Additional Support for Learning review: action plan - November 2022 update

Children and young people must be listened to and involved in all decision making relating to additional support for learning. Co-creation and collaboration with children, young people and their families will support more coherent, inclusive and all-encompassing policy making which improves implementation, impact and experience.

A national overarching Vision Statement for success for children and young people who have additional support needs must be developed by the end of 2020 with the full involvement of children and young people.

This vision statement must be developed alongside a positive public communication plan which highlights the range of conditions and issues identified in the additional support for learning legislation and will be one of the ways in which the profile of additional support for learning is raised to ensure equity for all children and young people.

The language used to describe children and young people with additional support needs and the services which support them must be changed. It should move away from describing children and young people as their condition and not be solely focussed on deficits.

To ensure that there is no reduction in aspiration and ambition for all children and young people to achieve to the maximum of their learning potential, a national measurement framework for additional support for learning must be developed. The National Improvement Framework must be revised to ensure parity for additional support for learning.

This framework must be rooted in improvement methodology and assist in reinforcing a culture of improvement rather than compliance. The main objective of measurement and recording will be to support local improvement rather than comparisons between authorities.

The investment in Pupil Support Assistants must be measured for impact and improvement on children and young people experiences and achievement. Local authority and school managers must plan a strategy to review the deployment of Pupil Support Assistants which takes account of recommendations from current national research Education Endowment Fund (2018).

A plan must be developed and implemented to test how the National Performance Framework can be expanded to include achievement measures which go beyond the current narrow parameters of attainment and qualifications (based on the National Performance Framework values).

The Independent Review of Curriculum for Excellence must fully integrate the findings of this review and focus on all children, affording equity to those with additional support needs.

To fully achieve this, the Independent Review of Curriculum for Excellence must maintain a strong and central focus on the experience of all children and young people, parents and carers and the professionals in closest connection with them.

There must be clear values-driven leadership, shared communication, support and challenge at all levels of the system to ensure that the experiences and achievements of children and young people with additional support needs are visible and continue to be improved.

In order to drive a holistic approach and support the visibility of children and young people with additional support needs Council Planning must incorporate the implications of additional support for learning for all Council and Partner services.

Children and young people with additional support needs must be proactively and fully considered in policy making and appropriate cross-Government links made at the earliest stage.

Children and young people and parents and carers must be partners in the development of key policies and guidance across the system.

Audit Scotland must use the key themes in this report and the associated findings from Audit Scotland's audit of educational outcomes to inform the scope of their national performance audit on outcomes for children and young people with additional support needs.

The Grant Aided Special Schools and three national centres must use the opportunities that arise from the commissioning strand of the Doran Review to consider how their specialist expertise (including in prevention and de-escalation) can be developed to be complementary to statutory mainstream and specialist provision in order to support improvement in the experiences and outcome of children and young people with additional support needs.

All teacher education and development includes nationally specified practice and skill development in supporting learners with ASL needs as a core element.

Practice learning and development at local level must include where and how to access specialist expertise and support.

Parity of career progression and pathway structures and opportunities for specialist teachers of ASL: There should be a first teaching qualification in ASN available at Initial Teacher Education; the career path proposal under consideration by the SNCT to develop new career pathways should have an additional strand for ASL.

The focus and methods for teacher education and practice learning are directly informed and developed by the feedback of teachers.

Innovative and partnership approaches to practice learning should be developed including delivery and participation of children and young people, parents and carers.

The Classroom Support Staff working group must, as part of their work, undertake a review of roles and remit of Pupil Support Assistants. This must include the development of clear specifications for how classroom teacher and pupil support assistant roles interact and complement each other. It must also consider standards of practice, learning pathways, career progression routes and remuneration.

Schools and local authorities must work in partnership with parents and carers to develop, and deliver ways of working together that support and promote positive relationships, communication and cooperation.

This must include clear pathways on transitions for children and young people with additional support needs, in the context of learning for life, allowing parents and carers, children and young people and professionals to be informed and supported at key transition points.

Further investment is needed to strengthen support services for families, allowing these services and the support that they provide to be embedded.

The benefits of the use of mediation must be widely promoted at a national, regional and local level and consideration should be given to how mediation can be developed through professional learning to support the workforce.

The remit of the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) must be reviewed and widened to bring it up to date and in line with emerging knowledge and recommended practices, including the findings of this review. The membership of the group must be reviewed in line with the refreshed remit.

SAGRABIS should have a primary focus on relationships and behaviour but the ability to also focus on wider additional support for learning issues, developing improvement priorities and ensuring those priorities are reflected at a national, local and regional level ensuring that they work closely with the Additional Support for Learning Implementation Group.

The incorporation of UNCRC and its impact on ASL legislation and processes must be fully anticipated and planned for to ensure children's rights are embedded and effectively underpin implementation of the ASL legislation.

The planned review of Coordinated Support Plans must take the findings of this review into account. Also, it must consider: planning mechanisms within a whole life perspective for children and young people with lifelong conditions including transitions between and beyond education settings; clarifying the interaction between CSPs and child's plan and GIRFEC; the relationship between education and partners in health, social work and other agencies to identify where re-alignment is needed in the preparation and delivery of support; where improvements are needed in the availability and accessibility of information and guidance about planning and its processes for all parents and carers and children and young people.

Following this review, there must be a mechanism put in place to allow progress against these recommendation to be reported and scrutinised. This should be developed in partnership with the Additional Support for Learning Implementation Group. A progress report should be produced and reported to Scottish Ministers and COSLA one year after the publication of this report and its recommendations.

Local authorities must take account of the findings of this report to review and align their quality assurance processes. This must drive improvements in processes, practice and outcomes at all levels in the system.

Education Scotland must use the findings of this review and the conditions identified for good practice, to support and develop improvement in education authorities, Regional Improvement Collaboratives and schools.