Additional Support for Learning review - action plan: third progress report

Recommendation 8: Understanding Rights (Rights & Coordinated Support Plan Review)

1 Action is Completed

ASL Project Board members recognise the value of planning mechanisms that offer an opportunity to consider a whole-life perspective for children and young people with additional support needs. When implemented effectively, the ‘Getting it Right for Every Child’ (GIRFEC) policy means that we can meet the needs of all learners, including those with additional support needs. It is through this universal offer of support for all children and young people that we will achieve inclusion in its widest sense. Since the introduction of the refreshed GIRFEC Policy and Practice Guidance in September 2022, ASL Project Board members have continued to engage in this work and support the development of the GIRFEC Child’s Plan Practice Statement, which complements the guidance, and helps to support practitioners and managers implement and embed GIRFEC into their everyday practice. The statement reflects the relationship and alignment between statutory and non-statutory plans and clarifies the roles and responsibilities practitioners involved in the development and monitoring of a child’s plan.

To improve the support available for children and young people with additional support needs to reach their fullest potential, the ASL Project Board members agreed to refresh the Supporting Learners’ Code of Practice. This refresh will ensure that local authorities and schools are fully supported to fulfil their duties under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. The Code of Practice Working Group has been re-established to undertake this refresh, working collaboratively with partners to deliver this guidance. Initial priorities have been the accessibility of the guidance, its recognition and incorporation of wider education policies, including GIRFEC and The Promise. ASL Project Board members are alert to the shifting policy and legislative landscape (including the incorporation of the UNCRC) and will continue to ensure that further progress reflects this over the next 12-months, prior to consulting on a refreshed Code of Practice.

Work is ongoing to draw these elements together to support local authorities to incorporate any findings into their improvement and strategic service planning at a local level. This includes the development and reporting on local Children’s Services Plans, Regional Improvement Collaboratives and Annual Education Plans.

Revision of Part 3 Children’s Services Planning Statutory Guidance will take place over 2024-2025, to reflect a number of significant changes which have taken place across Scotland’s legislative, policy, and delivery landscape, with an impact on the context and approach to improving outcomes for children, young people and families. Revision of Children’s Services Planning statutory guidance will be undertaken working closely with key stakeholders and relevant policy areas. This will provide an opportunity to articulate the relationships between different local strategic planning and reporting requirements, including those relating to ASL, as well as highlighting opportunities to integrate planning where this makes sense to local duty holders and partners, including the children, young people and families who live in that area.

This work links closely with the ASL Project Board’s commitment to deliver a National Measurement Framework for additional support for learning. ASL Project Board members are thoughtful about the interactions between the wide range of improvement planning that is already in place at a local level, which could be drawn into this broader planning approach. We are also mindful that sufficient time to become accustomed to any proposed changes and the impact that this may have on different schools and local authorities. This works remains a priority for the ASL Project Board and is routinely discussed and Project Board meetings, as the National Measurement Framework evolves.