Our colleges are very much open for business
COVID-19 is affecting us all, and we are having to live with restrictions to mitigate this global pandemic emergency that we could not have imagined just a few months ago.
This crisis has dramatically accelerated remote learning in colleges as digital capacity has been significantly expanded and learning continues.
The way teaching is done has changed, but colleges are still very much open for business with tens of thousands of hours being delivered online each week across the country.
When the Scottish Government introduced the lockdown in mid-march, the college sector quickly suspended face-to-face learning and has adapted remarkably well in a short period of time to this new way of learning. Throughout this emergency, college institutions will continue to prioritise the safety and wellbeing of their students and staff.
Support and lecturing staff enjoy excellent pay, terms and conditions in the sector and have responded very well during this crisis, and, rightly, the college sector continues to support the Scottish Government’s principles of Fair Work.
The sector is helping to provide its students with the right support at the right time, and not only is this year’s cohort continuing to learn but the application process for next year is also very much ongoing. So, anyone considering enrolling should contact their local college and choose a course to enable progression in their journey or career.
Frontline staff in Scotland are doing a magnificent job in an extremely challenging situation and our society shall be forever indebted to them.
Colleges are civic anchors in their communities and are helping frontline services in a multitude of different ways during this crisis, and it is extremely heartening to see students, staff and alumni putting their considerable skills and expertise to good use.
Colleges are donating essential supplies to food banks, hand sanitisers to local social care partners, personal protection equipment of disposable gloves, face masks, safety goggles, and aprons to frontline services as well as designing and making visors and other equipment on 3D printers.
MANY students and staff have volunteered to support NHS Scotland, Police Scotland and social care organisations to help vulnerable people by using their skills in administration, telecoms, social care, sanitation, driving and graphics technology, while others have joined the British Red Cross, Volunteer Scotland and community organisations. We should all feel proud of their commendable efforts.
Colleges cotland and the sector are working very closely with the Scottish Government and its agencies, including Scottish Funding Council, Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Qualifications Authority – and other awarding bodies – to obtain financial assurances for our institutions and the best possible outcome for learners.
We are determined that no learner shall be disadvantaged, despite the cancellation of the exam diet, and we now have positive and practical processes in place for assessing HNC, HND, NC and NQ units. We will also collectively find positive solutions for how vocational subjects can be fairly assessed.
Our focus is on ensuring that all learners are awarded the certificates they merit, and they can progress onto other college or university courses, apprenticeships or employment.
In these days without precedence, colleges are looking after their students and staff and, once this emergency has passed, as happened in previous recessions, the sector will play a hugely important role in Scotland’s economic revival and redesign with its delivery of high-quality learning and teaching while providing people with the necessary professional, technical and vocational skills employers require.