'Failure to plan' over soaring pupil support needs

Ministers and councils have failed to plan effectively for the soaring numbers of pupils needing extra support in the classroom, according to a spending watchdog.

Audit Scotland found around 40% of Scottish pupils are now receiving additional support for learning (ASL), most of it delivered within mainstream schools.

The report calls for ministers to "fundamentally rethink" how they fund and staff provision to meet demand.

The Scottish government said it had invested £1bn in additional support needs in the past year and would work with councils to provide more consistent services.

The definition of additional support needs is broad - it can include emotional or behavioural issues, autism, disabilities, dyslexia and language support needs.

In recent years, the Scottish government has expanded it further to include, for example, looked after children and young carers, which it says in part explains the increase in numbers.

Since 2004, when a new law marked a shift towards keeping children in mainstream schools, there has been an eight-fold increase in recorded ASL pupil numbers with 285,000 children now receiving some form of support.

Auditor General Stephen Boyle said: "The Scottish government has failed to plan effectively for its inclusive approach to additional support for learning.

"Current gaps in data mean it is unclear whether all children's right to have an education that fully develops their personality, talents and abilities is being met."

The report found only about 20% of schools have dedicated facilities for ASL pupils, and dealing with their needs was increasingly a core role for classroom teachers.

The inclusive approach had not been reflected in funding formulas, training, class sizes or the design of school buildings, it added.

It also found inconsistencies in gathering data, making it hard to gauge what resources were needed.

Natalie Pinnell's 10-year-old daughter Erin was diagnosed with autism and also has ADHD. She has not been to school since October last year.

Previously she attended the "support hub" at her Aberdeenshire primary but became increasingly isolated from her peers, eventually refusing to go anywhere near the school.

Natalie was reassured that mainstream education was the right place for her daughter but she now regrets that.

"The impact on children who need that extra support, in a place that doesn't have the budget or the resources to give them that support affects detrimentally the self- esteem and wellbeing both of the children that need it - but also the other children in the classroom as well," she told BBC Scotland News.

She accepts there are funding pressures, but believes cuts being made in areas like psychological support are impacting some of the most vulnerable children.

"It's all well and good saying you can make this cut now - but you've got to look at the longer term."

Teaching union NASUWT said the report showed the presumption of mainstream education had been introduced as a policy without sufficient planning or resources, and was now "plainly not fit for purpose".

General secretary Dr Patrick Roach said schools were left struggling to do their best, but with too many children not getting the support they needed.

"Many teachers are increasingly expected to teach children with such high and complex needs that they require almost one-on-one support, at the same time as teaching the rest of their class," he said.

"Such a situation undermines the right of all pupils to a high-quality education and those pupils who deserve to have their additional learning needs met with specialist support."

In 2020 the government commissioned Morgan Review found ASL provision was "fragmented and inconsistent", and too reliant on efforts of committed individuals.

An action plan was drawn up and a recent progress report found about half the recommendations had been met.

Last summer, 11 bodies including teaching unions, school leaders and parents groups issued a joint statement saying "insufficient" resources were leading to an "intolerable" gap between policy and practice.

Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said funding on ASL already totalled £1bn and government investment had allowed councils to increase the number of learning support assistants by 725 in the past academic year.

Next year's budget allocates an extra a £28m to support recruitment and retention of the ASL workforce, amounting to about 3% of councils' current ASL spending.

"That inclusive approach to Scottish education has broad party support - but I think we have to recognise the challenges that come with that too," she said.

Gilruth promised to work with councils and Audit Scotland to understand and address the issues raised in the report.

"Part of the challenge here is getting that greater consistency for families and young people in our schools who do have an identifiable additional support need," she said.

Scottish Conservative education spokesman Miles Briggs said the report was a "damning verdict" showing children were being let down.

"Just as the attainment gap between the most and least deprived has widened under John Swinney's government, this report identifies a gulf in outcomes between students who receive support and the rest," he said.

Scottish Labour said there was a "shameful" failure to grasp the scale of the problem.

The party's education spokeswoman Pam Duncan-Glancy said: "Parents are constantly fighting for their children's education and teachers are being worked to the bone but they aren't getting the support they need from the government."