Learning Link Scotland welcomes the Independent Review of CLD in Scotland. ‘Learning: For All, For Life’. 

The team at Learning Link Scotland are currently reading through the review and will comment over the coming weeks on the recommendations. For our initial thoughts, read on…

Learning Link Scotland was established for and by third sector adult learning organisations. 

Our vision for Scotland is for a learning nation where Scotland is not only the best place in the world to grow up in but also the best place to learn. 

Our purpose is to ensure Third Sector adult learning organisations work together to create a successful, dynamic and forward thinking Scotland. 

Our mission is to support, promote, represent and develop Third Sector adult learning in Scotland. 

We are currently reading through and analysing the review and in our role as outlined above, will make comments over the coming weeks on the recommendations made in the Review document. Our initial thoughts include the following. 

Learning Link Scotland welcomes: 

1. The recognition that, “Third Sector and voluntary organisations have played, and will continue to play, a crucial role in delivering CLD services across Scotland, often doing so to groups with specific needs or characteristics.” 
2. The acknowledgement that, “Third sector organisations continue to initiate and develop a dynamic role in adult learning across Scotland’s communities.” 
3. The recommendation for, “a clear and cohesive Scottish Government policy narrative on Life-Long Learning. One that goes beyond the hitherto focus on careers and employability (crucially important as they are) and accepts that there will be different motivations behind why people want to learn. Moreover, not everyone will learn well within the current institutional structures, so alternative or additional approaches need to be available.” 
4. The recommendation that, “the Scottish Government should fund Scotland’s participation in the OECD International Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC)”. 
5. The recognition that, “People will need or want to learn throughout their lifetime, and that they will benefit from that learning in multiple ways. So, rather than talking about a ‘Learner Journey’, we need to see it as a true ‘Life-Long Learning Journey’, during which the individual will have different motivations for learning needs and wants, and the system needs to be ready to support that. This should also be based on an understanding that not everyone will flourish in ‘traditional’ or ‘formal’ education settings, and that those settings may not always be best able to provide additional support to those who need it.” 
6. An awareness that, Scotland’s Third Sector Adult Learning organisations frequently work in close partnership and collaboration with other CLD providers, for example, Local Authorities. Learning Link Scotland welcomes the report findings which highlights this key enabler to participation in CLD.   
7. In highlighting the major barriers to participation in CLD, the review notes how previous poor experience of the education system along with socio-economic factors and poverty manifests in lower levels of literacy and educational attainment. Third sector adult learning provision work in collaboration with a range of providers to tackle these issues for adult learners.  
8. The recognition of the detrimental impact short-term funding has on adult learning provision. “We wouldn’t expect those delivering learning in our schools or Colleges, or those providing professional social work support across our communities, to operate on that basis, (short-term funding) and I don’t see why it should be the case for professional CLD staff delivering learning to some of our most marginalised and disadvantaged learners. Funding to teach our young children how to read and write isn’t tied to a specific and time-limited project, so funding to teach older learners how to read and write should be provided on the same basis.” 
9. An awareness of the current ESOL crisis in Scotland. “It has been clear from the very start of this review that there is an ESOL crisis. I heard from those working on ESOL that there are thousands of New Scots currently on the waiting list for a place on an ESOL course in Glasgow alone (with circa 400 more being added every month).” 
10. The acknowledgement that, Scotland could look beyond its borders to countries such as Finland and Sweden for other CLD models to learn from. Third sector adult learning organisations in Scotland have established worldwide links with adult learning agencies, providers and practitioners. Learning Link Scotland would be pleased to share our experience and knowledge on developing active worldwide links.