Education Scotland works collaboratively with national and regional partners to deliver agreed aspects of the Scottish Government's Developing the Young Workforce programme, as set out in the Youth Employment Strategy. There is a particular focus on supporting skills development and helping young people aged 3-18 prepare for the world of work as expressed within 'Building the Curriculum 4: Skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work’. However it also acknowledges more recent research and developments such as the development of ‘Skills 4.0., a skills model to drive Scotland’s future’ or the Career Review.

Standards and guidance within learning and teaching

The Career Education Standard 3-18 (CES), the Work Placements Standard and the Guidance for School/Employer Partnerships outline the entitlements for learners and the expectations placed on teachers and practitioners, Skills Development Scotland, employers and parents to support all children and young people in their development of skills and understanding of the world of work. Schools are being asked to embed the standards and guidance within learning and teaching across all levels in partnership with stakeholders in order to provide pathways for learners, that best support the realisation of young peoples’ future aspirations.

Creativity across learning, and its links to the creative industries, is included in this programme of work.

Priorities

The programme currently focuses on the following key priorities:

Curriculum development

This includes the implementation of CES 3-18, developing senior phase pathways, incorporating related priority from the STEM strategy and the Scottish Government's Learner Journey Review.

Creativity across learning

A wide range of creative teaching and learning resources are available, supporting the implementation of the DYW agenda, and complementing the work of the Creative Learning Network.

Advancing equalities

Helping to develop a more diverse and representative workforce, and achieve better outcomes for all learners, by addressing inequalities, especially those relating to gender, disability, race and experience of care.

Capacity building

In order to support the DYW implementation a wide range of collaborative working groups, training opportunities, resources etc. are in place. This now includes a focus on curriculum design.

Downloads

• Career Education Standard (821 KB)
• Career Education Standard (Gaelic version) (1.2MB)
• Work Placement Standard (655 KB)
• Virtual Work Placement Guidelines
• Guidance documents for school/employer partnerships (510 KB)