Reform vital in improving outcomes for children and young people with additional support needs, new briefing warns 

A new briefing, published today, is calling for reforms in the additional support for learning system to improve outcomes for children and young people with additional support needs. 

Published by Children in Scotland, From Vision to Delivery: Reforming Scotland’s Additional Support for Learning System examines the issues and challenges in the current system and sets out its recommendations to the Scottish Government.  

With around 40% of Scotland’s total learners now considered to have some form of additional support need, the required systematic changes sit within the Scottish Government’s broader education reform work. 

While there has been ambitious progress in the additional support for learning policy landscape over the past five years, a “prevailing policy implementation gap” is resulting in children and young people receiving insufficient support and facing additional barriers to accessing their right to education.   

Drawing evidence and insight from the views, voices and experiences of children and young people who engaged with Children in Scotland through its additional support for learning services and participation work, the briefing identifies key issues with the current additional support for learning system. 

The increasing scale and complexity of learners’ support needs in recent years is considered as the most “significant challenge facing the broader education system”, with Enquire, the Scottish advice service for additional support for learning, reporting that issues relating to level of support attributed to 33% of all enquiries made to its helpline since April 2022.  

Under additional support for learning laws, learners do not need a diagnosis to receive support, but evidence suggests that this is not always upheld in practice. The result is an emphasis on and an urgency to seek a diagnosis, resulting in an increased pressure on waiting lists and in turn, prolonged waits for assessment. Children in Scotland stresses the need for a “culture shift” which better reflects children’s rights, and a focus on individual need. 

Further issues contributing to poorer outcomes for children and young people with additional needs included inconsistencies in support planning across local authorities, unsustainable pressure on schools, insufficient training for teachers and a failure to fairly recognise the achievements of learners with additional support needs. 

Children in Scotland is calling for systemic change and has set out its recommendations, including: 

• System change interventions to facilitate early intervention and identification 

• Enhanced professional development for education staff and development pathways to uptake specialist roles 

• A review of support planning and decision-making processes in use across Scotland  
• A needs-led National Measurement Framework. 

Billy Anderson, Head of Services and Influence at Children in Scotland, said: 

“Scotland’s bold ambition for inclusive practice and additional support for learning is commendable and is reflected in the reported progress made in recent years under the ASL Action Plan, implementing the recommendations of Angela Morgan’s 2020 review. Whilst the foundational improvements driven by the ASL Action Plan will take time to be felt by children and families, the views, voices and experiences of the families we work with tells us the required cultural shift, in additional support for learning delivery, remains incomplete with too many children and young people not benefiting from the support they are entitled to.  

“Our new ASL policy briefing takes a systems-level approach to understanding this incomplete culture shift, considering some of the key challenges and proposing recommendations that the Scottish Government may be able to take in collaboration with key stakeholders. The recommendations are proposed to ensure the system delivering Scotland’s additional support for learning is responsive to the support needs of Scotland’s learners, resilient to future challenges and improves outcomes for children, young people and families.”

This briefing comes at a critical time given the foundational role additional support for learning can have in “realising the goals of Scotland’s education system” as part of ongoing education reform work, as well as the opportunity for it to be integrated within broader public services as part of the Scottish Government’s public service reform agenda.  

Children in Scotland is urging the Scottish Government to be brave in taking forward necessary actions and is committed to working collaboratively to realise “Scotland’s bold and ambitious vision for inclusive education”.