This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Support for disaffected school pupils
05/01/2004
Pupils who become disengaged from their education are to
be offered better support to help them make the most of
their learning and improve their life chances.
Under plans announced today by Education Minister Peter
Peacock, disaffected pupils will be offered co-ordinated
support through a Pupil Inclusion Network.
The network of voluntary organisations - including Right
Track, Barnardo's and Aberlour - was set up following a
national summit on pupil disaffection.
It will build on work currently undertaken individually
by these groups to develop disaffected young people's
personal and social skills, encourage them to take up
learning opportunities which prepare them for adulthood,
and support their families where there are wider
difficulties.
Mr Peacock said:
"Pupil disaffection, which can have many causes, can
lead to truancy, indiscipline, under achievement and
general low attainment - limiting the life and career
choices available to young people when they leave
school.
"It is therefore vital that we take action to re-engage
these young people in learning and ensure that don't miss
out on the education opportunities available to them.
"I heard at the summit about some of the excellent
projects operated by voluntary organisations throughout
Scotland to help disaffected pupils find a route back into
school - often after their problems and behaviour had
resulted in exclusion.
"I have also visited a number of projects working with
excluded young people - for example Blackford Brae in
Edinburgh - and been impressed by the approaches they are
talking with young people to help resolve their
problems.
"Much can and must be learned from this work to prevent
disaffected youngsters turning their backs on education and
learning, and ensure that they are supported to reach their
full potential.
"The new network will share good practice between
mainstream education and alternative providers to help us
meet the challenges we face in supporting disaffected
pupils and their families, who are often living in
difficult and trying circumstances."
Graeme Dawson, Chief Executive of Right Track, a
Glasgow-based organisation contracted by the City Council
to develop the skills of excluded young people, said:
"Right Track are fully supportive of the proposed
network, which will hopefully provide a strong voice for
the voluntary sector in helping shape the future provision
for those young people most at risk of being excluded from
the education system.
"The potential for the Executive, local authorities and
the voluntary sector to work in partnership to provide a
coherent framework to support these vulnerable young people
is an opportunity to be welcomed. The Network will allow us
to do this more effectively, while providing the
opportunity for us to highlight areas of good practise and
raise joint areas of concern."
The Pupil Inclusion Network Scotland will be developed
by a steering group of voluntary sector organisations and
the Executive.
It will provide regular opportunities for these
organisations to meet and discuss new approaches to work
with disaffected pupils, and will consider emerging issues
with local authority partners. The network will also enable
voluntary sector organisations to comment on education
policy and bring the views of this sector into discussions
with other stakeholders.
The Executive surveyed each of Scotland's local
authorities and found there are more than 150 providers
working in some form of partnership between them and
schools to meet the needs of disaffected pupils, in and out
of school.
Councils may use the £11m a year Alternatives to
Exclusion funding provided by the Executive - on the back
of the Discipline Task Group's report - to support this
work. Further funding will be announced to support the
network itself, once its remit has been agreed in full.
The Executive issued guidance on curriculum flexibility
in 2001, which encourages authorities and schools to
consider how to develop the most appropriate learning
programmes for individual pupils - including those who are
at risk of becoming disaffected.
Many organisations in the voluntary sector are helping
authorities and schools to take a fresh approach for
youngsters with high quality learning and personal
development opportunities.
Examples of schemes:
The Prince's Trust operates the
XL Club programme of which there are 70
across Scotland. These clubs offer S3 pupils, who are
identified as having a range of difficulties at school, a
programme of learning and personal development, in which
they take responsibility for their own progress. This
programme is offered as an alternative to a standard grade
course and aims to encourage and motivate pupils so they
can continue and succeed in other aspects of school
life.
The
Blackford Brae Community Support Team
(CST) is based at Blackford Brae School, works in 11
primary schools in NW and SW Edinburgh, and has been part
of Edinburgh council's 'Working Together' strategy since
1999.
It is a team of social workers, teachers and community
support workers who work with primary school children who
are at risk of losing their mainstream school place because
of severe emotional and behavioural difficulties. The team
works with pupils and families in a holistic way to bring
about positive changes at home and in communities to link
children in to safe and appropriate activities, while the
class teacher effects changes in the school context.
The
Aberlour Crannog Project has three bases
in Dumfries & Galloway, and works in partnership with
the local authority to provide intensive support for looked
after young people to help them to overcome barriers to
learning. Crannog provides support to young people, their
families, schools and other agencies to provide young
people-centred programmes of support and learning
opportunities that enable them to re-engage with education
and plan for their future.
The revised guidance on exclusions issued to local
authorities in November highlights that authorities must
make provision for excluded pupils. Most will go back into
mainstream education after a few days. However, for longer
term exclusions, alternative providers often work in
partnership with schools to support the young people during
that period and during their re-integration into the
mainstream system.