The Scottish government has come under attack for the “intolerable” situation faced by many children with additional support needs (ASN) in Scottish schools.
Opposition MSPs also flagged the pressure on teachers, who were facing “a huge, wide range of needs in a class” and feeling “overwhelmed and burned out”.
Speaking in the Scottish Parliament, Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Willie Rennie, cited an autistic child “trapped in mainstream” who was routinely taught in the school hall by teaching assistants “borrowed from different classes”.
‘No real understanding of autism or dyspraxia’
His mother reported that the teaching assistants had “no training or real understanding of autism or dyspraxia” and her son received “very little teacher input”.
Mr Rennie said: “That is a recent experience, and it should shame us. We are supposed to have a fully inclusive system, but that young man was taught at the back of the hall by a range of pupil-support assistants with no specialist training, from a variety of different classes and at different times - that should not be happening.”
Mr Rennie was speaking during a debate yesterday, where the findings of an inquiry into additional support for learning (ASL), published in May and conducted by the Education, Children and Young People Committee, were set out to the Parliament.
Committee convener and Conservative MSP Sue Webber, in highlighting that more than a third of pupils in Scotland have ASN, said that “we cannot ignore the enormity of the situation”.
Ms Webber said the committee had found families “fighting for the right resources to be put in place for their children”; most pupils with ASN are “not having their needs met”; and an “intolerable gap between policy intention and reality”.
Green MSP Gillian Mackay said the Scottish system is “largely well-intentioned” but “failing to deliver the inclusive vision that it set out to achieve”.
Conservative education spokesperson Liam Kerr said ASL was “one of the most serious matters affecting Scotland” - but added: “It seems that the government is anything but serious about dealing with it.”
It was four years since Angela Morgan’s review of the way ASL legislation was being implemented and the committee found “little” had moved on, he said. The only real change in the system was that “more young people need support” and “teachers have to do more with less”.
Labour education spokesperson Pam Duncan-Glancy criticised the government’s failure to “move at pace”. The “scaffolding” around teachers and young people had “all but gone” - for example, in Camhs, educational psychology and speech and language therapy.
Falling number of specialist ASN teachers
Ms Duncan-Glancy also highlighted the falling number of specialist ASN teachers. Between 2012 and 2022, this decreased by 546, from 3,389 to 2,843.
SNP MSP Ruth Maguire said that “when a cross-party committee’s report uses words such as ‘intolerable’, the government needs to take notice”.
Education secretary Jenny Gilruth responded that the “inclusive nature” of the Scottish education system in 2024 should be celebrated. However, “we still have challenges”, with the financial context having “a direct impact on the choices that the government in Scotland is able to make”.
Still, she said spending on ASL had reached a record high of £926 million in the past financial year and that the number of pupil support assistants in schools had increased by 725.
Ms Gilruth said the ASL action plan update had been paused to take account of the committee’s findings. It will be published next month and reflect some of the committee’s recommendations.
The government also intended to “audit the number of hours that are being taught in [initial teacher education] on ASN provision”.
Ms Gilruth said: “In government, it is important that we understand the level of support that is given to teachers as they begin their journey into the profession.”
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