In Scotland, we’re now moving onto the next stage of Covid-19 recovery. In this renewal phase, we need to ensure that the use of public resources is maximised and that effective partnerships are supported. 

Ministers have a lot to do: they need to address a challenging civic and economic environment - and in the Community Learning and Development (CLD) sector, we believe that as they do this, there should be a commitment to ensuring that no-one or community is left behind.

We have an opportunity to create an integrated, tertiary education sector which fosters a national, resilient and systemic approach to supporting individuals and communities. 

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This approach to 21st-century lifelong learning would utilise the three aspects of CLD - adult learning, community development and youth work - and support Scottish government policies while obtaining maximum benefit from the public investment in education.

Adult learning

The latest Nomis labour market data shows that 700,000 adults in Scotland have either no or level one qualifications. We’re looking at a huge rise in unemployment, and indisputably, these are the people who the economic downturn will hit most.  

The importance of ensuring that these individuals have access to appropriate learning opportunities is one of the key lessons from previous recessions. The failure to protect community-based adult learning during earlier recessions resulted in wider deep-seated socio-economic deprivation. We’ve all seen or heard the stories of individuals who weren’t able to acquire the skills required to engage in further study or sustainable employment. And we all know the impact this has on mental health and wellbeing. 

In CLD, we have a long-standing and effective track record of delivering community-based adult learning which enables individuals to acquire the skills identified by Skills Development Scotland as central to employer needs for Industry 4.0. 

Community-based learning, including literacy and ESOL provision, is also often the most effective means of engaging successfully with those who have had a previous negative experience of education and/or have held job roles where there has been no formal training. 

In addition, local access to learning removes the need to travel, the cost of which is often a major barrier to individuals in the most deprived and rural communities.

Therefore, CLD providers working with colleges and SDS should establish an agreed community-based learning programme for adults which supports the acquisition of the skills required for further study or employment. This curriculum offer should be linked to the development of an agreed approach to the co-creation of micro-credentials using the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework. Delivering a programme such as this in each college region would provide a systemic and coherent approach. In turn, this would support progression and pathways to employment and/ or further study. 

This provision doesn’t necessarily need to be exclusive to adult learners either. Family learning has huge success rates - and helps to support the attainment of young people while also providing adults with the skills they need to progress into further study or employment.

Community development

The importance of effective communities has been highlighted by the pandemic and an article in the Lancet published in May 2020 identified that grassroots movements were central to the response to previous pandemics. However, it highlighted that:

“Good mechanisms for community participation are hard to establish rapidly. High-quality co-production of health (education themes) takes time. Meaningful relationships between communities and providers should be nurtured to ensure sustainable and inclusive participation.”

The view of public health experts is that Covid-19 is likely to be a constant in the near to medium term. Therefore the building of community capacity to address this threat is absolutely crucial to Scottish government public health policy and the Public Health Scotland strategic plan. 

Embedding CLD any community-led projects would be excellent, not just for public health, but also for the development of the skills required for wider community empowerment/engagement and, for individuals, the acquisition of key meta-skills.

If regional health boards and local communities were to engage with the CLD workforce, we could support engagement on health-related topics and also produce improvement programmes related to the Covid-19 pandemic, mental health and other health issues.

Youth work

There has been considerable emphasis on the need to support young people during the pandemic and to put in place structures which will seek to address the impact of school closures. An effective youth work curriculum has a major role to play in supporting schools and colleges by providing a range of learning opportunities to develop of meta and citizenship skills. 

It would also provide opportunities for young people to gain certification in areas not covered by the traditional curriculum offer. Through the Regional Improvement Collaborative framework, CLD providers could have the opportunity to design and deliver both family learning and youth work programmes which supported the Scottish Attainment Challenge and the widening access agenda. 

The value of a professionally qualified CLD workforce

In addition, there is a critical requirement that CLD representatives have the opportunity to support the development of a national digital strategy for Education as proposed by ScotlandIS. 

The pandemic has highlighted both the scale of digital poverty and the need for a systemic national initiative to address this issue - and the CLD workforce has a voice to add to developing that strategy. 

The pandemic has highlighted the value of a professionally qualified CLD workforce - and how much we need them as we enter the renewal phase. 

It is evident that the impact, both in terms of health and economically, of the virus has fallen disproportionately on the most deprived in society. It’s essential that going forward no individual or community is left behind and that the best use is made of scarce resources to deliver the maximum benefit for all. In partnership with others, the CLD workforce is committed to playing its part.

 Alan Sherry OBE is chair of the Community Learning and Development Standards Council for Scotland