Free digital learning for people across Scotland

Up to 20,000 people will be able to access courses to improve skills in areas including digital technology; finance and design.

Funded by the Scottish Government’s National Transition Training Fund (NTTF), the aim is to help people develop new skills and support businesses.

Minister for Higher Education and Further Education, Youth Employment and Training Jamie Hepburn said: “With many people in Scotland facing disruption to their learning or employment over the last 18 months, it’s never been more important that our career services support people to thrive and reach their full potential.

“Enabling adults in Scotland to develop new skills to help support the transition into new job opportunities is a key aim of the National Transition Training Fund.

“The fund aims not only to address skills needs arising as a result of the pandemic but to tackle emerging skills issues and the transition to net zero.”

The digitally enabled learning platform from Skills Development Scotland gives anyone 25 or over living in Scotland access to LinkedIn Learning and FutureLearn courses.

Skills Development Scotland’s Senior Policy Adviser for Labour Market, Fair Work and Employability, David Coyne said “This is an opportunity for people to enhance their existing skills or try something new.

“People can opt for digital learning in areas of high demand for skills such as financial modelling, software development, sales and project management.

“Others are opting to develop their careers skills including overcoming self-doubt, IT foundations or improving their leadership skills around diversity and sustainability.

“There are thousands of course options to choose from. Whether people want to gain skills and insight through LinkedIn Learning or delve deeper with a FutureLearn short course, the offer is there for people to use how, when and as much as they like.”

The skills boost is also aimed at supported employers, particularly small businesses.

Barry McCulloch, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Head of Policy in Scotland, said: “Local and independent businesses across Scotland have had an incredibly tough two years. But despite the challenges they face, many are looking to grow their business and build their capacity.

“This new initiative will allow many workers and businesses owners to develop and update their skills. This, in turn, will benefit businesses and the wider Scottish economy.”

Janine Chamberlin, UK Country Manager, LinkedIn said, “LinkedIn Learning is delighted to partner with SDS to support our Scottish members and provide them with the opportunity to learn new skills online. We realise what an extremely challenging period this has been for people everywhere.

“Learning new skills or developing existing ones can help people progress in their job today, and open doors to new opportunities in the future. It can also help people improve their confidence which is particularly beneficial to anyone who has been out of the workplace for a while. Through SDS, people across Scotland will be able to register for unlimited access to 16,000 LinkedIn Learning courses, accessible online and on mobile to study how, when and where best suits them.”

Director of Government Partnerships at FutureLearn, Harminder Matharu, said: “We work with over 250 world-leading universities and brands to create life-changing online learning experiences, underpinned by our unique social learning pedagogy which creates inspiring communities of learners. This forms a core part of our wider mission to transform access to education, which is why we are delighted to be working with SDS to offer enhanced, certificated access to our diverse catalogue of short courses across a variety of subjects such as business and management, technology and coding, and sustainability.”

The initial phase of support will allow people to access multiple courses until 31 July 2022.

The platform was launched during the first Scottish Careers Week – a campaign to encourage people to access careers support.

This new offer for adults is part of a range of support available from SDS.

People can find out more at careers.myworldofwork.co.uk.