Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills
I am writing to the inform the Committee of the publication, earlier today, of the joint Scottish Government and Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) updated Additional Support for Learning Action Plan and progress report. These are available on the Scottish Government’s website:
• https://www.gov.scot/publications/additional-support-learning-action-plan-updated-october-2021/
• https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781802015812 - Progress Report
As the Committee may be aware, in October 2020, following publication of Angela Morgan’s independently chaired review of implementation of additional support for learning, the Scottish Government and COSLA published a joint action plan. Within this, we committed to reporting to Scottish Ministers and COSLA on progress made within the first year, by October 2021.
Despite the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic the Scottish Government and COSLA have continued to work collaboratively with partners over the past 12 months to progress the actions we set out within the Additional Support for Learning action plan in October 2020.
The Scottish Government and COSLA remain firmly committed to delivery of the ASL Action Plan. While the progress we have made in the last year is significant, we recognise that there is much more to do. Over the coming months, we will work closely with our partners in the Additional Support for Learning Implementation Group to review the current action plan, take stock of what has been achieved despite the challenging circumstances, and agree the priorities for the future to ensure that meaningful change is realised for children and young people. We will publish an updated action plan in Spring 2022.