Scottish Attainment Challenge - 2018-2022: equality impact assessment

Executive summary

The aim of the Scottish Attainment Challenge (the Attainment Challenge) is to help achieve equity in educational outcomes with a particular focus on closing the poverty-related attainment gap. During the first five years of the Attainment Challenge there was investment of over £750 million through the Attainment Scotland Fund (ASF) during the Parliamentary term. In the 2021/22 financial year, £215 million of targeted funding has been committed to tackle the poverty related attainment gap. It marks the first year of investment in an expanded £1 billion ASF which has been committed over the current Parliamentary term.

This EQIA has been carried out to understand the impact of the Attainment Challenge during the first phase of the Attainment Challenge (2016 – 2021/22) on children and young people with protected characteristics and to identify potential opportunities to advance equality of opportunity for children and young people. Since the previously published EQIA, the Care Experienced Children and Young People (CECYP) funding stream has been introduced (2018/19). Other significant developments include the Attainment Scotland Fund evaluation: fourth interim report - year 5, Closing the poverty-related attainment gap: progress report 2016 to 2021 and the Equity Audit, the findings of which are reflected in this document. In November 2021, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills announced the next phase of the Attainment Challenge, which takes into account the evidence of these reports and experience on the ground of the Attainment Challenge to date. A separate EQIA report will be published covering the refreshed Challenge.

The EQIA process identified that some protected characteristics, for example some ethnic minority groups and those with disabilities, are over represented in the lower Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintiles. Evidence also shows that some children with protected characteristics, and children and young people living in areas of deprivation, perform less well than the general school population. Therefore, some children and young people have significant barriers to learning because of how they are affected by deprivation and may also face additional barriers as a result of protected characteristics.

The EQIA process did not identify any direct or indirect discrimination through the policy intention, design or activity being implemented as part of the Attainment Challenge and has identified some areas where opportunities for children and young people with protected characteristics might be advanced. The Attainment Challenge is designed to be inclusive. Targeting resources, through the ASF, to children and young people is expected to have a positive impact on the lives of children and young people affected by poverty, including those in the protected characteristics.

A number of actions are underway to ensure that the Attainment Challenge promotes the duties of the Equality Act. For example:

• The National Operational Guidance and grant terms and conditions for Pupil Equity Funding requires that schools promote equity by taking into account protected characteristics when planning support and interventions.
• The National Operational Guidance referred to above states that evidence shows that some children and young people from equalities groups can be disproportionately affected by deprivation and can therefore face significant additional barriers to learning. Education authorities have a responsibility to actively address inequality and the promotion of equity is a shared responsibility held by all staff, partners and stakeholders. In this context, the guidance is clear that headteachers should consider additional steps that might be required to close the educational attainment gap for children and young people affected by poverty who may also experience disadvantage for other reasons. For example, disadvantage relating to; a protected characteristic (disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex (gender) and sexual orientation); a need for which they require additional support; being looked after; or having caring responsibilities.
• The grant terms and conditions state that in utilising Pupil Equity Funding, the Grantee (headteachers, with support of the relevant local authorities) should consider additional steps that might be required to close the educational attainment gap for children and young people affected by poverty who also experience disadvantage for other reasons. For example, disadvantage related to; a protected characteristic (as defined in the Equality Act 2010); a need for which they require additional support; being looked after; or having caring responsibilities.
• Tools and resources on Education Scotland's National Improvement Hub include examples of effective interventions that apply to all children and young people, including those in protected characteristics.
• There is also evidence emerging from ongoing Attainment Challenge activity to demonstrate that reasonable adjustments are being made to support children and young people with protected characteristics. For example, investment in speech and language development, additional support for speakers of English as an Additional Language, Educational Psychologists and the development of counsellors and nurture bases. Evidence from the ASF evaluation: fourth interim report - year 5 (see below) shows that, whilst participants in the Challenge Authorities and Schools Programme favoured targeted approaches, there were still a considerable number of interventions that were provided universally and a smaller number of interventions were targeted according to another criteria; for example, children and young people with additional support needs or English as an additional language.
• Almost all strategies deployed in the Attainment Challenge such as reciprocal reading, communication support from speech and language therapists, nurturing approaches, provide targeted help for children with additional support needs. So it is clear that the work of the Attainment Challenge should prove beneficial to disabled children and that schools are expected take account of their specific needs when considering the use of the ASF.
• One of the aims of the Attainment Challenge is to increase professional learning opportunities for teaching and other staff. It is providing support to enable practitioners with access to training, encouraging a reflection on skills, increased professional dialogue, improved collaboration and providing opportunities to mentor, network and lead on new approaches. There is extensive evidence from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Education Endowment Foundation and elsewhere, that such interventions improve the quality of learning and teaching and can make a significant impact on improving the educational outcomes for all children, whether or not they are part of a targeted group.