'Breaking point': Soaring number of Scots pupils denied support for additional needs

Senior teachers say their staff are at breaking point with rising levels of sickness and absence linked to the pressures of coping with difficult classroom behaviour.

Now opposition politicians have called for the Scottish Government to act “before the system breaks”.

Data from all 32 local authorities shows that, in the past three years, the number of successful applications from a mainstream primary school to specialist provision has fallen from 51 per cent to 33 per cent.

At the same time, more than two thirds of secondary school applications for a move to specialist provision are rejected.

Figures released under freedom of information legislation to School Leaders Scotland (SLS) demonstrate what Scottish Conservative shadow education secretary Miles Briggs MSP called “the stark reality” facing teachers in Scotland.

“They are under immense pressure with the ever-growing number of pupils with additional support pupils in the classroom,” Mr Briggs said.

“Teachers are completely overwhelmed in trying to deal with incidents, but the SNP are failing to provide the funding and resources they need to cope.

“We’ve repeatedly demanded proper support for inclusion and adequate provision for additional support needs in our schools – but our warnings have fallen on deaf ears leaving the most vulnerable pupils feeling abandoned.”

The SLS report suggests secondary schools follow the lead of primary provision in thinking creatively about how to support young people with additional needs.

Some 66 per cent of respondents said their local authority had decreased ASN support despite the push for mainstreaming and inclusivity and a decline in specialist provision.

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesman Willie Rennie MSP said: “We are setting up young people to fail and placing an intolerable workload on staff in schools.

“There is little point in identifying additional support needs if the support isn’t available to assist young people. When there is inadequate support in the class everyone suffers, not just the pupils with additional support needs.

“Mainstreaming and inclusion is just not working at present. The SNP Government must wake up to the scale of the issue before the system breaks.”

Data released to the leadership organisation for secondary schools in Scotland shows the overall number of applications for ASN support from mainstream primary is increasing from around 1000 to more than 1300.

However, there is roughly the same amount of young people in specialised provision S1-S4, which is an estimated 1600 places each year.

SLS also sent out a survey to all of their members and 181 responses showed 99% of respondents had seen an increase in young people within their schools with additional support needs, with 96% saying that there had been an increase in the level of dysregulation from young people.

Some 82 per cent of respondents said it had become much harder for a young person to be allocated a place in specialised provision and more than two-thirds of applications placed by secondary schools were unsuccessful.

Scottish Labour education spokesperson Pam Duncan-Glancy MSP said parents are being left to “fight for their children’s education and teachers are being worked to the bone”.

The new figures support data previously released by the teaching union NASUWT, which found just two per cent of teachers in Scotland say that the pupils they teach who have additional support needs always receive the support they are entitled to.

More than one third told the union these pupils rarely or never receive the support they need.

Mike Corbett, NASUWT Scotland National Official, said teachers are “routinely” being placed in a situation where they are expected to teach children with high level and complex needs despite these pupils requiring one-to-one support.

He added: “Teachers desperately want to do their best for all the pupils they teach, but are being set up to fail by a system which is not fit for purpose.”

SLS concluded that there needs to be a review of what presumption of mainstream means and ensure a consistent approach across Scotland.

There is no clear strategy across all 32 Scottish Local Authorities, the report added, meaning a postcode lottery effect on the type and level of support available.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “All children and young people should receive the support they need to thrive and to succeed, and we can be proud that our Parliament has passed legislation with cross-party support that ensures education is a right for all children and inclusive in its approach.

“However, as School Leaders Scotland’s report acknowledges, there is more to do to turn rights into reality and to make inclusive education work practically for all children, teachers and staff. The Education Secretary is convening a cross-party roundtable with local government to discuss what more may be done to support ASN in schools and to inform a subsequent review.

“Work continues to meet the challenges that the growth in ASN presents and we are investing a further £29 million this year to support the ASN workforce, in addition to record spend of over £1 billion by local authorities on ASN in 2023-24.”