Agenda item

Would Members please note that colour copies of the Learning Strategy have been circulated separately.

With reference to article 15 of the minute of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee of 8 October 2009, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport on the final version of the Aberdeen Learning Strategy.

The report outlined the background work which had gone into producing the Learning Strategy noting that the development of the strategy document had been undertaken alongside the development of the new Education, Culture and Sport Service Business Plan and the Corporate Business Plan.   As part of the work on the strategy, officers had also held a series of discussion and engagement events and the detail of these was outlined in the report.   It was noted that the events for school-age children and young people had been particularly successful with over 130 pupils and 50 adults participating.   

The report advised that the previous drafts of the Learning Strategy had set out eight priorities.   However, as part of the more recent strategy development work, a workshop had been held with managers to discuss the impact of the new Service Business Plan, and as a result there were now ten priorities proposed, namely:-

• curriculum for excellence
• helping those with different needs
• working together
• learning in the wider community
• fit-for-purpose schools/learning centres
• technology
• skilled and trained staff
• value for money
• community health and well being
• community engagement in culture, arts and heritage.

The amended priorities set out a broad vision for lifelong learning and the report noted that it was essential that the Council, alongside its stakeholders and partners, developed a strong lifelong learning culture to fully realise the positive outcomes in the attainment, achievement, and aspirations of children, young people, adults, families and communities.   It was felt that the lifelong learning approach meant that the Learning Strategy would be delivered throughout the five life stages of early childhood, childhood and early adolescence, later adolescence and early adulthood, adulthood and later life.

The final Aberdeen City of Learning Strategy was appended to the report with an overview of how the strategy would be implemented across the five life stages.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)       note the content of the report and approve the strategy document which was attached at Appendix 1;

(b)       note that the Aberdeen Learning Strategy consisted of the document at Appendix 1, which represented the policy framework for learning, and all the other major plans that had been (or would be) produced to implement the ten priorities for learning;

(c)        note that as a consequence of recommendation (b) above, major pieces of work were being developed and implemented as part of the roll-out of the strategy and that the finalisation of the strategy document was therefore not an end in itself;  and

(d)       note that the new structure of the Education, Culture & Sport Service provided a fit-for-purpose structure to deliver the vision, aims and priorities set out in the Learning Strategy.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to approve the strategy;  and

(ii)        to thank officers for the amount of work which had gone into producing the document.