Childcare professionals - new continuous professional learning portal: letter from Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise

To: All childcare professionals

From: Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise

18 March 2024

I am writing to you today to make you aware of a new single point of access, online Continuous Professional Learning (CPL) portal. The new portal brings together resources from a range of training providers including the Care Inspectorate, Education Scotland, Scottish Government and Scottish Social Services Council. All resources are quality assured and designed to support your practice. 

Since taking up post a year ago, I have been hugely impressed by the depth of knowledge and expertise in the childcare profession and the high-quality care and learning experiences that you provide every day. It’s just one reason why I am proud to be the Minister responsible for children and young people and Keeping the Promise. 

No small part of building your expertise, is the CPL you undertake each year. Professional learning is of utmost importance in enhancing skills across the profession and enabling adaptation to the ever changing landscapes in education and care. Ensuring your learning and skills are up to date and reflective of best practice allows us to provide positive support for children and families, furthering our mission to make Scotland ‘the best place in the world to grow up’. 

That is why we have developed an invaluable online training resource with SSSC colleagues, Care Inspectorate and Education Scotland, and tested together with colleagues across the profession. We envisage this resource will enhance your professional development by allowing you to access, in one place, quality assured CPL resources, guidance and reference documents. 

For those newer to the sector, I am also pleased to let you know that the National Induction Resource was updated in November last year and is also available via the portal. The induction resource provides new ELC employees with all the relevant information they need on what to expect in their first few months in post, including the most up-to-date resources and best practice. This has been streamlined from the previous iteration and includes reflective questions to enhance practice.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to alert you to a further tool to support childcare professionals, recently been launched by NHS Education for Scotland. The Mental Health and Wellbeing Resource brings together helpful resources to support you in  your role in supporting babies’, infants’ and young children’s mental health and wellbeing. The resource will be especially helpful to those working with children from birth to age 5, but may also be useful for those working with older children. In addition, the new resource helps you to identify your own wellbeing needs and provides useful signposting to resources designed specifically to support the wellbeing of Childcare professionals.

I encourage you all to take a moment to look at the new portal and everything it has to offer you. 

I also want to take the opportunity to thank everyone working with children and young people for the continued dedication to, and support for, children and families across Scotland. Your work is truly inspiring.