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

Recommendation 1: Vision and Visibility (Vision Statement & Measurement)

9 Actions are Completed

We have an inclusive approach to Education in Scotland and strive to ensure that inclusivity is experienced by all children and young people. We cannot continue to view additional support for learning as a minority area or in a separate silo within the framework of Scottish Education. Maintaining the visibility of children and young people with additional support needs through continued co-creation and collaboration with them and their families, is critical to delivering the change we all want to see. To enable this visibility, we have established and strengthened our Additional Support for Learning Network to ensure that a wide range of stakeholders are involved in the development and delivery of ASL policy. The ASL Network meet three-times per year, to support the work of the ASL Project Board, and the delivery of the ASL Action Plan. This Network of key stakeholders from across our education system at national, local and third sector level, will enhance our ability to share and communicate developments with ASL policy into practice. It also offers a clear process through which to inform the ASL Project Board of positive developments, challenges, and areas for progress.

To support the delivery of actions by the ASL Project Board, and the work of the ASL Network, ASL Project Board members have worked with partners to undertake a mapping exercise of ASL Policy. This mapping exercise has captured the breadth of policy development that is aligned to additional support for learning and ensures that ASL Project Board members can consider fully, the potential impact of their work on wider developments, both in education policy, but also beyond.

As a next step, the Scottish Government will work with Education Scotland to develop a programme of internal engagement and awareness raising with colleagues in the Learning Directorate and wider government, including Children and Families Directorate and Directorate for Tackling Child Poverty and Social Justice, which will seek direct engagement by children and young people with additional support needs, where appropriate. This will build upon work underway more generally to ensure that policy linkages across Scottish Government policy are appropriately made and have raised awareness of ASL Action Plan across the learning and education reform directorates.

Linked to this mapping work, the ASL Project Board have been mindful of the changing education landscape in response to a suite of reviews that have been undertaken in education since the ASL Review was published (2020). This includes the National Discussion – All Learners in Scotland Matter: ‘It’s Our Future – Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment; Report’ (Hayward Review), ‘Independent Review of the Skills Delivery Landscape’ (Withers Review) and wider education reform proposals. To ensure that additional support for learning policy is fully visible and has the high-profile it deserves, Scottish Government Officials team’s leading these reviews continue to consider how to ensure that the voices of children and young people with additional support needs are listened to.

It is clear from the various outputs from these reviews, that additional support for learning features prominently in all of them. There is a clear recognition from the education system, that as additional supports are more widely recognised and the number of children and young people with an additional support need grows, we all need to respond to this challenge. To ensure that visibility is maintained, the National Improvement Framework continues to provide the strategic framework for the improvement of education services in Scotland and includes actions and measures on additional support for learning. These considerations link closely to the developments underway on a National Measurement Framework for additional support for learning, and therefore the conversation is ongoing. ASL Project Board members have also engaged with the National Improvement Framework (NIF) Team in Learning Directorate, to ensure that the development of the National Measurement Framework for additional support for learning and the progress made to progress this work, is recorded, monitored, and discussed at a national level, as part of the NIF.

The ASL Project Board shares the ambition set out by Angela Morgan (2020), that our education system should support all children and young people to flourish and reach their fullest potential. Work has been underway to consider how a National Measurement Framework for Additional Support Needs can be created to capture the range of successes and achievements of children and young people with additional support needs. This is a complex piece of work, that has required careful consideration to ensure that the different learning outcomes, progress and achievements of each child with additional support needs can be evidenced and celebrated. We have begun the initial stages of preparing for this work to ensure that it can be developed and maintained appropriately. The next phase of this work will require the Monitoring and Analysis sub-group to work with Education Scotland and the Scottish Government, to develop a paper outlining options, challenges and timescales associated with the development of the Framework, for consideration by ASL Project Board members. Once we are in a position to publish a first iteration of the National Measurement Framework, ASL Project Board members will work with partners to consider how the information that is collected can be presented in an accessible and meaningful way.

We know the important role that our pupil support staff play in supporting our children with additional support for learning needs. Our National Pupil Support Staff Working Group has continued to consult on their engagement programme, to ensure that all local authority staff had the opportunity to participate in how this programme was developed and delivered. An evaluation report, setting out a review of the role and deployment of pupil support staff across all 32 local authorities, has been published, enhancing knowledge of the support that is available: Pupil Support Staff Engagement Programme - July 2023 (education.gov.scot). Further evaluation and proposals are planned regarding the potential registration and accreditation of these staff, and the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills is currently considering the outcomes from this work. Work will continue to be undertaken by the Support Staff Working Group to develop a vision and values for the profession, to support Pupil Support Staff.