27th February 2025
Audit Scotland has published its latest report on additional support for learning. You can read the full briefing here, and an easy read version here.
Audit Scotland says the Scottish Government and councils must fundamentally rethink how they plan, fund and staff additional support for learning as part of core school education in Scotland.
It recommends that the Scottish Government and councils work together to:
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improve recording on pupils’ additional support needs to get a clearer picture on current needs and how demographics and equalities issues effect these
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roll out a national measurement framework that better demonstrates the outcomes for pupils with additional support needs, reflecting all children’s statutory right to an education that develops their ‘personality, talents and abilities to the full’
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review how both mainstream and special education is provided to meet the levels of support now needed in classrooms and identify any required changes. This should consider the impact of ASL on all pupils in a classroom and include examining approaches to planning and resourcing education, such as capacity in classrooms, staffing numbers and the mix of teachers and other staff, training and qualifications for teachers and support assistants, and building design. Throughout this process, they should engage with pupils, parents and carers, teachers and support staff.
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implement any identified changes that are required to the funding and staffing of ASL in mainstream and special education and to the design of school buildings, to improve outcomes for pupils with additional support needs and target available resources more effectively.
Gavin Yates, Connect’s Executive Director, said:
‘This important review makes sobering reading for both the Scottish Government and every local education authority in Scotland.
Its findings will chime with parents across the country, who are struggling to get the help their children both need and deserve.
The Scottish Assembly of Parents and Carers, hosted by Connect, will be commencing their work looking at additional support for learning (ASL) immanently and it couldn’t come at a more appropriate time.
With ASL rates in many schools at over 50 per cent, ASL is now the mainstream and we need a fundamental rethink of both the scale of resourcing and provision in all strata of government.’