The latest sector skills council to appear on the scene will have its official launch in Edinburgh next Tuesday, in the form of the Scottish arm of Lifelong Learning UK.
This will be responsible for upgrading the skills of those working in lifelong learning. It has been sealed through a partnership agreement with the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Funding Council, which will provide funding over the next three years.
Lifelong Learning UK, one of 25 sector skills councils across the country, has appointed Christine Fitton as its manager for Scotland. Ms Fitton is a former head of the international unit in Edinburgh’s education department and went on to run the city’s lifelong learning partnership.
Ms Fitton said her task would be to support the goals of the sector skills bodies, including “improving the quality of learning supply to the lifelong learning workforce” and tackling skills gaps. Its main activities will be in further education colleges, universities, community learning, libraries and work-based learning.
The aim was to ensure “Scottish funding adds value to activities in Scotland and that LLUK resources adequately address the lifelong learning sector’s needs”.