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

Recommendation 3: Maintaining Focus but Overcoming Fragmentation (Leadership and Strategic Planning & Fully Integrated Policy Making)

6 Actions are Completed

As one of the key sources of information to overcome fragmentation on ASL policy, the Scottish Governments website: Additional support for learning - Schools - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) has been reviewed and refreshed to provide enhanced information on additional support for learning. This includes improved signposting for children, young people, parents and carers and professions to the extensive services that currently exist. Services range from advice, information, support and representation to professional learning and resources on additional support for learning. The ASL Project Board continue to build on this work to consider how this information can be shared consistently with local authorities, and onwards to individual school level. This consistency is critical to ensure that there is equitable access to information, support, and guidance to empower children, young people, parents and carers and the profession to make informed decisions about their education.

Progress towards an inclusive leadership approach for ASL policy is well underway, with ADES consulting with its members on the inclusion of additional support for learning within its leadership programme. This consultation highlighted that inclusive leadership is a common theme for all local authorities and this approach has now been incorporated into their Collaborative Improvement Programme. Education Scotland launched their Inclusion, Wellbeing and Equalities Professional Learning Framework in December 2023. The Framework aims to support anyone working with, and/or supporting children and young people in an educational context. This includes those who work with adult learners, parents, carers, families and in community learning contexts. The Framework uses three levels; Informed, Skilled, and Enhanced. The Framework aims to:

• Simplify the professional learning landscape for inclusion, wellbeing, and equalities.
• Support capacity building and a common understanding, language and skills for all educators.
• Provide high quality, up-to-date opportunities, which can be adapted to suit the local context. Local authorities will be able to incorporate the Framework into their own professional learning programmes.
• Support individual educators to plan their own professional learning.

ASL Project Board members remain committed to ensuring that children’s rights are embedded and effectively underpin the implementation of our ASL policy, and the actions set out within the ASL Action Plan. We have considered, and continue to reflect, on the impact of the incorporation of the UNCRC on the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, as well as additional support for learning policy, practice, and guidance. We will continue to monitor its interaction with, and potential impact, on our ASL work. To maintain the focus on meaningful participation, the Scottish Government continues to fund and support the Young Ambassadors for Inclusion (YAI). The YAI support the delivery of our ASL Action Plan, but also help to shape wider education policy. Over the past year alone, the YAI have engaged with key stakeholders on a range of issues, including, the National Discussion: All Learners in Scotland Matter - national discussion on education: final report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot), Hayward Review: It's Our Future - Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment: report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot), Wither’s Review: Skills delivery landscape: independent review - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) Wither’s Review, National Transitions Strategy, and school uniform policy.

At a delivery level, ASL Project Board members are seeking to expand and consolidate opportunities for participation of children and young people. Education Scotland engage with children and young people with additional support needs on a regular basis, to inform and shape a number of their workstreams. This includes shaping their Corporate Plan, understanding the impact of poverty and the proposed development of the national Digital Academy, and associated subject choices.

Some further good examples of this working well include primary research undertaken by Humanly on complex additional support needs, which included the direct participation of children and young people. The next phase of this work will consider how to ensure that their involvement continues in the shaping and delivery of any actions taken forward. Research was also undertaken with the Gypsy/Traveller community, including children and young people to seek their views and experiences on education, to improve their engagement and participation in school life. The findings of this research are due to be published towards the end of 2024. Education Scotland continues to work with the National and Education Transitions Officer, funded by the Scottish Government, to develop professional learning information and resources which aims to support learners from Armed Forces families (Serving, Reserve and Veteran) and inform and support local authorities with the Armed Forces Covenant legislative duties pertaining to education.

More broadly within education policy, the Scottish Government are considering, with partners, how to establish a sustainable mechanism for engaging children and young people in the development of policy, and guidance and to ensure the voice of learners is embedded within any new governance structures as well as the wider reform programme.

As a key guiding principle, the ASL Project Board members, in particular, the Scottish Government and COSLA, seek to create opportunities to enable parents and carers to be meaningfully and consistently involved, and fully listened to in the development of ASL policy. Our drive is to create a fully integrated policy-making landscape. As key partners in policy development, parents and carers are represented in all of our key stakeholder groups on ASL, and more broadly in education policy. Where groups are in place for decision-making purposes, opportunities are created to ensure that parents and carers knowledge, experience and views are represented through a leading official on those groups. Education Scotland and ADES also regularly engage with parental organisations, and we are working collectively to ensure that opportunities for engagement and participation are highlighted across Scotland, and this involvement is sustained. The Scottish Government is fully committed to strengthening their approaches to parental engagement to ensure there are a range of opportunities for parents and carers to shape and influence policy development, this will be supported by a new National Parental Panel that will support a range of opportunities for parents and carers to shape and influence policy development. The ASL Project Board will engage with this National Parent Panel once it is established.

Work is also ongoing to encourage local authorities to establish parent groups of those who have children with additional support needs. We recognise that this will support enhanced collaboration and communication on additional support for learning, for parents and carers throughout their child’s learning journey. The ‘Learning Together’ National Action Plan was published in December 2023, and the ASL Project Board members are currently considering how we can share this with all local authorities and at school level too. Further work is planned to consider how the plan has been implemented locally and the impact that the actions have delivered.

To further enhance collaboration and communication with parents, carers, and the wider profession, ASL Project Board members are currently drafting a joint letter, which will be issued to all Local Authorities. This will highlight both the existing organisations and resources that are in place to support additional support for learning and identify and highlight any proposed plans to improve this over the next 12-months. This will assist in delivering our goal to provide consistent information to all partners and will offer an opportunity for ASL Project Board members to invite partners to highlight additional organisations and resources that they engage with. The ADES ASN Network already offer an existing route, which successfully supports information sharing. A good example of this in practice, is the work undertaken by the ADES ASN Network to engage with Local Authorities, by identifying and sharing examples of work through the Collaborative Improvement visit process. It is hoped that the joint letter from ASL Project Board members at this stage in the delivery of the ASL Action Plan, will expand existing awareness.