Additional Support for Learning Project Board minutes: March 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) (CHAIR)
• Scottish Government (SG)
• Education Scotland (ES)
• SG Early Learning and Childcare team (SG ELC)
• Education Institute of Scotland (EIS)
• UNISON
• National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT)
• ADES Early Years Network
• National Parent Forum Scotland (NPFS)
• Association of Scottish Principal Education Psychologists (ASPEP)
• Audit Scotland
• SG Supporting Learners’ team

Apologies

• Grant-Aided Special Schools (GASS)
• Social Work Scotland (SWS)
• Children in Scotland (CiS)
• Allied Health Professionals Leads
• Society of Local Authortiy Chief Executives (SOLACE)
• ENABLE Scotland

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

The Chair welcomed members to the meeting of the Additional Support for Learning (ASL) Project Board. The chair thanked members who had travelled to attend in person, and those members who were attending virtually.

Minutes from previous meeting

Members considered the draft minute of the meeting of 28 February 2024. The Board accepted the minutes as an accurate record of the meeting. The following updates were provided on the actions agreed at the last meeting.

The Supporting Learners' team were to contact the Children's Planning team to discuss the possibility of sharing children's services plan information, colleagues are due to meet at the beginning of May. ES and the Supporting Learners' team were to meet to discuss the ES' website information on national reporting, conversations on this are ongoing and a meeting will be schedule in the Spring to discuss in more detail. ADES were to share any work reports received from Children’s Services through their ASN Network to support sharing practice, it was noted this is an ongoing action and ADES will continue to share the information through their network. The Supporting Learners’ team are currently gathering mediation to circulate mediation to ADES. Discussions between ADES and ES's scrutiny team to see what information can be drawn together from evidence gathered by the inspectorate are yet to take place. A meeting between ADES, SOLACE and COSLA to discuss action LI19 has not yet taken place. ADES were to present NMF paper at Project Board in May, it was noted that work is ongoing on developing the paper. ADES were to invite Inclusion Ambassador representatives to future ADES ASN Network meeting, an update on this action will be sought at a future meeting. Members were to provide final action plan updates for the draft progress report to SG by 20th March, members were thanked for their responses.

 

Education Children and Young People (ECYP) Committee meeting on Additional Support for Learning

The Supporting Learners’ team introduced this item to the Board. A number of Project Board members gave evidence to the ECYP Committee to inform their inquiry on Additional Support for Learning, including the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills. The ECYP Committee will consider the evidence they received and draft a report with recommendations that may sit under the Project Board to consider. There may be further recommendations that could go directly to other organisations for consideration. The committee are aware that the actions included in the ASL Action Plan are currently being progressed with a delivery timeframe in March 2026. However, they may consider enhancing the plan through their recommendations. The ECYP Committee aim to have the report ready for consideration by 24th April and will update colleagues soon after.

The ASL Project Board will consider any recommendations that may come from the report in relation to the ASL Action Plan and discuss the ways these may be effectively incorporated into the existing Action Plan.

During the Cabinet Secretary’s session, it was proposed that the publication of the ASL Action Plan Progress Report be put on a temporary hold to allow time to consider the output of the ECYP Committee’s inquiry report, which could set out recommendations for ASL policy. To align with the necessary clearance stages through SG and COSLA levels, and to allow time to reflect any of these recommendations from the ECYP Committee report, it was proposed that the publication of the ASL Action Plan Progress Report be delayed until August 2024. Members were in agreement with the decision to delay publication. An agreed text justifying the delay should be shared through all members’ networks to ensure consistency in messaging. SG and COSLA will engage in further discussions with decision makers regarding the proposed delay and update the Project Board via correspondence.

Actions:

• SG and COSLA to update the Project Board on the delay of the ASL Action Plan Progress Report.
• Project Board to agree on the text justifying the publication delay that will be shared through the various networks of all PB members.

ASL Action Plan Progress Report

The Supporting Learners’ Team introduced this item to the Board. The previous Project Board meeting provided an opportunity for a focused session on challenging actions included in the action plan. Members were thanked for their helpful engagement and updates provided during the meeting, which have been reflected in the action plan tracker.

The 1st draft of the updated Progress Report was tabled at the meeting for members to comment; a version was to be shared with members following the meeting. Accessible and parent/carer versions of the ASL Progress Report will also be developed and published with conversations between APS and Enquire being underway.

ASPEP noted Local Authorities would be keen to share positive case studies relating to recommendations in the ASL Action Plan. ASPEP will cascade the request of positive case studies through their various networks. EIS noted it would be useful if case studies could reflect changes as part of the overall delivery of the ASL Action Plan to demonstrate the pathway to making a positive change.

ES emphasised the importance on ensuring pupil and practitioner voices are reflected throughout the report. It was suggested that there could be different ways to enhance the report to make it more engaging. Members were thanked for their comments.

Actions:

• Supporting Learners’ to issue the draft progress report to members following the meeting
• ASPEP to cascade the request for positive case studies through their networks

Sub-group updates

The Training and Resources subgroup, chaired by Education Scotland, last met on the 19 March 2024. They have been focusing on their scoping exercise as a way to fully understand what resources are currently available. Enquire agreed to share information with the subgroup to help develop this journey.

