New paper advocates for inclusive school environments for young people with additional support needs

A paper published by Children in Scotland offers new guidance on creating inclusive school environments for young people with additional support needs.

The paper brings together the views of the Inclusion Ambassadors, a group of secondary school-aged pupils who have a range of additional support needs and attend a variety of educational provision across Scotland.

Building on the group’s previous work, which focused on improving classroom environments for pupils with different support needs, this paper widens the lens to consider how additional school spaces beyond the classroom impact children and young people’s overall school experience.

The paper identifies a number of factors that affect how inclusive additional spaces feel for pupils, with issues such as overcrowding, busyness and noise levels, impacting pupils’ abilities to relax and de-stress in additional spaces.

Further issues including fighting in corridors and disruption in toilet settings were found to impact how safe and comfortable young people felt in additional spaces. Group members also highlighted how accessibility requirements, which were considered within the classroom setting, were often not met within additional spaces in the school.

Quieter areas, designated for learners with additional support needs, including libraries, additional support bases and designated “quiet rooms”, offered calm and relaxed spaces where pupils could go to de-stress, regulate and calm down. The paper also highlighted the positive impact that came from giving pupils’ ownership over additional spaces, supporting them to feel included in their wider school environment.

Having previously stressed the importance of a relationships-based approach in meeting young people's additional needs, the Inclusion Ambassadors described how additional spaces helped to develop vital relationships with staff and fostered community-building with peers, especially when members had the option to visit quieter spaces with friends.

Generally, group members found there to be a lack of overall provision for inclusive spaces outside the classroom, as well as a lack of awareness for provision if it was available.

Based on group members’ experiences, Children in Scotland has proposed six recommendations to support school staff to create more inclusive school environments:

• School should closely with pupils with additional support needs to understand their experiences of using spaces outside the classroom in their own school context
• Schools should raise awareness among pupils with additional support needs of the wide range of spaces on offer in the school to ensure that all who can benefit from accessing these spaces are provided an opportunity to.
• Staff should trust pupils to take ownership and show respect for all spaces in their school – including the outdoors and green spaces where pupils can access nature.
• Schools should not prevent all pupils from accessing additional spaces (including toilets) when ‘negative behaviour’ is exhibited in these spaces.
• Schools should provide support for accessibility needs beyond the classroom and designated additional support needs bases.
• When schools are redesigning, adapting or creating new spaces, pupils with additional support needs should participate in making decisions about what these spaces look like, feel like and include.

Click here to read the full summary paper ->

Learn more about the work of the Inclusion Ambassadors ->