In Scotland there are concerns about the number of children with disabilities who miss school. In Wales there is a lack of specialist support in the Welsh language. In Northern Ireland the varied approaches to sex and relationships education have been a persistent point of contention.
A 78-page report by the children’s commissioners of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, for the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, has a wide remit, but one nine-page section focuses entirely on education.
Commissioners Koulla Yiasouma (Northern Ireland), Bruce Adamson (Scotland) and Rocio Cifuentes (Wales) have warned that, while progress has been made in some areas of children’s rights since an equivalent report in 2016, there are “urgent issues which must be addressed across a broad range of rights”.
They also say that children and young people’s views must be central to decisions affecting them, and have shared with the UN a selection of children’s voices and experiences from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Here are some of the key points on education for each of the three jurisdictions:
1. Support for disabled children and children with other support needs
In Wales children with learning disabilities and their families too often experience disjointed services and are often not involved in decisions over their transition to adult services.
In Northern Ireland there has been a long delay in implementing the new policy and legislative framework that is “integral to addressing systemic failures in the [special educational needs and disabilities] system”.
In Scotland attainment rates for children with additional support needs (including disabled children and those with care experience) are considerably below those of their peers, while a “concerning number of autistic children are out of school and receiving little or no educational support”.
2. School exclusions
In Northern Ireland a disproportionate number of children with SEN (special educational needs) experience formal and informal suspensions and exclusions. A lack of behavioural support services is among the factors highlighted.
In Scotland there are concerns about “anecdotal, but persistent, evidence of disabled children, including those with mental health conditions, being encouraged to leave school at 16 and in some cases before”.
In Wales there are particular concerns about “off-rolling” (removing children from the school roll so that their poor results are not included in the school’s statistics) of younger school-aged children. The Welsh government has promised new exclusions guidance in 2022-23, which the commissioner “hopes will promote a more nurturing approach”.
3. Unequal access to education
In Northern Ireland academic selection and separated schooling “exacerbate inequalities, advantage children from more affluent families and reinforce social and religious divides”. The passing of legislation putting a statutory duty on the Department of Education to provide more support to the integrated schools’ sector is described as “welcome”.
In Scotland there are “concerns about the number of children with autistic spectrum disorders and other disabilities who are not attending school, often with the acquiescence of the school or local authority”. In most cases, they “receive little or no alternative educational provision”.
In Wales children’s ability to access their right to an education while receiving treatment in hospital is “unclear”. Access to education in Welsh is also “particularly problematic” for children with additional learning needs because there is a lack of specialist ALN support in the language.
4. Financial barriers to education
While additional funding is provided to schools based on the proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals, in Northern Ireland there is no requirement for schools to report how they have used this money to benefit pupils on low incomes. Families on low incomes are eligible for uniform grants, which have increased by 20 per cent to £42.90 for primary school children and a maximum of £93.20 for students aged 15 and over, but these “only cover a fraction of the cost of uniforms”.
In Wales a grant of up to £300 per learner is available for some families on lower incomes, and this money can be spent on the costs of school uniforms or other school-related equipment. A lack of free transport to education settings for students aged over 16 is another barrier, particularly for those with additional learning needs, because often there is no option available to them close to home and a significant journey using public transport is required
School transport in Scotland is provided to a child’s catchment area school (or the catchment area Roman Catholic school), but statutory eligibility is restricted to children living more than two miles from the school (three miles if aged 8 or over). However, the introduction of free bus travel for all children and young people under the age of 22 in Scotland means travel by public bus is now free where available (although this does not include ferries, so children in island communities are at a disadvantage). Wales and Northern Ireland are advised to provide free public transport to all children.
5. Curriculum
Contrary to a 2016 recommendation by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that “meaningful sexual and reproductive health education be part of the mandatory school curriculum for all schools in Northern Ireland”, grant-aided schools are required by the Department of Education to develop their own relationships and sexuality education policy.
A new curriculum in Wales has been rolled out from September 2022. It includes mandatory age-appropriate relationships and sexuality education, as well as mandatory teaching of black, Asian and ethnic minority experiences as part of Welsh history.
The ongoing programme of education reform in Scotland “must improve access to education for groups least likely to achieve”, the report says.
