Community Learning and Development

All Community Learning, Development & Employability pages can be accessed from the 'More pages in this section' menu.

Community Learning and Development is about empowering people, individually and collectively, to make positive changes in their lives and their communities through learning. Our task is to help people, whatever their age, get involved in learning opportunities and play as full a part as possible in the life of their communities.

We see learning as a life-long process and aim to create learning opportunities with easy access for people of all circumstances.

The Adult & Family Learning Team deliver a range of learning opportunities available across Orkney. Each year three termly Community Learning Programmes of daytime and evening classes are produced. Through The Learning Link, which is a free service dedicated to helping adults to gain new skills and increase their self-confidence, we help adults with reading, writing, numbers, digital skills and ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) support and provision.

The Youth Services Team work with young people aged 8 -25, providing a range of universal and targeted youth work opportunities across Orkney. Youth Services support young people to build their confidence, self-esteem and resilience and improve their health and wellbeing. They provide wider achievement opportunities and promote the development of skills for learning, life and work, run youth clubs, targeted youth provision and project work, deliver youth engagement activity, manage Young Scot delivery locally, and coordinate youth voice structures and activity.

Throughout Orkney, the Community Learning, Development & Employability Service (CLDE) provide community development support to voluntary groups and organisations involved in a wealth of activities of benefit to their local communities. CLDE support Community Associations, Community Schools and other community groups on a bespoke and tailored basis. The team provide training, organise events, deliver project work and promote effective community engagement and involvement.

The Employability Team can assist anyone living in Orkney, who is actively seeking employment or looking to enter education or training to gain full-time, part-time or additional employment. They can offer practical assistance to people returning to the work market after an absence or looking to re-train for a better job. The Employability Support Team can offer personalised one-to-one and group work support to people who are looking to increase their confidence, knowledge and skills in various areas and progress towards learning, training or employment. They can provide support to gain qualifications, look for and apply for jobs, arrange work tasters/ volunteering, access career information, in-work support and provide employer engagement support and incentives.

Follow the links below to find out more: