Relationships and Behaviour Summit: Recording and monitoring incidents in schools: 5 September 2023

• Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Scottish Government
• Director of Learning, Scottish Government
• Scottish Government
• Association of Directors of Education Scotland (ADES)
• COSLA
• Education Scotland
• Association of Scottish Principal Educational Psychologists
• Scottish Council of Independent Schools
• SEEMiS
• Association of Headteachers and Deputes Scotland (AHDS)
• Education Institute for Scotland (EIS)
• GMB
• National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT)
• Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA)
• Brechin High School, Angus 
• Oban High School, Argyll and Bute 
• Mearns Castle High School, East Renfrewshire 
• Alva Academy, Clackmannanshire 
• St Michael’s Primary School, Glasgow 
• Craigroyston High School, Edinburgh 
• Carrongrange High School, Falkirk
• Rockfield Primary School, Argyll & Bute
• Stonelaw High School, South Lanarkshire
• South Ayrshire Council
• Falkirk Council
• Glasgow City Council
• Perth and Kinross Council
• Children in Scotland
• Connect
• National Parent Forum of Scotland
• Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights
• Respectme
• Violence Reduction Unit
• LGBT Youth Scotland
• Zero Tolerance

Items and actions

Purpose 

In response to concerns raised about pupil behaviour, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills committed to convening a summit on relationships and behaviour in schools. 

A multi-stage approach is being taken to the summit, with a series of themed events taking place to enable relationships and behaviour to be explored with the necessary rigour and in order to engage with as many interest parties as possible. Events are scheduled between September and November 2023. 

This event was the first in the series, on the theme of recording and monitoring of incidents in schools. The primary aim of this summit was two-fold: to identify issues relevant to recording and monitoring incidents in schools; and to identify practical solutions necessary to tackle these together, at a school level, local level and national level.

Delegates

There were a diverse range of delegates which included teachers, local authority representatives, parents and third sector organisations representing the interests of children and young people. A full list of organisations represented at the event can be found above.

The Director for Learning chaired breakout sessions 1 and 2 and associated feedback sessions. Following the conclusion of Parliamentary business on Programme for Government, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills joined the summit and chaired breakout session 3 and its feedback session. 

The event comprised of three table discussion sessions, two of which had a group feedback session, and one which had a panel session to respond to questions posed by the tables. 

Session 1: what is a recordable incident?

Delegates were invited to participate in a table group discussion guided by the following prompting questions:

• What factors are/should be taken into account when deciding whether (or not) to record an incident?
• How does the type of incident impact on when and how to record (bullying, equalities, violence, disruption, against staff)?

Feedback was invited from each table which has been abridged into the following themes:  

• cultural/ Definition and understanding
• a shared understanding of what a recordable incident (and what bullying means) is necessary across all levels (i.e. schools, local authorities and nationally) to enable appropriate, consistent recording
• Important to understand the context; response will be guided by the type of incident and support necessary
• the importance of engaging with parents and the ethos that comes before recording was noted
• the importance of creating a culture where people feel comfortable (and able) to report was noted

Cultural/Definition and understanding

• a shared understanding of what a recordable incident (and what bullying means) is necessary across all levels (i.e. schools, local authorities and nationally) to enable appropriate, consistent recording
• important to understand the context; response will be guided by the type of incident and support necessary
• the importance of engaging with parents and the ethos that comes before recording was noted
• the importance of creating a culture where people feel comfortable (and able) to report was noted

Roles and expectations

• it was felt it would be beneficial to clarify roles and expectations – particularly when an incident occurs out of school – and ensure the benefits of recording are understood 
• the importance of ensuring staff feel supported to record incidents was reiterated 

Consistency

• it was felt there lacked consistency in recording – both in terms of the practical application of the policy and use of systemsIt was noted that high-level incidents have a clear recording process; lower level incidents feel more subjective 
• the challenge of dealing with an incident which occurs out of school was noted and it was expressed that a national approach would be helpful

Type and frequency

• it was acknowledged that, if a consistent approach was achieved, the number of recorded incidents would inevitably increase
• the importance of considering the context, the type of incident and patterns was noted
• it was remarked that there should be more focus on low level incidents in an effort to prevent disruptive behaviour developing into more challenging behaviour

Early intervention

• there was consensus about the importance of early intervention and the need to identify appropriate support and interventions

Data/systematic

• some people reported limitations of the system
• the number of different systems for different incidents was considered complicated (Bullying and Equalities Module, pastoral notes; incident recording forms etc) and it may be beneficial to have one universal system/more streamlined system
• the importance of understanding data to prevent misinterpretation was noted
• a national picture of incidents would be helpful, especially for the sharing and identification of intelligence and good practice 

Good/developing practice

• it was noted there were examples of good practice, both at a school and local level, which could be shared to increase understanding

Children’s rights based approach

• the importance of taking the children’s views into account was noted – do they want an incident recorded and do they perceive it as bullying
• it was acknowledged that it was important to assess the support needs of children – behaviour may indicate an unmet need, additional or specialist support required

 

Poll of delegates

Delegates were asked to complete a short poll which sought to identify the level of consistency of recording of incidents across three levels: school, local authority and nationally.

