Scottish Attainment Challenge 2022 to 2023 - 2025 to 2026: equality impact assessment

Background and Scope of Equality Impact Assessment

Background

The SAC was originally launched in 2015 with over £750m provided since then to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap in schools.

The Programme for Government commitments for 2021-2022 included a commitment to invest a further £1bn to support education recovery and tackle the poverty-related attainment gap over this parliamentary term. In light of the Scottish Government’s own evaluation of the programme and Audit Scotland’s report, a refreshed programme was agreed.

A key change in the refreshed programme is a revised mission so that its link to wider work to tackle child poverty is clear, while retaining the focus on improving educational attainment:

To use education to improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty, with a focus on tackling the poverty-related attainment gap.

Headteachers will continue to be empowered to invest PEF; and there will be a continuation of the CECYP funding, contributing to keeping the Promise.

Summary Statistics For Schools In Scotland 2021 shows the gap between the proportion of primary pupils (P1, P4 and P7 combined) from the most and least deprived areas (based on the Scottish Index for Multiple Deprivation (SIMD)) who achieved their expected level in literacy has increased from 20.7 percentage points in 2018/19 to 24.7 percentage points in 2020/21. The gap between the proportion of primary pupils (P1, P4 and P7 combined) from the most and least deprived areas who achieved their expected level in numeracy increased from 16.8 percentage points in 2018/19 to 21.4 percentage points in 2020/21. For both primary literacy and primary numeracy, the sizes of the gaps in 2020/21 were larger than at any previous point since 2016/17 (the first year for which comparable data is available).

Around half of young people thought it was harder to learn at home during the second school closure, compared to the first school closure. Respondents in areas of higher deprivation were more likely to say that they found it harder to learn than those in areas of lower deprivation. Older respondents (age 16-18) were more likely to select this option than younger respondents. Source: Lockdown Lowdown 3, Young Scot Nov2021-LockdownLowdown-Survey.

Scope

This EQIA has considered the potential impact of the SAC on children and young people with protected characteristics in school education to identify possible chances to advance equalities of opportunity for children and young people with protected characteristics. As the SAC targets activity and resources to children and young people affected by poverty, this is a particular focus of the analysis. It is acknowledged that the SAC has the potential to impact on all children and young people in school education and in particular on those children and young people with protected characteristics who are more likely to be within the targeted work.

This EQIA considers how the key changes to the SAC programme from 2022/2023 to 2025/26 will impact on children and young people with protected characteristics whilst identifying potential opportunities to advance equality of opportunity for children and young people.

The EQIA process identified that some protected characteristics, for example some ethnic minority groups and those with disabilities, are over represented in the lower 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 SAC and has identified some areas where opportunities for children and young people with protected characteristics might be advanced. The SAC 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 SAC promotes the duties of the Equality Act. For example:

• This policy’s mission is to use education to improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty, with a focus on tackling the poverty-related attainment gap.
• The refreshed 2022 PEF National Operational Guidance and SEF National Operational Guidance set out the importance of taking into account equity when planning and implementing local strategies and interventions. The grant conditions attached to these funding streams will, when issued, require that schools and authorities promote equity by taking into account protected characteristics when planning support and interventions.
• The National Operational Guidance documents referred to above state 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. Local authorities and Education Scotland 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 local authorities and 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.
• In line with that guidance, the grant terms and conditions for PEF and SEF from 2022/23 (as is currently the case for PEF) will state that in utilising PEF, the Grantee 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.
• The SAC is underpinned by the principles of GIRFEC. GIRFEC is our national approach to improving outcomes for babies, children, young people and families. At its heart, it is rooted in Children’s Rights. The shared model and language enables children, young people, families and practitioners to work across services so that support is well-planned, joined-up and streamlined, helping to prevent or mitigate childhood adversity and trauma.
• 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.
• Education Scotland is working to enhance this support via a new Equity Toolkit which will host a suite of supportive guidance and materials. This is expected to be available to the education system from summer 2022.
• The toolkit will include information and links across sections, including learning, teaching, assessment and curriculum, leadership and families and communities to support practitioners with the following:
  • What can we do to support recovery and accelerating progress?
  • Conditions for success and sustainability
  • Exemplars
  • Reflective questions
  • Useful resources
  • Research and articles
• The Framework to support the implementation of the SAC by local authorities and schools will continue to be updated and developed.
• There is also evidence from ongoing SAC 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 shows that there were 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 SAC such as reciprocal reading, communication support from speech and language therapists, nurturing approaches, provide targeted help for children and young people with additional support needs. So it is clear that the work of the SAC should prove beneficial and that schools and local authorities are expected take account of their specific needs when considering the use of the ASF.
• One of the aims of the SAC is to increase professional learning opportunities for teachers 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.
• The National Improvement Plan sets out a basket of 11 key measures, supported by 15 sub-measures that will be used to monitor progress towards the goal of closing the poverty-related attainment gap. We will continue to use the data that is published each year in the National Improvement Framework Evidence Report to show the poverty-related attainment gap at different stages of school and across literacy, numeracy and health & wellbeing.
• We know that Gypsy Travellers tend not to self-identify. Traveller Guidance has been produced by the Scottish Government and was published in December 2018. The guidance advocates that action is required at local authority/school/classroom/individual children and young people levels. This will undoubtedly include resources funded by the ASF. Inclusive approaches which support individual children and young people and support families to engage are the starting point.
• A Gypsy/Traveller Ministerial Working Group (GTMWG) has been established by the Equality Unit within Scottish Government to improve the lives of Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland. This Group consider the guidance – as part of a wider discussion about improving education for Gypsy/Travellers at their ongoing meetings.
• We will continue to monitor the impact of the SAC on children and young people in school education with protected characteristics through national data sources where they exist (i.e. age, gender, disability and race). Where it is not possible to monitor the impact through national data, we will work with local government and other stakeholders to identify any local activity that we may be able to draw evidence from.