Schools
SDS Education in schools
How SDS Education can support schools in 2023/24
Our work with schools involves delivering high-quality professional learning for teachers as well as a suite of resources that supports the continuous embedding of career education in the classroom.
Resources
These resources focus on building awareness, knowledge and understanding of:
- Skills – knowledge, competencies and abilities that are developed through life, study and work experiences to perform operational tasks.
- Labour market information (LMI) - data on supply (people and qualifications) and demand (jobs and industries) from the past and present which helps us better understand labour market change.
- Career management skills (CMS) - the skills that enable people to understand who they are and what they’re good at, explore what they want to work towards and who can help them take those steps.
Career Education Themes
If classroom practitioners can embed these key career education themes into day-to-day learning and teaching, then they will be addressing the expectations of the Career Education Standard. In turn this will help young people understand their capabilities and develop their aspirations to make informed learning and career choices.
My World of Work has a specific partner area where educators can access resources that will support the embedding of career education and the development of young people’s career management skills.
- Activities are linked to relevant Curriculum for Excellence experiences and outcomes.
- The resources support teachers to deliver the ‘I can’ statements described in the Career Education Standard and align with the aspirations of Developing the Young Workforce.
St Luke’s High School Meta-skills journey
Why we embarked on a whole school approach to helping young people identify, develop and articulate their meta-skills.
When St Luke’s High School began to look at their vision, values and aims, they realised that key to meeting these aims was helping young people develop the skills they need to thrive in an everchanging world. After discussions with Skills Development Scotland (SDS), St Luke’s decided to put meta-skills at the heart of their teaching.
Here we look at how Susan McLaren from SDS’s Education team supported teachers in this process and a look at how St Luke’s High School used the resources in SDS’s meta-skills toolkit.

Falkirk High School - Embedding Career Education
Skills Development Scotland’s Education team work in partnership with schools delivering high quality professional learning for teachers. This is supported by a suite of resources to support the continuous embedding of career education in the classroom.

Carnoustie High School - Developing skills as a MyWoW Ambassador
Neve Barrett is a pupil at Carnoustie High School in Angus and has volunteered as an Ambassador for My World of Work since being in S1. During her time as an Ambassador Neve has had opportunities to undertake a range of activities that have allowed her to develop skills which have supported her learner journey as she progressed through secondary and have helped her to move on to life after school. Neve and the staff at Carnoustie High School take up the story.

Denny High School My World of Work Ambassadors – Supporting curriculum wide career education.
Denny High School run their My World of Work Ambassador programme in support of broader career education activity which is aimed at embedding an understanding of career planning throughout the curriculum. Here we look at the approach they have taken and how the Ambassadors help support the wider school community with their activities.

St Paul’s RC Academy – meta-skills within the Outward Bound experience April 2021
St Paul’s RC Academy in Dundee have been taking proactive steps to embed the meta-skills framework into learning and teaching. Here we share one approach they have taken and the feelings from pupils who undertook the Outward Bound experience.

Wallace Hall Primary – CES/My World of Work session Feb 21
Skills Development Scotland’s Education team recently led a session with staff at Wallace Hall Primary to increase the teachers’ knowledge of the Career Education Standard and the resources available to help them meet the expectations of the standard.

Collaborative opportunities
If you are interested in collaborating with us, please register your interest and we will be back in touch as opportunities arise.
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