Results found, in the opinion of those who participated in the poll:

• the majority felt there lacked a consistent approach across school and local authority levels
• all those polled felt there lacked consistency at a national level

It was acknowledged that the results reaffirmed the necessity of the discussion taking place that afternoon to consider appropriate, feasible solutions in an effort to strengthen consistency across all levels.

Breakout session 2:  the benefits, challenges and barriers to recording and monitoring

Delegates were invited to participate in a table group discussion guided by the following prompting questions:

• What is good about the current system/approach to recording and monitoring?
• What are the main barriers/challenges to effective recording and monitoring?
• Record a question for the panel

A panel comprising of organisations representing schools, local authorities, parents and the system used to record incidents was convened and a short Q&A took place.

Discussion points, together with feedback raised during breakout session 2 and the Q&A, has been abridged into the following themes: 

What is good about the current system/approach to recording and monitoring

Systematic

• some functionality of the current system was acknowledged as positive – i.e. recording incidents for intersectional incidents and being able to record chronology in one place

Good/developing practice

• it was acknowledged that, although improvements could be made, there are many examples of good practice already happening – for example, there was reference to the use of data to identify trends and practice

Culture and expectations

• it was noted that most children and young people believe that schools do not tolerate bullying and most know who to speak to if they are worried or upset
• it was noted that it was beneficial to make visitors aware of expectations in terms of recording and monitoring

 

What are the main barriers/challenges to effective recording and monitoring?

Culture

• the inconsistencies in reporting were noted – some reports of an active discouragement of reporting, inconsistencies in approaches and under-reporting as a result of perceived impact of data (i.e. reporting statistics increasing/decreasing)
• it was acknowledged that there could be a potential stigmatisation of young people being labelled a bully or a perpetrator 
• the impact COVID has had on society was acknowledged and the impact on online spaces
• the importance of setting expectations for everyone was noted – i.e. staff, community, children and parents

Process

• the importance of ensuring staff have the support required was noted – i.e. appropriate training on behaviour management and support for staff after incidents
• it was agreed that different types of incidents require different responses and that using a generalised behaviour policy doesn’t always distinguish appropriately between low level incidents and very serious incidents
   

Structural 

• the impact on staff resource was acknowledged and resource levels were noted as a challenge
• it was suggested that there should be one recording system (i.e. for attendance and reporting incidents)
• the limitations of some functionality of the current system were noted

Breakout session 3: potential support and solutions

Delegates were asked to reflect on the challenges, barriers and opportunities identified at the start of the summit in order to consider potential support and solutions necessary in response to these.

Delegates participated in a table group discussion guided by the following prompting questions:

• What remain the principal barriers to effective recording and monitoring?  
• What support/solutions would help to address the barriers identified? 

Discussion points have been abridged into the following themes:  

What remain the principial barriers to effective recording and monitoring?

Systematic

• the importance of having a system fit for purpose with a feedback mechanism was noted

Shared understanding/consistency

• it was acknowledged that it would be helpful to establish a consistent, national approach
• the importance of knowing what to record was noted, as well as the need for appropriate training to enable this

Culture and expectations

• the importance of having suitable processes in place to gather data was noted
• the importance of clear communication was noted

What support/solutions would help address the barriers identified?

School

• the importance of engaging with staff, young people and wider community when creating relationship and behaviour policies was noted, as well as the importance of having such a policy
• the need to ensure the appropriate level of resource (and time) to tackle low level, disruptive behaviour was noted in order to prevent an escalation to violent incidents
• the importance of sharing good practice between schools was noted
• improvements/ enhancements to systematic infrastructure/ functionality was noted – being able to record low level incidents quickly, for example

Local 

• the importance of increasing partnership working was noted and the benefit of using local authority officers to ensure approach is consistent and narrative is understood
• the benefit of sharing good practice was reiterated
• it was agreed that appropriate training and support for teachers on behaviour policies and systems was important

National

• it was suggested that a unified system would be helpful
• the importance of consistency was noted – broad principals set nationally with room to be adapted to local situations
• appropriate support and tools was noted and the need to ensure data is used effectively
• The impact on staff resources was acknowledged and noted as a challenge

Closing remarks

The Cabinet Secretary thanked delegates for their honest and reflective discussion and reiterated her commitment to exploring this topic with rigour.