A joint statement outlining concern over “insufficient levels of funding” for additional support needs (ASN) in Scotland has been released by 11 bodies representing teachers, other educators and parents.
It says that ”the gap between ASN policy and practice is now intolerable”, which has driven the need for various bodies to join forces.
‘Impact across the whole learning population’
The co-signatories warn that “inadequate ASN provision is now having an impact across the whole learning population” and is “detrimental” to the wellbeing of pupils and school staff, as well as to the education of many pupils.
The 11 bodies include: primary school leaders’ body the AHDS; charity and membership organisation Connect; the EIS teaching union; Glasgow City Parents Group; the GMB union; the NASUWT Scotland teaching union; the National Parent Forum of Scotland, School Leaders Scotland; the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association; the Unison union; and the Unite union.
The statement highlights that the proportion of Scotland’s pupils with an identified ASN has risen from 6.5 per cent in 2009 to 37 per cent in 2023.
It adds: “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.”
Call for more staff and resources to meet legal duties
The statement calls on the government and all education authorities to provide “additional staffing and resources to fully implement the relevant legal duties and commitments in practice for all pupils with additional support needs”.
This, it says, would “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”.
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “While it is for local councils to determine the most appropriate educational provision, the Scottish government is committed to improving outcomes for young people with additional support needs.
“Spending on additional support for learning reached a record high of £926 million in the latest available figures [2022-23] to help address growing demand in this area. Through our continued investment of £15 million per year, the number of [full-time equivalent] additional pupils support staff has also increased by 725 (4.4 per cent), bringing the total number of support staff in Scotland in 2023 to 17,330.”
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