Joint Media Statement – Additional Support Needs in Scotland’s Schools

Inadequate ASN provision having an impact across the whole learning population and detrimental to the wellbeing of children and young people

With Additional Support Needs (ASN) in our schools at an all-time high and recognition that the gap between ASN policy and practice is now ‘intolerable’, trade unions and organisations representing teachers, practitioners, support workers and parents have come together to issue a joint statement, outlining their shared concern at the insufficient levels of funding to deliver ASN provision to the almost 40% of pupils who require it.

The co-signatories of the statement are clear that such inadequate ASN provision is now having an impact across the whole learning population and is detrimental to the wellbeing of children and young people; the wellbeing of school staff; and the educational experience for many pupils.

The joint signatories call on the Scottish Government and Education Authorities to put in place the requisite additional staffing and resources to fully implement the relevant legal duties and commitments in practice for all pupils with recognised additional needs.

Some quotes from organisations involved are included below:

“AHDS members, school leaders from Scotland’s primary, nursery and ASN schools, routinely highlight the need for increased support for the inclusion agenda as their number one issue.  Urgent investment is needed in additional staffing in mainstream schools as well as in expanding specialist provision if we are to achieve the goal of getting it right for every child.” – Greg Dempster, General Secretary, AHDS

“Parents should not have to fight for ASN provision for their children. It is a right enshrined in law and needs to be properly upheld. Every child in Scotland who needs it deserves the right to addition support for learning and it’s time that was delivered.” – Gavin Yates, Executive Director, Connect

“As parents, we see firsthand how the lack of adequate funding for ASN impacts not only our children but the entire school community. It’s heartbreaking to watch dedicated teachers and staff struggle to meet the needs of almost 40% of their students without the necessary support.

“We urgently need the Scottish Government to bridge the gap between policy and practice to ensure all our children receive the education and care they deserve.” – Leanne McGuire, Chairperson, Glasgow City Parents Group

Full joint statement on ASN – Issued by the EIS Comms Department on behalf of all co-signatories to the joint statement.

We support the Scottish Government’s commitment to ‘getting it right for every child’ to provide all children, young people and their families with the right support at the right time; so that every child and young person in Scotland can reach their full potential.

The Education (ASL) (Scotland) Act 2004 places various duties on education authorities related to the provision of school education for children and young people with additional support needs belonging to their area. Education authorities must:

• make adequate and efficient provision for the additional support required for each child or young person with additional support needs for whose school education they are responsible;
• make arrangements to identify additional support needs;
• keep under consideration the additional support needs identified and the adequacy of support provided to meet the needs of each child or young person.

We, the undersigned, record our concern that the proportion of Scotland’s pupils with an identified Additional Support Need (ASN) has risen from 6.5% in 2009 to 37% in 2023 without a corresponding increase in resources to support this level of need.

We have seen the level and complexity of additional support needs grow, whilst poverty continues to extend its crippling grip across families in Scotland, intensifying in the midst of the cost-of-living crisis, with hunger, fuel and digital poverty now impacting more than one in three children in some areas.

We believe that the Scottish Government has not provided sufficient funding to allow local authorities to make adequate and efficient provision for the additional support required for each child or young person with additional support needs. 

The current climate of under-investment in Additional Support for Learning is now having an impact across the whole learning population and is detrimental to the wellbeing of children and young people; the wellbeing of school staff; and the educational experience for many pupils.

The final report of the National Discussion on Education highlighted the imperative for ‘adequate sustained funding to provide staffing and specialist resources to be able to achieve the commitment to inclusivity and [meet] the needs of each learner, with a particular urgency for children and young people identified as having Additional Support Needs’. Yet we continue to witness efforts to evade discourse around the crucial issue of resourcing.

The Scottish Government and education authorities must face up to the challenge and invest in Scottish Education to deliver the promises of inclusive practice made to young people and their families twenty years ago and which continues to be framed in current legislation. 

We call on the Scottish Government and all education authorities to put in place the requisite additional staffing and resources to fully implement the relevant legal duties and commitments in practice for all pupils with additional support needs, and in so doing, improve the quality of education provision and wellbeing for those children and young people, and improve the working conditions, health, safety and wellbeing of the teachers and support staff who work with them. 

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