Specialist additional support needs teachers in Scotland undergo “no set mandatory” training to ensure they have the skill to meet the needs of the wide range of pupils in Scottish classrooms, MSPs have heard.

The drop in specialist additional support needs (ASN) teacher numbers in Scottish schools has come under fire in recent times, after it emerged the numbers fell from 3,248 to just 2,733 - during which time the number of children with an identified ASN rose by over a third.

However, MSPs heard yesterday that - while ASN teachers often did “incredible jobs” - all too often they received little or no training, beyond being qualified teachers with an interest in the area.

Nick Ward, director of National Autistic Society Scotland and a former teacher himself, told the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee yesterday that to be an ASN teacher “you actually don’t need any qualifications, other than being a teacher”.

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Mr Ward said if ASN teachers wanted to develop their expertise, it was often down to them to secure additional training, and there was “no set mandatory training required”.

Seamus Searson, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, echoed Mr Ward’s concerns.

He said it was those interested in the area - but not necessarily trained in it - who tended to step into ASN roles.

Mr Ward said: “We are concerned about the eroding of the specialism in schools and the eroding of specialist knowledge. To be an additional support needs teacher, you actually don’t need any qualifications other than being a teacher. There is no set mandatory training required, there’s no set development that you have to undertake for that position.

“We have thousands of ASN teachers up and down the country who do incredible jobs, who take it upon themselves to become specialists. The question I would have is: should that be on them to figure that out? Or should we have a system which is more robust in equipping our teachers with the skills and knowledge they require to support children?”

Mr Searson said that guidance teachers were being asked to take on the role of ASN teachers in some authorities and that where ASN teachers did exist - thanks to the teacher shortage - they were often being used to cover classes, leaving pupils with special educational needs or disabilities to “do whatever they need to do on their own”.

He added that, while if an English teacher left a school, they would be replaced immediately, ASN teachers were leaving and schools were having to “muddle through”.

Mr Searson said: “There is a lack of qualifications for teachers of ASN and I think it’s something we should be looking at. We should be looking at other countries where ASN teachers are experienced teachers who have trained and become ASN teachers. We don’t tend to do that.

“[ASN teachers here] have to do most of it on their own and that’s not how the system should be. It should be seen as a priority and something to aspire to, but it’s the poor relation in schools.

“We are hearing many stories of ASN teachers who are taken off their duties to cover vacancies and cover classes and that’s not what they are there for. That tells you how the school views them.”

The Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills committee is looking at additional support needs in order to assess progress since it published a report on the issue in 2017.