This December 2025 issue of the newsletter reinforces the vital role of interdisciplinary learning (IDL) as a central feature of the changing learning landscape, from early years through to the senior phase.
IDL brings two or more disciplines together in a meaningful way, giving young people the chance to build new knowledge, draw on prior learning, and apply skills to real-world challenges. This approach is increasingly aligned with national developments, including recommendations from the Scottish Qualifications Authority and the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment (IRQA), both of which emphasise project-based and interdisciplinary approaches to learning.
For Scotland’s youth-awards sector, this creates a powerful opportunity: to align long-standing, community-rooted award programmes with modern pedagogies that develop the whole learner, deepen engagement, and connect more directly with what young people need now and in the future. It comes coupled with a unique opportunity to develop accredited interdisciplinary programmes which can be delivered within Scotland's evolving curriculum.
