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

Attendees and apologies

Attendees

• COSLA Spokesperson on Children and Young People (Chair)
• Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills
• COSLA
• Education Scotland
• NASUWT
• GTCS
• National Parent Forum of Scotland (NPFS)
• Scottish Council of Deans of Education
• Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA)
• UNISON
• ADES
• Association of Scottish Principal Educational Psychologists (ASPEP)
• Support and Wellbeing Unit, Scottish Government (Secretariat) 

Apologies

• Association of Headteachers and Deputies Scotland (AHDS)
• Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS)
• Respectme
• School Leaders Scotland (SLS)

Items and actions

Welcome and apologies

The chair welcomed attendees and apologies were noted.  

Minutes of meeting on 16 April 2024

The chair noted the minutes from the meeting held on 16 April had been circulated for approval and invited comments from members. Members agreed the content of the minutes and that these could be published on the Scottish Government website.

Action: SG to publish minutes from 16 April on the Scottish Government website.

Update on publication of refreshed mobile phones guidance

The chair noted a final version of the guidance had been circulated for information. The draft was formally agreed at the last meeting on 16 April and thanked members of SAGRABIS for providing their logos for the document.

The chairnoted the guidance would be published as soon as possible, and confirmed that as requested, the Scottish Government would provide SAGRABIS with notice of the publication date in order that organisations could plan their own communications activity.

Action: SG to update SAGRABIS with date of launch of the mobile guidance once confirmed

Draft joint action plan

The chair highlighted that this is the fifth time that SAGRABIS has considered the draft action plan, following discussions at the December, January, March and April meetings.

The group had been provided with the draft action plan, the more detailed excel sheet, currently referred to as the activity tracker, and a note of changes that had been made to the draft since the last meeting..

The chair invited the Scottish Government Support and Wellbeing Unit to update on the amendments that had been made to the draft action plan. Members welcomed the overall content of the plan which they felt reflected a necessary balance on behaviour with a realistic and holistic, whole system approach. A number of drafting amendments were suggested to improve consistency of language and appropriate emphasis of some elements of the plan. There was discussion about the framing of the discussion on consequences, particularly with reference to situations where children and young people are not responsive to consequences. It was agreed that further discussion would take place outwith the meeting with SAGRABIS members to agree an appropriate form of wording.

There were concerns that the tone of the activity tracker did not match that of the action plan, and it agreed that this would be reviewed as part of the final amendments. It was felt to be helpful to break some of the actions down into more detail, particularly in updating on progress. It was noted the Additional Support for Learning Action Plan provided a useful model for this. Some members of SAGRABIS would also welcome the activity tracker being published alongside the action plan if this was appropriate. It was noted there was an commitment within the plan to update annually on progress made within the plan as a means to provide this transparency.

The chair sought agreement from SAGRABIS that further to the amendments discussed being integrated within the action plan, that SAGRABIS agreed to the publication of the action plan. SAGRABIS agreed to publication, further to these changes being made.

The chair acknowledged the insightful conversation and thanked the officials and members for their efforts.

Action: SG to liaise with SAGRABIS members on form of wording for situations where children and young people are not responding to consequences.

Action: SG to update the action plan to reflect other changes agreed at the meeting.

Action: Subject to the agreed changes being made to the action plan, SG to proceed to finalise publication of the action plan.

National approach to recording

The chair highlighted at the last meeting, SAGRABIS discussed the  recording of data and had agreed that this be added to this meeting’s agenda. The chair noted the question of whether it is possible or desirable to gather national data on violence or other types of incidents such as bullying is something that has been raised by some members of SAGRABIS and also by some MSPs, and initial views of SAGRABIS were sought.

It was felt it would be helpful to map what current data was being recorded and should be recorded as different types of information would be required at different levels, such as school level or local authority level. Consistency in what was gathered was considered important.

As there was only limited time to discuss this agenda item, it was agreed it would be revisited at a future meeting of SAGRABIS.

Action: Secretariat to include data recording on a future SAGRABIS agenda.

Next steps

The chair noted the next meeting of SAGRABIS was scheduled for mid-September. Should it be necessary for SAGRABIS to meet before then,  However another meeting maybe organised if needed.

AOB

It was suggested by one member of SAGRABIS that  it may be appropriate for a representative of The Promise to be invited onto SAGRABIS given their interest in exclusion. It was noted there was an action within the action plan to consider the membership of SAGRABIS to ensure it reflected the priorities within the plan, and this would be considered at a future meeting.

Action: Secretariat to include membership of SAGRABIS on a future SAGRABIS agenda.

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