Physical intervention in schools: guidance

Prevention

24. This section outlines how schools can use preventative approaches to avoid distressed behaviour from occurring and minimise the use of restraint and seclusion. Preventative approaches are any approaches used by a school to reduce the risk of distressed behaviour occurring. The advice within this section focusses on key areas for consideration and recognises that many factors can contribute towards preventing distressed behaviour. The areas outlined below are not exhaustive and it is recognised that the most effective preventative approaches are those tailored to the individual needs of children and young people.

25. All behaviour is communication and distressed behaviour in a child or young person may indicate an unmet need or that they are experiencing a stressor too great for them to manage. Disabled children may display behaviours related to their disability over which they cannot exercise control. The purpose of preventative approaches is to understand and, where possible, meet these needs. Schools may be required to use preventative approaches as part of the support provided to children and young people under the 2004 Act and/or the 2010 Act.

Planning preventative approaches

26. Where there is a likelihood of a child or young person becoming distressed in their learning environment, or where it has previously occurred, schools should use the statutory additional support for learning policy framework and GIRFEC policy to put in place preventative support. Specific text setting out agreed preventative approaches should feature in or link to the appropriate “support plan” at whatever staged level of intervention or planning is already in place for the child or young person. An ‘introduction to planning for children and young people with additional support needs’ resource is available on Education Scotland’s website.

27. All support, including preventative approaches, should be kept under regular review to ensure its effectiveness. Where a child or young person has become distressed in their learning environment and no formal support plan is in place, consideration should be given to establishing one that includes preventative approaches.

28. Trauma-informed approaches are important to the success of preventative approaches. Information on how schools can use trauma-informed approaches are available on Education Scotland’s website.

29. Education providers should share any agreed preventative approaches with relevant teaching staff and ahead of key transition points in children and young people’s education.

Engaging children, young people and their parents in preventative approaches

30. Children, young people and their parents or carers should be actively involved in the development of preventative approaches to distressed behaviour. It is important to allow children and young people to make decisions, as far as possible, about their environment, their support and any use of preventative approaches. Children and young people will often be able to offer a unique insight and perspective into the types of preventative approaches and tools which best assist them when they are distressed. In seeking children and young people’s input, it is important not to create an expectation that they should provide all the answers on how best to support them.

31. Children and young people with specific communication support needs may require a range of support to enable them to be actively involved in decision making. This may involve the use of visual supports, the benefits of which are discussed in the ‘Can Scotland be Brave? Incorporating UNCRC Article 12 in Practice’ report. Further advice on supporting children and young people’s participation is available on the Scottish Government’s website.

32. Schools can also draw upon specialist support through the input of educational psychologists and allied health partners such as counsellors, clinical psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and the child or young person’s social worker, where appropriate. Education authority schools can make formal requests for input and support to other agencies under the 2004 Act.

33. Planning is required to proactively meet children and young people’s physical, neurodevelopmental, sensory, emotional and communication needs. This is particularly important where additional support is required with speech and language communication or where a child or young person cannot communicate verbally. In such circumstances, planning is required to develop an effective non-verbal method of communication with the child or young person to allow learning, and the learning environment, to be tailored to meet their individual needs.

34. If a child or young person can communicate (verbally or non-verbally) and their physical, neurodevelopmental, sensory and emotional needs can be met, distressed behaviour is less likely to occur. In addition, when children and young people are extremely stressed, their ability to express themselves appropriately diminishes, and those supporting them need to be mindful of trying to understand what their behaviour is communicating in that moment. For example, defiance and refusal may be related to anxiety due to an over-stimulating learning environment or a fear of a change.

35. In order to understand whether a child or young person may be experiencing sensory integration difficulties, a trauma trigger or, for example, stress due to the cognitive load of the task being too high, a functional behaviour assessment of the distressed behaviour(s), which can be undertaken by Education Psychologists, should form a part of the assessment of the child or young person’s additional support needs.

36. Parents and carers who have years of experience of effective communication with their child are a valuable source of advice. The communication passport is an example of a tool to record and share parental views and experience in communicating with their child.

Promoting positive relationships, behaviour and wellbeing

37. Building positive relationships is one of the fundamental skills expected of teachers. This is reflected within the General Teaching Council for Scotland’s (GTC Scotland) Professional Standards. Building positive relationships is also an important part of curricular learning and helps promote a school community’s connectedness, resilience and inclusive culture. Learning about positive relationships supports the development of children and young people’s social and emotional competences and is an important preventative approach to distressed behaviour. Resources to help build positive relationships and support children and young people’s mental wellbeing are available on Education Scotland's website.

38. It is recognised that children and young people can build strong and trusting relationships with individual members of staff, who can help them during times of distress. The names of any preferred contacts (and where possible, substitute support) should be included in any support plan. Leadership teams should continue to be alert to the potential for distress caused by the absence of any staff member who normally supports a child or young person. For children and young people at risk of significant distress, schools should work towards having a small number of adults that the child or young person feels safe with. This will reduce dependency on one member staff and help with the continuity of support.

39. Where distress has led to a relationship breaking down, or following the use of restraint or seclusion, restorative approaches can be used to help repair a rupture. It is important that restorative approaches only take place at a time when the child or young person and any others affected feel able to engage in them (see Post-incident support and learning review)

Positive learning environments

40. When considering preventative approaches, thought should be given to the potential impact of the physical learning environment. As part of a nurturing approach, the learning environment should offer a safe base. Careful consideration should be given to ways in which the school estate contributes to a positive learning environment. Education Scotland’s CIRCLE resources can be used to help schools and settings evaluate the learning environment. Consideration should be given to:

• classrooms and common areas that are not over-stimulating;
• spaces that children and young people can choose to access themselves if they find this helpful (including an individualised safe space), which may also include safe opportunities to move freely around, should this be supportive to the child or young person. This should not include lockable spaces such as toilets;
• quieter, calmer spaces that can be used to facilitate positive participation and decision making or where additional communication support may be provided; and
• spaces that can facilitate both low and high-stimulus activity to support any specific sensory needs.

Leadership and culture of a school

41. A school’s culture, ethos and values are critical to promoting positive relationships, behaviour and wellbeing. Angela Morgan’s review of additional support for learning implementation in 2020 found that positive school cultures develop where the key conditions for implementation are in place. These are:

• values-driven leadership;
• an open and robust culture of communication, support and challenge - underpinned by trust, respect and positive relationships;
• resource alignment, including time for communication and planning processes; and
• methodology for delivery of knowledge learning and practice development, which incorporates time for coaching, mentoring, reflection and embedding into practice.

42. Leadership at all levels is key to promoting the highest possible standards and expectations around the use of preventative approaches and minimising the use of restraint and seclusion across a school. Leadership teams also have an important role in risk assessing the learning environment and implementing the required measures to mitigate as far as possible the risk of injury arising from distressed behaviour. Risk assessment is therefore an important part of preventative approaches.