Old challenges, new context: Scotland's colleges as pathways from poverty in the post-covid era

A focus on tackling poverty, inequality and social exclusion is not new for Scotland’s colleges, but the circumstances they now face are. Together, automation and technological change, the climate emergency, an aging population, and the cost-of-living crisis, represent a uniquely challenging set of circumstances within which Scottish colleges are tasked with delivering opportunity for all learners. Exploring how they approach these old challenges in this new context has been the focus of the College Development Network’s recent Pathways from Poverty series of reports. This article will discuss some of the key themes highlighted in these reports to build a picture of how, as a vital component of the national skills system, Scotland’s colleges continue to provide opportunity for learners from some of the country’s most disadvantaged communities, while simultaneously playing an important role in supporting Scotland to achieve its national economic objectives.