The Monitoring and Analysis sub group, chaired by ADES, last met on the 1 March 2024. The subgroup continue to work on preparing the first iteration of the National Measurement Framework (NMF); a rough outline of data sources has been identified and work on a business case to establish the draft dashboard for the Board’s consideration is underway. The paper that will be presented to the Board in May will include further updates on next steps and timelines. There are a lot of issues to consider when dealing with qualitative and quantitative data; The subgroup will consider how that information could be of the best use.

The Operational and Communications subgroup, chaired by COSLA, last met on the 24th January. The subgroup have already created a draft communications strategy, and has already shared it with the Project Board for feedback. The subgroup are aware that with the incoming work in relation to the upcoming publication of the ASL action plan and progress report, it is high time they consider what will the best way be to communicate and cascade this information  through the different levels. This was highlighted as an area the subgroup will want to focus on.

Actions:

• Enquire to share relevant information with the Training & Resources subgroup
• The Operational and Communications subgroup to consider how to better communicate the information they have and how to cascade everything through the different levels

Project plan

The Supporting Learners’ Team introduced this item to the Board. The Project Plan was shared in advance of the meeting.

The first action discussed was TP11: The Scottish Government will seek to work with local government and other partners to ensure that teachers and ELC practitioners can access support and expertise from other professionals when this is required.

ES introduced this action on behalf of the Training and Resources subgroup. This action relates to the ongoing work the subgroup are undertaking on the scoping exercise. ES have had conversations with CALL Scotland and ASLO to understand what will help them going forward. Any updates on this action have beenincluded in the most updated version of the ASL Action Plan Tracker. The subgroup feel confident that support and expertise will be accessed from a variety of sources. The new portal for continuous professional learning (CPL)  for childcare was launched on the 18 March 2024. The portal contains advice and professional learning resources. Whilst ensuring educators access to the support is something that cannot be controlled, direction to advice will be provided.

Members agreed that there is a great deal of information, support and training available at national level for educators, and that this action is close to being marked as complete (monitoring will need to continue on an ongoing basis).

The next action discussed was TP7: The Scottish Government and Education Scotland will build on and develop the suite of resources that are already available to teachers to support them to meet the needs of children and young people within their schools.

The Inclusion, Wellbeing and Equalities Professional learning Framework has been published but work to keep it updated continues. ES noted a mapping exercise was completed during the development of the framework. It was agreed this action is close to completion and it will continue to be monitored.

The next action discussed was PC12: The Scottish Government will work with partners to enhance information and signposting on additional support for learning for parents with younger children.

ELC team updated the Board on the wealth of information and advice on additional support for learning that the Enquire service provides; including information about children’s rights during their early years education, how these children can be supported both at early learning and childcare settings and during their transition to primary school.

Information and advice for parents on when their child may need additional support in ELC settings has been added onto Parent Club.

The ‘Funding follows the child’ and ‘the national standard for ELC providers operating guidance,’ published in December, were updated to include information about what children with ASN and their families can expect when applying for funded ELC places.

Members were in agreement this action could be marked as complete.

Actions:

• Action PC12 to be marked as complete
• Education Scotland to offer more information on a forward look for this action before TP7 can be marked as complete

Risk register

The risk register was shared with members in advance of the meeting and members were thanked for providing comments and updates to the Risk Register.

The Board had a focused discussion on risk 6. The risk currently sits with a risk score of 75, and has a target score to reach of 20 by May 2024. The risk states “If the Scottish Government's and Partners' response to ASL Review is not properly communicated, then there will be insufficient understanding of our progress resulting in continued concerns about implementation of the ASL Review.”

This risk directly links into actions in the publication of the ASL action plan and the accompanying progress report. Members were invited to consider actions planned to mitigate the risk and if this was still on track to meet the target score. The actions planned were as follows:

• School visits planning
• Full engagement with ministers on these matters
• Ask the ASL Network to consider public comms. Utilise and create a network comprising of delivery partners who have an interest in the progress of education actions and ensure clear and timely communication
• Seek updates on planned engagement and commissioning/communication of progress
• Establish a communications strategy

SG updated the Board that all meetings of the ASL Network for 2024 have been issued. They will meet on 3 occasions; in April, August and November. The Project Board will be informed of discussions that take place during these meetings through the introduction of the ‘ASL Network’ as a recurring item into the Project Board agenda. It was proposed that the second action should be updated to read "Full engagement with ministers and COSLA Children and Young People Board on these matters."

Members discussed how the response to the ASL review can be communicated more effectively, and that the size of the ASL Action Plan and the difficulty in reading it may impact the communication value of the work that has/is being done. ES are working with educators to understand the knowledge and awareness they have of the work associated with the ASL Action plan. The different versions of the progress report will help in providing clarity and better understanding. All of our networks should be kept informed, as a lot of people have different and very valuable roles to play in this work. The communications plan that is currently being developed by the Operational and Communications subgroup will provide more detail on appropriate audiences.

It was noted that the National Improvement Hub is a useful base for sharing information. To allow for more flexibility in how information within the ASL Action Plan is presented and shared, a separate section with links to specific recommendations could be created.  Members agreed this could be worth exploring in more detail.

Action:

• Update the ‘actions planned’ sitting under Risk 6 with information from the PB discussion

Any other business

Members were updated that work on the ‘Behaviour in Schools’ Action Plan is still under development by the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) and that an update on potential links with the ASL Action Plan will be provided at the next meeting by colleagues leading on the work.

Action:

• Links between the ‘Behaviour in Schools’ and the ASL Action Plan to be provided by relevant colleagues

Date of next meeting

The Project Board will meet next on the 29th May 2024.

Scottish Government