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

Action plan delivery

Since the publication of the BISSR 2023 report, the following action has been taken to respond to some of the most pressing issues identified within the research:

• Provision of £900k funding to support the training of support staff, to respond to the need identified by support staff themselves that they would welcome more training to support them in their roles.
• Publication of new guidance on preventing and responding to gender-based violence in schools, which will assist in addressing the emerging theme of increased misogyny in schools.
• Publication of updated guidance on mobile phones in Scotland's schools, in recognition that children and young people using/looking at mobile phones or tablets when they should not be was identified within BISSR as the behaviour most commonly reported as having the greatest negative impact on secondary school staff.
• HM Inspectors to provide schools with enhanced feedback on relationships and behaviour as part of their inspection reports, to ensure inspections help support improvement.

This action plan sets out a wide-ranging response to the evidence provided by BISSR. It is recognised that government, local authorities, agencies and third sector organisations face a challenging financial situation. In acknowledgement of this, the action plan seeks to prioritise prevention, early intervention and support to promote positive relationships and behaviour. This is underpinned by a commitment to set clear national direction through provision of guidance, and develop capacity through enhanced practical guidance and support for local authorities and schools.

Given the complexities of factors underpinning behaviour, improving relationships and behaviour in schools will not be a short-term task. This plan aims to put in place the building blocks that will put us on the correct trajectory to reinforce a positive culture and ethos in schools, embed and disseminate developing practice to promote positive behaviour and create safe and consistent environments in schools.

To reflect the three-year cycle of the plan, the action plan will be split into three phases of delivery. While priority actions are detailed below, it will be important that the action plan remains responsive to emerging issues or concerns:

Phase 1 – setting expectations, clarifying approaches and supporting consistency (year 1: from publication until 31 March 2025)

Phase 1 will focus on actions which help to set clear expectations around relationships and behaviour, and the spectrum of approaches and actions which can be taken by schools, families and partners to both respond to and support children, young people and staff. This phase will focus on actions that support the implementation of a whole-school approach, underpinned by the GIRFEC national practice model, to creating a safe and consistent environment for all children and young people and staff.

Priorities for phase 1 are:

• To provide guidance to local authorities and schools on whole-school approaches to relationships and behaviour, grounded in developing strong relationships, high expectations, and effective limit setting.
• To build a collective understanding of how we create situations in which children are most likely to learn to behave well; how we intervene effectively when they do not; the purpose of consequences; how consequences can be used to support the promotion of positive relationships and behaviour; and how consequences and effective interventions lead to change.
• To provide clarity on the range of approaches and consequences that are available, including exclusion where there is no appropriate alternative, to empower staff to promote positive relationships and behaviour and respond to behaviour that impacts on learning and teaching or the health and safety of others.
• To provide further guidance around responding to situations in which children and young people are not responsive to authoritative approaches based on strong relationships, high expectations and limit setting, and where assessment would dictate that a more individualised plan will more likely lead to change over time.
• To set out good practice in evidence-based relationships and behaviour approaches through a staged intervention model.
• Ensure assessment and intervention of individual need leads to improvement over time, including processes for risk assessments appropriate to the educational context.
• To ensure schools have access to support locally and nationally to assist in promoting positive relationships and responding to challenging incidents and trends, including the provision of relevant exemplar policies.
• To provide updated guidance on reporting, recording and monitoring bullying incidents, and commence further work to consider the simplification of approaches to recording all behaviours in schools.
• To provide clarity for parents and carers about how they can support whole-school approaches to promoting positive relationships and behaviour.
• To provide practical support to prevent violence and reduce its harm such as the Mentors in Violence Prevention, No Knives Better Lives and Medics Against Violence programmes available (delivered as part of Violence Prevention Framework.)

Phase 2 – effective engagement and support (year 2: 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026)

Phase 2 will continue to focus on the support necessary to promote positive relationships and behaviours in schools by focusing on actions which promote the values of fairness, respect and equality in order to create inclusive learning and teaching environments for all.

In phase 2, the focus will be to build on the actions developed and delivered during phase 1 with prioritisation of the following:

• To further update, consolidate and rationalise the existing suite of relationship and behaviour guidance.
• To publish a whole school approach on preventing and responding to racism and racist incidents.
• To commission a national review on the implementation of the gender-based violence in schools framework to establish positive practice and further areas for improvement.
• Identify and promote resources and professional development available to staff and schools on relationships and behaviour in schools, and reporting, recording and monitoring of incidents.

Phase 3 – embedding cultural change (year 3: 1 April 2026 until 31 March 2027)

Phase 3 will focus on embedding the changes necessary to effect the long-term systemic culture change needed to create a safe and consistent environment for all, and to identify developing practice and impact.

In phase 3, the focus will be to build on the actions developed and delivered during years 1 and 2 (phase 1 and 2) with prioritisation of the following:

• To undertake HM Inspector led national review(s) on relationships and behaviour.
• To commission the sixth wave of BISSR to monitor progress and identify any further emerging trends.

There will also be actions developed and delivered throughout all phases of the plan which focus on the broader consolidation and rationalisation of relationship and behaviour guidance, practical support to local authorities and schools to support their development of local policies and approaches, and actions to ensure policy cohesion. There are also a number of actions which broadly focus on the development, updating or publication of resources which will require additional supporting actions to ensure effective implementation – including, dissemination of information, development and implementation of professional learning and a robust communication strategy to ensure these are embedded effectively within the context of wider school relationships and behaviour policies.