Chamber and committees

There is a currently a mixed delivery of breakfast provision across Scotland with a range of service providers including public, private and third sector. We have begun work with local authorities and key stakeholders to better understand and map that provision. This mapping work will inform the development of a delivery strategy for breakfast provision designed around the needs of children and families.

There is a currently a mixed delivery of breakfast provision across Scotland with a range of service providers including public, private and third sector. We have conducted provisional modelling of breakfast provision and have begun work with local authorities and key stakeholders to better understand and map provision. We are continuing our mapping work which will contribute to more detailed modelling in future.

Discussions with both COSLA and individual local authorities about breakfast provision have taken place over the last eighteen months. These have covered issues such as existing delivery, and the range of possible delivery models and costs. The Scottish Government is currently working with the local authority facilities management organisation, AssistFM, to develop a clear picture of the scale and uptake of breakfast provision across Scotland.

The current iteration of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research was undertaken with schools in Spring 2023, and will be published in in advance of the relationships and behaviour summit event currently scheduled for 28 November. This will allow participants in this event to use the research in their discussions on how to address the issue.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of transition plans that local authorities have in place for children and young people as this is a matter for individual authorities.

Under the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004, when a young person is expected to leave school the education authority has a duty to request and share information within specific timeframes to help support their transition. Local authorities are responsible for meeting their duties under the legislation and there are a range of planning mechanisms used by local authorities to meet children and young people’s needs.

The “live” aspect of the National e-Learning Offer (NeLO), which includes interactive, online classes and study support from early years to senior phase, is evaluated via Annual Evidence of Impact Reports published by e-Sgoil. The latest report which covers academic year 2022/23 was published in June 2023, and is available at: https://www.e-sgoil.com/downloads/e-sgoil_Impact_Report_2023.pdf

Key highlights from that report included the following:

19,000 webinar registrations for evening study support

16,100 webinar registrations for Easter Study support

44,915 learner attendances at “Developing the Young Workforce Live” sessions

170 “interrupted learners” who are unable to attend school onboarded and engaging with live, interactive programmes of learning.

The “recorded lessons” offer from NeLO is hosted by West Online School (West OS) and their reports are available at: https://www.westpartnership.co.uk/evaluating-and-reporting/ . In 2022-23, 90% of schools and over 40,000 learners accessed WestOS recorded lessons, podcasts and masterclasses.

The “supported” offer is hosted by Education Scotland in the form of a repository of online resources with a single search tool and usage is captured as part of Education Scotland’s own reporting.

NeLO partners continue to gather learner and educator feedback through focus groups and questionnaires.

The Scottish Government continues to keep Preference Waiver Payments (PWP) under review through the Teacher Induction Scheme Ongoing Review Group, and the Strategic Board for Teacher Education will also consider this issue as part of its wider work on teacher recruitment and retention.

However, it is worth highlighting the original intent of the scheme, which is to incentivise teachers to undertake their probation in those parts of Scotland where recruitment and retention is the greatest challenge. We know that those pressures are generally felt more in secondary schools than they are in primary schools.

Whilst there is an expectation that Educational Psychologist trainees make every reasonable effort to secure employment within a Scottish educational psychology service, this does not preclude seeking other employment if it is not possible to secure local authority employment.

The report on the evaluation of Out to Play Improve, initially named as the Outdoor Learning Practicum, was published on the Scottish Government Children and Young People Improvement Collaborative website in November 2022, and can be found here .

In line with the National Standard for providers of funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC), it is a requirement that “children have daily access to outdoor play and they regularly experience outdoor play in a natural environment as part of their funded ELC offer ” .