Skills and education challenges addressed at Dumfries conference

A one-day conference will be held at the Crichton tomorrow to explore skills, innovation, and opportunity in rural Scotland. Hosted by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) and The Crichton Foundation the event is bringing together range of speakers from across Scotland and Northern England to discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by rural Scotland’s skills and education system. Giving more detail about the purpose of the event, Dr Janet Brown, RSE’s vice president, education, said: “Our economy is changing, the nature of jobs and the location of opportunity is shifting, bringing additional and novel jobs to some areas whilst sectors decline in others. Rural areas bring an additional dimension because of their very nature, and they are being and will continue to be impacted. “These wider economic and social challenges have spillover effects on the education and skills infrastructure, meaning people will need to upskill on a regular basis at a time and a place and a way in which suits them and businesses whilst being deliverable by providers.” In Scotland, different value has been placed on technical and vocational career paths as compared to academic pathways. Experts argue that these highly skilled technical roles should be seen as equally worthy, providing gainful and sustainable career paths for people, or Scotland’s workforce will see increasing significant skills shortages in key areas. Gavin Stevenson, trustee for the Crichton Foundation, added: “For too long rural Scotland has watched our children leave due to the lack of career pathways, or remain to face below national average wages. “The Crichton Foundation believes this conference will help focus all partners on how, working together, we can more effectively advocate for systemic change and identify priority areas for investment.”