Chamber and committees

Education Scotland are leading on a national engagement programme for Pupil Support Staff, which sought the views of Pupil Support Staff, senior leaders, children and young people and parents and carers.

The 4 month consultation element of the programme was extended and closed in March 2023. Over 2,500 surveys were completed representing all 32 local authorities. Analysis and evaluation of all the programme responses is in progress as is the programme report and should be completed by July 2023.

The programme has provided the first national opportunity for Pupil Support Staff to share their views on a range of areas including whether they feel it would be beneficial to have their own workforce vison and set of values. They were also asked to collaborate on the development of any potential workforce vision and values using draft versions provided. A wide range of suggestions and comments were received and this feedback is currently being collated within the programme evaluation report.

As set out in the November 2022 update to the Additional Support for Learning Review Action Plan, the Scottish Government discussed with GTCS and SCDE the viability of a first teaching qualification in additional support for learning being available at the initial teacher education stage.

The conclusion of these discussions was that this type of qualification may not be considered attractive to those considering a career in teaching and that student teachers need to experience the full spectrum of school teaching during initial teacher education and probation before being in a position to make an informed judgement on specialising in additional support for learning.

Career progression for teachers who want to further their careers in specialist roles in curricular, pedagogical and policy delivery are available through the role of Lead Teacher, which was introduced into the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers grading structure in August 2021.

Lead Teacher areas of specialism can include additional support needs and therefore there is the potential for an increase in the opportunities available to teachers wishing to specialise in this area.

The recruitment and deployment of teachers, including Lead Teachers, is a matter for individual local authorities, based on their local need and priorities.

Teachers can access support and expertise to understand and meet the needs of all learners from colleagues nationally, regionally and locally. This may include Education Scotland staff, third sector organisations, Regional Improvement Collaborative teams and colleagues from their own local authorities. Within their local authority this may include; Pupil Support Staff, early learning colleagues, specialist teachers, hearing and sight impaired teachers, other class teachers, senior leadership teams, Community Learning and Development colleagues, inclusion officers and educational psychologists. When a child or young person is supported by partners out with education services, for example, social care, health or the third sector, their teachers can also liaise with these colleagues using the team around the child approach.

Re-occurring requests from teachers have been received. These are requests to further support their knowledge, understanding and practice on specific concerns relating to inclusion, additional support needs including areas on rights and equalities, relationships, wellbeing and care, inclusion, the additional support for learning process and specific areas of need for example autism, dyscalculia, dyslexia, trauma informed approaches. These requests are received in a range of ways for example:

• National networks and working groups led and facilitated by Education Scotland or the Scottish Government.
• National practitioner networks facilitated by Education Scotland.
• Teachers engaging with national professional learning programmes.
• Feedback from Regional Improvement Collaboratives and individual local authorities.

To ensure all educators can access free high-quality support Education Scotland is leading on the collaborative development of a new national Inclusion Wellbeing and Equality (IWE) professional learning framework. This framework uses four interconnecting themes and aims to provide a range of information, guidance, resources and professional learning and engagement opportunities to support the needs of educators and their learners. The four interconnecting themes are:

1. Rights and Equalities.

2. Relationships.

3. Wellbeing and Care.

4. Inclusion.

Yes. A working group, including representatives from local authorities, COSLA, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, Education Scotland and Scottish Government officials, has been formed to explore options for the development of an accredited qualification and registration programme for Additional Support Needs assistants. The working group is scheduled to bring forward final proposals by autumn 2023.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15687 on 22 March 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

In addition to the November 2022 update to the Additional Support for Learning Review Action Plan, Education Scotland have been leading on a national engagement programme for pupil support staff, which sought the views of the workforce, parents and carers.

The 4-month consultation element of the programme closed in early March 2023. Over 2,500 survey responses were received from staff in all 32 local authorities. Work is still ongoing to capture the views of parents and carers. Analysis and evaluation of the programme responses is in progress and the programme report is scheduled to be completed by July 2023.

The Association for Real Change (ARC) Scotland’s Principles into Practice trial programme, which was conducted in ten participating Local Authority areas, concluded on 31 March 2023. The revised Principles into Practice Framework will shortly be made available on ARC’s dedicated website, along with Compass - an online tool developed in partnership with young people and parents and carers during the trial programme, to help them, and the professionals who support them, to navigate the transition to young adult life.

Over the next two years ARC Scotland will continue the work of the Scottish Transitions Forum, including supporting the wider implementation of Principles into Practice across Scotland, through funding from the Scottish Government’s Children, Young People, Families and Adult Learning Third Sector Fund.

The most recent statistics report Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2019-22 , shows an estimated 36% of households with household heads aged 16 to 24 were in relative poverty after housing costs. Over the past decade, the estimates have fluctuated between 27% and 33% for this age group.

Whilst Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2019-22 shows that the poverty rate after housing costs for all individuals in Scotland remained below that of the UK, we recognise too many people are living in poverty, and that is why tackling poverty and protecting people from harm is one of three critical and interdependent missions for this government.

We are committed to using our fixed budget and all the powers we have to reach our targets of substantially reducing child poverty, providing immediate support to families whilst also tackling the underlying causes of poverty.

Our second tackling child poverty delivery plan ‘ Best Start, Bright Futures ’, focused on the six priority family types identified as being at greatest risk of poverty - including families with a mother under 25. In August 2022 we published a focus report on households with mothers aged 25 or under , presenting further evidence of the drivers of child poverty amongst this priority group to inform future action.

We are already taking significant action to tackle poverty amongst families. This includes increasing the value of the Scottish Child Payment to £25 per week, per child, and opening applications to all eligible under 16s in November 2022. Our five family payments, including the Scottish Child Payment, could be worth over £10,000 by the time an eligible child turns 6. This compares to less than £2,000 for eligible families’ in England and Wales, with Scottish support providing over £20,000 by the time an eligible child is 16 years old.

Young families can also benefit from free bus travel for under 22s and the provision of 1,140 hours per year of funded, high-quality early learning and childcare for eligible children, which would cost families around £5,000 per eligible child per year if they were to pay for it themselves. Going forward, the Scottish Government is committed to building a system of school age childcare and developing a funded early learning and childcare offer for 1 and 2 year olds, focusing on those who need it most.

The Scottish Government also provides more targeted support for young families through the Family Nurse Partnership, which we have committed to expanding to all young first-time mothers aged 21 and under by the end of 2024, and, where capacity allows, targeting first time mothers aged 25 and under who are care experienced or from the most deprived communities. This expansion will support up to an additional 500 families per year by 2025.

This intensive relational based support provided to young families is holistic in nature, aims to address immediate health and wellbeing needs and build pathways into community supports and resources to address social and economic factors, such as housing stability, welfare, education, employment and money advice.

The most recent statistics report Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2019-22 includes data tables showing a time series of poverty rates for children by whether the mother is under or over the age of 25. This report is available at Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2019-22 (data.gov.scot) . However, it has not been possible to publish poverty rates for children where the mother was under 25 from 2016 onward due to small sub-sample sizes. The next report will be in March 2024.