Professional learning for community learning and development
Community Learning and Development (CLD) is the field of professional practice in Scotland which includes youth work, community-based adult learning, family learning, and community development.
Everyone needs Professional Learning and development; whether a person is a full time, part time or voluntary CLD practitioner, qualified or unqualified, they need to undertake professional learning and development in order to develop and maintain their practice.
Colleagues across Education Scotland keep this core value front and centre of all that they do, whether that is linked to delivering the Scottish Attainment Challenge, supporting practitioner through professional learning, or curriculum design.
Our CLD team are here to support you. CLD officers are linked to local authorities across Scotland.
Find out who your local authority contacts are.
Our website also hosts a growing collection of Professional Learning Activities (PLAs). These are stand-alone modules on a variety of themes that can be worked through at your own pace. PLAs are interactive learning materials that allow you to write responses and reflections to prompts, to save your progress and to keep a record of your learning.
You can even download a summary of your learning which can be used in to support your Professional Review and Development (PRD) discussions with your line manager.
This information can only be accessed by you and therefore you need to register for an account and log in to access the Professional Learning Activities (PLAs).
Before accessing the PLAs, you may wish to check out our guide to creating an account on our website.
Education Scotland's Professional Learning and Leadership team deliver a range of leadership programmes for leaders and practitioners.
Leading CLD is a national programme designed to build confidence in leadership. The programme has been designed and is facilitated in partnership with Education Scotland, CLD Standards Council, further education and national organisations and local authority CLD leaders. Applications are currently closed for 2024 and we will advertise when a further round is open.
In addition the following programmes may be of specific interest for CLD:
Please provide us with your contact information if you would like to be kept informed about future Leadership Professional Learning programmes.
Professional learning events include webinars and in person sessions. These can be searched by key words or phrases to look for specific themes or filtered by date or type of event (online or in-person).
UNCRC professional learning for CLD This resource supports knowledge and awareness of United Nations Conventions of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) for community learning and development practitioners.
The Inclusion, Wellbeing and Equalities Professional Learning Framework is a suite of learning resources focussed on four interconnected and interdependent themes:
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Inclusion
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Rights and equalities
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Relationships
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Wellbeing and care
It has been designed to be used a number of ways depending on your context - this could be as facilitated sessions in your setting, as collaborative professional learning or self-directed professional learning.
Our website also has two new open access learning resources - one focussed on coaching in education and the other practitioner enquiry in education .
These are designed as self-directed professional learning resources to build your own knowledge and skills. There are opportunities in both Coaching in Education and Enquiry in Education to join online sessions with educators from around Scotland to learn together.
Learning in Scotland has information about national programmes such as Developing the Young Workforce (DYW), Learning for Sustainability (LfS), Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) and Support for all. There are also links to key strategies and policies.
Curriculum for Excellence is where you will find information about Scotland's curriculum and links to key documents.
Professional Learning gathers together Education Scotland's professional learning offer - you can read more about this here.
Practitioner Resources can be searched by key words or browsed by type or theme e.g. STEM or Children's Rights.
Inspection and Review draws together information about the inspection process as well as all inspection reports, guidance and frameworks.
Parentzone Scotland provides information and advice about education in Scotland. It includes practical ideas to support learning at home in a variety of curriculum areas, along with information on additional support needs, and tips on how parents can get involved in their child’s school and education.
Community learning and development video resources
Pre-recorded professional learning webinars and sessions for the CLD sector.
CLD Standards Council Scotland
The professional body for people who work or volunteer in CLD in Scotland. Find out more about the work of CLD Standards Council and how it can support you.
Community learning and development networks
Education Scotland's CLD team facilitate a range of national networks.