Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools minutes: January 2024

Attendees and apologies

Attendees

• Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (Chair)
• COSLA
• Education Scotland
• UNISON
• respectme
• NASUWT
• Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA)
• National Parent Forum of Scotland (NPFS)
• School Leaders Scotland (SLS)
• Association of Directors of Education Scotland (ADES)
• Association of Headteachers and Deputies Scotland (AHDS)
• Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS)
• General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS)
• Association of Scottish Principal Educational Psychologists (ASPEP)
• Scottish Council of Deans of Education (SCDE)
• Support and Wellbeing Unit, Scottish Government 

Items and actions

Welcome and apologies

The chair welcomed attendees and noted no apologies.

Minutes of meeting on 12 December 2023

The chair noted the minutes from the previous meeting, held on 12 December, had been circulated for information and invited comments from members. Members agreed the minutes and these will now be published on the Scottish Government website.

Action: SG to publish minutes from 12 December on the Scottish Government website.

Draft action plan

Following the December meeting, an early draft of the action plan had been circulated to SAGRABIS for comment and input. The majority of SAGRABIS members provided feedback or suggested actions to include. These have been considered and reflected within the plan, where appropriate.

SG thanked members for the feedback provided. The chair then welcomed any feedback from members relating to the action plan. Some points members raised were:

• the approach to the plan was welcomed, and was felt to provide a good basis to work from.
• the principles set out in the document were broadly welcomed, though comments were made that these needed to be more action oriented, and should reflect the role of non-education partners. 
• there was a need to review the actions to ensure all partners with a role in their development/delivery were identified.
• the opening narrative should retain discussion of the current policy focus on relationships, based on the existing research.
• might be helpful to explain what was meant by low level disruption, challenging and dysregulated behaviour and disengagement behaviour.  
• there was a need to look at the language around risk assessment, normalise structures in order to keep those in schools safe.
• link to whole school staged intervention approaches needs to be made - universal, targeted, individual for social, emotional and behavioural needs and how a school should be able to clearly articulate how they approach this at each level. 

The chair thanked members for their feedback, and asked for any further comments to be sent via email.

Action: Members were asked to submit any further comments or suggested changes to the plan by Friday 16 February to inform the next draft.

Refreshed guidance on the use of mobile phones in schools

The chair had committed to providing refreshed guidance to schools on the use of mobile phones as part of the joint action plan.

Officials provided an overview of the draft refreshed guidance. The guidance was attempting to balance the benefits that technology can bring to teaching and learning, with consideration of the abuse and misuse of mobiles being experienced in our schools.

The chair made it clear that there is no power in Scotland to apply a national ban, but that it is already within head teachers’ power to implement restrictions, as some schools have done. Many schools’ reliance on mobiles to aid teaching and learning, as well as for practices such as paying for lunches, means it is not practical for all schools to implement a ban on a voluntary basis.

The chair welcomed an open discussion from members on any feedback they may have relating to the refreshed guidance. Some points members raised were:

• there were differing views and approaches within schools and amongst parents on steps schools should take and how these should be applied.
• the Electronic Communication Act is quite clear on inappropriate language, and schools’ mobile phone policies should be up-to-date and accessible.
• the guidance as currently drafted should try as much as possible to look to technological advancements in the future rather than just where we are now.. 
• guidance could bring the word “respectful” into the title. This would tie into the new anti-bullying policy too.
• the advantages of bringing children and young people, and parents, into developing the solutions to disruptive behaviour such as mobile phones would help to improve buy-in.
• also need to be clear within the document that mobile phone are not allowed within an SQA exam diet and that if found to have a  digital device the consequence will be no award.
• need to address that not all children and young people in Scotland have access to a digital device in school. some schools actively encourage the use of a phone to supplement class work

The chair thanked members for their feedback, and asked for any further comments to be sent via email

Action: Members are asked to submit any further comments or suggested changes to the plan by Tuesday 6 February to inform the next draft. 

Next steps

The chair noted the secretariat would be in touch with dates for future meetings. It was intended that the next meeting would be held in early March.

It was further highlighted by the chair that any written comments or suggested changes to the action plan and mobile guidance should be sent to SG officials within the coming days/weeks.

Action: Secretariat to contact members of the group with dates for future meetings.

Action: Further written comments or suggested changes to the draft action plan should be submitted to the Scottish Government by Friday 16 February.

Action: Further written comments or suggested changes to the draft revised mobile guidance should be submitted to the Scottish Government by Tuesday 6 February.

Any Other Business

No other business was raised. The chair closed the meeting.