Thousands of children with additional support needs (ASN) may not be getting the support they need in schools, according to an alliance of children’s service providers.
The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition has highlighted new Scottish government figures out today showing a fall in the ratio of pupils with ASN supported by specialist staff.
However, the government argued that new recording practices make direct comparisons more difficult, and that previously released figures showed an increase in the overall number of teachers in Scotland.
Updated figures from the school staff census highlight that, despite a steep increase in pupils identified as having ASN (from 118,034 in 2012 to 183,491 in 2017), the number of specialist support staff for those with ASN has risen by only 6 per cent in the same period, from 12,992 to 13,761.
The SCSC highlights that, while the ratio of ASN support staff to pupils was one to nine in 2012, it now stands at one to 13. More than one in four (26.6 per cent) of those in the pupil population are identified as having ASN.
The SCSC said that the government must work with local authorities to provide the necessary resourcing for ASN, or face the prospect of a “lost generation”.
Those with ASN may, for example, have autism spectrum disorder, mental health problems, ADHD, dyslexia or have experience of the care system. Support staff working in the sector include ASN auxiliaries, care assistants, behaviour support staff and educational psychologists.
‘Isolating ASN pupils and their families’
Between 2012 and 2017 the number of specialist ASN teachers fell from 3,840 to 3,358. This meant the ratio fell from one ASN teacher for every 33 pupils who needed support to one for every 55.
The SCSC also highlights that average spend per pupil by local authorities on additional support for learning dropped from £4,276 in 2012-13 to £3,548 in 2016-17, a 21.9 per cent cut in real terms (17 per cent in cash terms).
An SCSC spokesman said: “Cutting numbers of these specialist staff will only serve to isolate more young people and their families. For us, this is completely unacceptable. By reducing the number of support staff, we are preventing many of these vulnerable young people [getting the] chance of achieving a positive school-leaver destination, such as further education or employment, meaning that they are not achieving their full potential.”
He added: “ASN disproportionally affects those children from lower income families and areas of deprivation. If we are to close the attainment gap, this is one group of individuals we need to devote resources to.”
Deputy first minister and education secretary John Swinney said: “These statistics show there are more than 13,000 pupil support assistants in Scotland in 2017. While this figure is not comparable [see below] with the total for last year of around 12,000, we are determined that all children and young people get the support they need to reach their full potential.
“Children and young people should learn in the environment which best suits their needs, whether in a mainstream or special school setting, and 95 per cent of children with additional support needs are now educated in mainstream schools.”
He added: “All teachers provide support to pupils, not just ‘support for learning’ teachers. The total number of staff involved in helping pupils with additional support for learning needs, whether teachers or support staff, is now 16,600. We are committed to maintaining teacher numbers nationally, with the right skills in the right places, and latest data shows teacher numbers increased in 2017 to 51,513.”
The government said that the School Support Staff for 2017 statistics have been brought into line with procedures for national statistics on pupils and teachers, with “improved accuracy” and “greater standardisation of terms and definitions between schools and local authorities”.
A new category of “pupil support assistant” - totalling 13,063 staff - combines the previous “additional support needs auxiliary or care assistant” and “classroom assistant” categories.
The government said: “While this better reflects policy and provision in schools, as a result of quality assurance work on the 2017 data this is not comparable with the total for the equivalent categories last year of 12,030, as the statistics are not directly comparable with previous years.”
