provide an overview of the Act’s Findings and Update Report published by the Scottish Government on 31 March 2025. The session will also include an overview and update on Democracy Matters which is designing new and enhanced democratic community level decision making arrangements which will play a pivotal role in the next steps of Scotland’s community empowerment journey.

The session will explore how community empowerment legislation has benefited community learning and development approaches, which parts of the Act have had the most impact, what barriers remain and how Democracy Matters can take Scotland’s community empowerment to the next level.

Join us to share your views, your practice and your thoughts for the future.

EDI Member Forum – 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence – Thursday 30 October 2025 11am-13:00pm

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that starts on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day.

Over the last 5 years, The National Violence Against Women Network have developed an annual toolkit of resources for the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence across Scotland. The toolkit includes resources such as digital logos for campaign materials, graphics and animations on key statistics, and template resources such as a communications schedule and prompt cards on a chosen theme. This toolkit and collective activity supports the programme of events carried out by local Violence Against Women Partnerships and other organisations/community groups, bringing together people across Scotland to stand against violence against women and girls (VAWG) and call for action.

Hosted by the Improvement Service, this session will focus on how the toolkit is developed and used in Scotland, and will provide examples of local campaigns and ongoing work to prevent and end violence against women and girls.

Member Meet-up – Qualifications: Assessing & Verifying in CLD – Thursday 13 November 2025 11am-12.30pm

Join us for this session where we will hear from fellow CLD Standards Council members in Aberdeenshire Council’s CLD team on how they ‘grow their own’ assessors and internal verifiers for delivering SQA qualifications.

During the session, we’ll explore

  • what it means to be an SQA centre, the impact on the Aberdeenshire Teams work
  • how the team train Assessors/Internal Verifiers
  • the process used in Aberdeenshire Council and examples of their standard paperwork
  • the requirements assessors must undertake in order to be fully trained
  • the range of qualifications on offer to learners.

And of course, there will be plenty of opportunities to ask questions and get into the details about “what, why and how”.