Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of supporting the provision of indigenous minority languages in the education sector. There are a range of measures in place to support the varied needs of Gaelic and Scots in our schools and the use and learning of both languages. These measures to promote the use and learning of both languages include initiatives that improve access, classroom delivery, teacher support and more. Good progress has been made recently with the Scottish Government’s published consultation report on Gaelic commitments and the report prepared by the Short Life Working Group on Economic and Social Opportunities for Gaelic. We also expect to make further progress with the forthcoming Scottish Languages Bill.

The Scottish Government and COSLA agreed a joint funding model in 2018 to support the training of new Educational Psychologists. This model was agreed and developed by the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists (NSSGEP). The NSSGEP is chaired by the Scottish Government and includes representation from professional bodies, ADES, COSLA and EIS.

The training programme is evaluated by Dundee University in several ways. A six-yearly cycle of periodic programme review is undertaken and was last completed in September 2021. This review concluded with a very positive evaluation of the training programme. The British Psychological Society re-accredits the programme every three years, and provided a positive evaluation in September 2021. The University also conducts an annual programme evaluation to ensure the training programme is meeting the needs of students and to make small improvements as required.

The Scottish Government and COSLA engage and work closely with our training and delivery partners to ensure that the training programme remains robust and sustainable.

The current benchmark for measuring the pupil teacher ratio (PTR) nationally is 13.7. Sanctions would only be applied if the national average were to rise above this. Since the average has been maintained or lower since the PTR agreement with local authorities was introduced in 2016, no sanctions have been applied.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18183 on‎ 7 June 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

We committed to support the recruitment of at least 3,500 teachers, in addition to the 1,400 recruited during the pandemic, over the course of this Parliament. The 2022 teacher census total was 54,193 teachers, which indicates an increase of 1,946 from the baseline, as measured by the 2019 census.

We are also providing £145.5m to local authorities in the 2023/24 budget to protect increased teacher numbers.

As I highlighted in a recent parliamentary debate and at the NASUWT conference last month, I am determined that teachers and school staff are supported to deal with challenging behaviours in our schools.

Any incidents of violence or abuse towards anyone are completely unacceptable and the safety of our children, young people and staff at school is of paramount importance.

We have produced guidance for local authorities and schools to promote positive relationships and manage behaviour, including de-escalation of violent behaviour. We are also investing £2 million of funding to support violence prevention activities within schools and communities.

We are currently gathering evidence that will help us better understand the extent of behavioural issues at a national level through our Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research, which started in February.

We will use this research and engagement with stakeholders, including the Scottish Advisory Group for Relationships and Behaviour in Schools, to inform the development of further future policy, guidance and support for schools and school staff.

And as I recently announced, I will also convene a summit bringing together partners and stakeholders to discuss relationships and behaviour in schools and focussing on practical support at classroom, school and local level.

The Education Scotland National Numeracy and Maths Team continue to support local authorities and schools in delivering Maths Recovery training for teachers.

Education Scotland has led the Early Career Teacher (ECT) maths programme for two years and will do so again in academic session 2023-24. The programme was originally aimed at those who were unable to participate in normal school placements due to the pandemic and is designed to build confidence in teaching maths and numeracy. ECT has been accessed by over 1,000 practitioners this academic year and has been expanded to include teachers returning to the profession and those wishing to refresh their skills. In addition, Education Scotland has supported local authorities in Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, and Aberdeenshire in response to COVID-19 through a Maths Recovery Pilot; the outcome of which has yet to be evaluated.

Scottish Government is aware that some local authorities offer extensive Maths Recovery training which is not specifically related to the impacts of COVID-19. For example, West Lothian and South Lanarkshire have been offering Maths Recovery for some considerable time.

Pre-pandemic, the poverty related attainment gap in primary schools was closing across Scotland, including in South Lanarkshire. We nonetheless recognise the negative impact of the pandemic. We are now seeing strong evidence of recovery: the latest published data, the 2021-22 Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (ACEL) data, shows the biggest single year decrease in the gap in primary numeracy and literacy levels since records began (in 2016-17).

Before the pandemic, the attainment gap in South Lanarkshire was below the national average. During the pandemic, in 2020-21, we saw a widening in the attainment gap across the country, with the gap in South Lanarkshire widening by more than the average change nationally. Data from 2021-22 shows that South Lanarkshire has started to recover from the impact of the pandemic in both literacy and numeracy.

South Lanarkshire Council received £10.9 million of Scottish Attainment Challenge funding in 22-23, empowering headteachers and Local Government to achieve their ambitions to improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty. This includes:

• South Lanarkshire schools receiving almost £8.95 million Pupil Equity Funding for headteachers enabling them to invest in the best approaches to raise attainment of the pupils in their schools.
• South Lanarkshire Council receiving over £1.4 million Strategic Equity Funding to develop strategic plans for closing the poverty related attainment gap; and
• Care Experience Children and Children Young People Funding of £628,425.

The Scottish Government has no direct role in provision of student residential accommodation. However, we are determined to improve accessibility, affordability and standards across the rented sector and are carrying out, with a cross-sectoral expert group, a review of purpose built student accommodation, the recommendations from which are due to be submitted to Ministers soon .

Scottish Government is also developing proposals for improving privately-rented accommodation more generally, as set out in our draft New Deal for Tenants .

We will use the September 2023 annual census levels, which will be published in the Official Statistics Summary School Statistics in December 2023 and March 2024, to confirm whether numbers have been maintained. It is important that all stakeholders have confidence in the statistics being used. Official Statistics on teacher numbers, delivered via the annual teacher census, have delivered robust data for many years and they will continue to be the definitive measure.

We have introduced an additional monitoring period in May 2023. At this point, local authorities will be asked to provide an aggregate count of their total teacher and pupil support staff numbers, together with any commentary and supporting evidence.