SNP ministers urged to launch probe into huge rise in pupils with ASN

The number of youngsters recording as receiving additional support for learning (ASL) has soared from less than 33,000 in 2004 to more than 284,000 - an almost nine-fold increase, representing more than 40 per cent of the school population.

The Commission on School Reform (CSR), the education arm of the think tank Enlighten, formerly Reform Scotland, called the situation “unsustainable”.

Frank Lennon, a former headteacher and member of the CSR, said it had arisen from an approach “which is well-intentioned but has never been exposed to serious scrutiny”.

READ MORE: Number of pupils in Scotland with additional needs likely to rise, says SNP education chief

He said: “The vastly increased demand for ASN is creating the single biggest post-pandemic pressure in Scottish schools, and the Government must now address it as a matter of great urgency.”

The current approach to ASN dates from 2004 when Holyrood passed the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act, which broadened the concept of ‘special’ educational needs to include any pupil who requires ‘additional’ support, with no formal diagnosis required.

Almost all additional learning support is provided in mainstream classes, placing schools under enormous and increasing pressure, the CSR said.

It said an independent expert committee should now evaluate the extent to which the rise in ASN is due to parental pressure, changed diagnostic criteria or an increase in real need, as well as investigating whether current approaches benefit those considered to have additional needs or whether they have an impact – adverse or otherwise – on other learners.

The CSR said the committee should also assess the impact of the presumption of mainstreaming, as well as the fairness of examination arrangements.

The number of pupils requiring ‘assessment arrangements’, such as extra time or separate accommodation, has exploded from 62,505 in 2019 to 104,695 in 2024.

Mr Lennon said: “It is incumbent on the Scottish Government to spend time understanding the situation, and then dealing with it.

“In primary schools, the position is particularly acute. There is no structure of posts with pastoral care responsibilities. Class teachers carry much of the burden and senior leaders often spend a large proportion of their time on pastoral support.

“A huge and increasing proportion of time, energy, expertise and resource in schools is spent on pastoral issues, such as attendance, behaviour and additional support needs.

“In many (perhaps most) schools these three areas dominate the daily life of the schools’ senior leadership and pastoral teams and have a major impact on the work of class teachers.”

Scottish Conservative education spokesman Miles Briggs said: “The enormous rise in pupils with additional support needs is putting our schools under intolerable strain, so it’s the duty of SNP ministers to examine the causes of it and the best solutions for all pupils.

“Teachers should not be expected to cope with the added pressure and workload without adequate training and support, yet SNP ministers have done almost nothing to investigate the impact it is having on them, on their ability to provide additional support in mainstream classrooms, or the consequences for other students.

“Jenny Gilruth and her predecessors as education secretary have done little to examine the reasons for the explosion in the numbers of children being assessed as requiring additional support or to question the presumption of mainstreaming. That must change.

“The Scottish Conservatives secured a review of the delivery of how mainstreaming is implemented, but a thorough scrutiny of the current approach to ASN is now urgently needed. There cannot be any more of the denial, dithering and deflection that has characterised the SNP’s education policy for years.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “It is incorrect to suggest the Scottish Government has not acted to review and improve additional support needs (ASN) provision since 2004. A Review of ASN was undertaken by Angela Morgan in 2020 to assess the implementation of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, which led to the establishment of the ASL action plan, and a suite of improvement work with local government, including increasing learning opportunities for educators and creating parent support groups.

“We are investing a further £28 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, and the Scottish Government has committed to a wider review to explore what more can be done to support pupils and staff. We will consider carefully the recommendations in this report to help inform the wider review.

“There is broad consensus that the Scottish approach to inclusive education is the correct way forward. However, we recognise that children and young people should learn in the environment which best suits their needs, and there are clear exceptions in place to enable children and young people to learn in a special school or in a specialist unit where this would best meet their support needs.

“The increase in ASN pupil numbers since 2004 has been partly driven by increased awareness and identification of additional support needs, which is a positive outcome. We have also seen a change in how ASN statistics were gathered since 2010, to ensure that these record any type of additional support provided to pupils. This included six additional categories of reasons for support.”