SCHOOL EXPERTS CALL FOR NATIONAL ENQUIRY INTO ADDITIONAL SUPPORT IN SCHOOLS
- Commission on School Reform says there has been “no serious investigation” into the nine-fold increase since 2004 in children with ASN
- Experts also cite lack of focus on the impact on class teachers of providing “huge and increasing” amount of pastoral care resulting from the rapidly expanding numbers of learners judged to have addition needs
- Commission calls for independent national enquiry to focus (in addition to the impact of increased pastoral case) on the presumption in favour of mainstreaming and on the impact on examinations
The Commission on School Reform, the education arm of the independent, non-party think tank Enlighten, has today called on the Scottish Government to launch an independent national enquiry into the capacity of Scotland’s schools to provide Additional Support Needs (ASN) in light of a huge and continuing increase in demand.
Since the passing of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act in 2004:
- The concept of ‘special’ education needs has broadened to include any children who are deemed to require ‘additional’ support, without a clear and consistently applied diagnosis
- The number of pupils recording as receiving ASL has risen from less than 33,000 to over 284,000 – a nine-fold increase, representing more than 40% of the school population
- Audit Scotland has concluded that almost all ASL is provided in mainstream classes by classroom teachers
It is therefore now calling for an independent Expert Committee of Enquiry to:
- Evaluate the extent to which the rise in ASN is due to parental pressure, changed diagnostic criteria and increase in real need
- Investigate whether current approaches benefit those considered to have additional needs or whether they have an impact – adverse or otherwise – on other learners
- Assess the impact of the Presumption of Mainstreaming
- Assess the impact of ASN on the fairness of examination arrangement
The full paper can be read here.
Frank Lennon, a former Headteacher and member of the Commission on School Reform, said:
“The current unsustainable position has arisen from allowing an approach which is well-intentioned but has never been exposed to serious scrutiny. It is incumbent on the Scottish Government to spend time understanding the situation, and then dealing with it.
“In primary schools, the position is particularly acute. There is no structure of posts with pastoral care responsibilities. Class teachers carry much of the burden and senior leaders often spend a large proportion of their time on pastoral support.
“A huge and increasing proportion of time, energy, expertise and resource in schools is spent on pastoral issues, such as attendance, behaviour and additional support needs. In many (perhaps most) schools these three areas dominate the daily life of the schools’ senior leadership and pastoral teams and have a major impact on the work of class teachers.
“The vastly increased demand for ASN is creating the single biggest post-pandemic pressure in Scottish schools, and the Government must now address it as a matter of great urgency.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
- Enlighten is a public policy institute which works to promote increased economic prosperity, opportunity for all, and more effective public services. Enlighten is independent of political parties and any other organisations. It is funded by donations from private individuals, charitable trusts and corporate organisations. Its Director is Chris Deerin and Alison Payne is the Research Director. Both work closely with the Trustee Board, chaired by Lord McConnell, which meets regularly to review the research and policy programme.
- For Enlighten media contact Andy Maciver, [email protected], 07855 261 244