Has the education reform train stopped or is it advancing by a different route? From our point of view at the Community Learning and Development (CLD) Standards Council, we most definitely see the need for change, but also for a rethink about the intended destination.

The Scottish government’s plans for an Education Workforce Council (incorporating the CLD Standards Council, along with the General Teaching Council for Scotland) have been left in a siding. There was vocal opposition to the proposal from teachers, while CLD practitioners - the other group most affected - generally saw little reason to support the idea, even if their views received somewhat less media attention.

However, the issues that the proposal for a workforce council tried to engage with - such as the questions of who is contributing to education and how best to raise their standards of practice - have not disappeared. Nor has the issue that loomed large in relation to the package of reforms as a whole: inequality of educational opportunity, closely linked with wider social and economic inequality.

Should teachers and other readers of Tes Scotland care what CLD practitioners have to contribute on this or other matters? Or, a better question: does the work that CLD practitioners do matter for education, and for the people education is intended to serve?

Arguments about “education reform” in Scotland have long had a particular focus, sticking to a familiar set of priorities: they are resolutely fixated on grades in a limited range of qualifications, typically delivered in schools. CLD, in common with other less frequently heard voices on the education and public policy scene, offers a different perspective. Instead of seeing “education” as being primarily about schooling for the 3-18s, CLD focuses on lifelong learning, social justice and developing the capacity of communities.

CLD practitioners work with a range of people to develop their confidence, autonomy and skills. These could be vulnerable, “challenging” young people gaining a sense of achievement for the first time; adults who have emerged from the school system with nothing to show other than a negative view of education, who would benefit from improved literacy; or people who have been excluded from finding their voice, as they work for change in their communities.

A holistic system

The practice of CLD focuses on what people want to positively change. Once the motivation for learning takes hold and starts to grow, it in turn becomes the stimulus for change, which tends to ripple out: from young people who engage positively with their community and their school to adults who gain the confidence to support their children’s learning and communities that start to shape their own future.

This is not to say that schools or qualifications no longer matter, or that change through lifelong learning and community development happens easily. Rather, we should stop and think about the relative amount of time young people spend in and out of school, and about the extent to which qualifications match with what people need if they are to flourish in the 21st century.

The vital work done in schools is one part of the learning that happens throughout our lives in all sorts of contexts. However, we will only really have a chance of closing the attainment gap when we give serious attention to supporting young people, learners, families and disadvantaged communities to develop their own capacities.

Schools alone cannot solve the poverty-related attainment gap. They will be more effective when they are part of a system that works in a holistic way, and connects learning opportunities and outcomes across the contexts, lives and interests of children and young people.

The CLD Standards Council is the professional body for the sector. When we consulted our members about the Education Workforce Council proposals, many said they could see the virtue of creating better links between practitioners involved in different aspects of education. They were, however, very clear that CLD needed its own identity.

CLD takes place in many different settings, with three main strands: youth work, community-based adult learning and community development. The common identity comes from shared values and methods of practice. The Standards Council has led the profession in articulating these in relation to practice, values, behaviours, competencies and a code of ethics.

We think an enhanced role for CLD professional practice, as well as a shift of emphasis to lifelong learning and the development of learning communities, have a key role to play in reforming education in Scotland - in a way that brings real, positive change in the communities where it is needed most.

It should go without saying, but needs to be emphasised, that no one sector in education has all the answers. There is increasing recognition that more and better collaboration among a wide range of professionals is a prerequisite for progress in education, and to better serve our children, young people and communities.

We need CLD to come in from the sidelines of education, and we need to build relationships, mutual understanding and respect.

Colin Ross is policy and practice development officer for the Community Learning and Development Standards Council