Relationships and behaviour in schools: national action plan 2024 to 2027

Policy cohesion

While a number of in-school factors which predict behaviour were identified within BISSR, participants in the qualitative phase of the research focused on societal factors such as poverty and deprivation, and challenges associated with home and family life such as trauma and adverse childhood experiences, as the root causes of disruptive behaviour. While schools undertake activity to try and reduce the poverty-related attainment gap and are expected to adopt trauma-informed approaches to supporting children and young people, schools cannot and should not be expected to address these broader challenges in isolation. A multi-agency approach, spanning a number of policy priorities is therefore required.

The action plan therefore sits within the wider context of action the Scottish Government, COSLA and other local partners are taking to ensure our children grow up loved, safe and respected, and able to realise their full potential. In particular the action plan has been informed by a range of key policy and implementation priorities, including but not exclusively: the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024; Delivering Excellence and Equity in Education; Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC); and Implementation of The Promise. Wider policies and approaches including the Mental Health and Wellbeing Delivery Plan, Equally Safe Strategy, National Youth Work Strategy, developing a trauma-informed workforce, and Children’s Services Planning Partnerships also have interdependencies with this plan. This plan should therefore form part of whole system planning and as part of a multiagency approach underpinned by GIRFEC principles.

This whole-system planning and multi-agency approach is exemplified by the connections between this action plan and the Scottish Government’s Violence Prevention Framework. The Framework adopts a public health approach through focusing on preventing violence before it occurs, by addressing the underlying causes and, if and when it does occur, preventing further escalation of violence and its harm by identifying opportunities to intervene and enable positive change. The actions within the Framework to prevent violence amongst children and young people and amongst adults will also contribute to the outcomes identified within this action plan.

While this plan seeks to address relationships and behaviour in schools, we know that what children experience during their early years lays the foundations for life, so this also sits within the context of the Early Child Development Transformational Change Programme, which aims to provide oversight and better integration of the policies that contribute to early child development, with a focus on prevention, in order to reduce development concerns identified at the 27-30 month review. This includes work to improve early communication skills. The Scottish Government is also continuing to take forward a range of activity to support delivery of high-quality ELC and to support delivery of play-based, child-centred, and outdoor approaches to learning in the early years.  These approaches support children’s early development in many ways, including their emotional and social development, the benefits of which should be seen over time in school-age children.

The Scottish Government is also investing in a new programme of work to support early intervention in speech, language and communication development for children and their families, helping to build the confidence and capacity of staff working in early learning and childcare settings and joining up efforts across other key public services, such as health visiting. The ‘Regional Early Speech and Language Leads’ team in Education Scotland is working in partnership with local teams and at a national level on prevention and early support, and across the whole system to support improved outcomes for children in relation to their early language and communication needs.

The additional support for learning policy and legislative framework supports positive behaviour through its focus on the identification and meeting of children and young people's needs. The Scottish Government is delivering the Additional Support for Learning Action plan (“ASL Action Plan”) in partnership with COSLA to improve the implementation of additional support for learning across Scotland by March 2026.

Workforce development and support (including for teacher education and development and for pupil support assistants) is front and centre in the delivery of the ASL Action Plan, as it is one of the nine recommendations included in the Review of Additional Support for Learning Implementation (2020). In delivering these actions, it is recognised that ELC practitioner, teacher and pupil support staff training, deployment, and professional development and learning processes must align with the changed and changing support needs of children and young people in Scotland.

The joint action plan also sits in the context of other education developments where delivery will address factors underlying some of the behaviours seen in our schools. These policies include Education Reform; the Hayward review; the ASL Action Plan; the Anti-Racism in Education Programme; the Gender-Based Violence in Schools Working Group; the Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning; and the review of Respect for All.

We also know that adversity, including adverse childhood experiences (“ACEs”), and psychological trauma are very common and have been exacerbated in recent years by both the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. The stress of experiencing trauma and ACEs can cause changes in brain development in children and young people which, in practice, may mean children can present as developmentally younger socially and emotionally, dysregulated, and with challenging, violent or risk-taking behaviour in educational settings. All school staff have a unique and essential trauma-informed role to play in responding to children and young people who may be affected by psychological trauma. Not everyone needs to be a trauma expert, but it is important for all members of a school’s staff to be aware that every interaction with a child or young person affected by trauma is an opportunity to support their recovery and resilience and help improve their life chances, including their educational outcomes.