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NATIONAL PRIORITIES IN EDUCATION: Performance Report 2003

INCLUSION AND EQUALITY - NATIONAL PRIORITY 3

To promote equality and help every pupil benefit from education with particular regard paid to pupils with disabilities and special educational needs, and to Gaelic and lesser used languages

Evidence on Inclusion and Equality in 2002

Attainment of looked after children

One of the Scottish Executive's social justice milestones ²³ is that all young people leaving local authority care will have achieved at least English and Maths Standard Grades. In 2001/2002, of the young people aged 16-17 who left the care of education authorities, 29% attained at least Standard Grade Foundation level ( SCQF level 3 - see glossary) or above in both English and mathematics. ²⁴ Targets for improvement in this area are set by local authorities, and details can be found in the local authority sections of this report.

Attainment gaps

Another of the Scottish Executive's social justice milestones is that attainment of the poorest performing 20% of pupils should move closer to the performance of all pupils. We can use tariff scores - a unified points system - to look at the overall attainment of groups of pupils. The tariff score system is explained in the glossary but, for example, four Standard Grade awards at grade 4 would amount to 64 points. Pupils who do not achieve any qualifications are included, and they have zero tariff scores. In 2001, the position was:

Average tariff scores

Targets for improvement in this area are set by local authorities, and details can be found in the local authority sections of this report.

Free school meals

The number of pupils entitled to free school meals gives us some indication of deprivation experienced by school pupils, and the level of take-up of free meals is a concern as children need good nutrition to get the most from their education. In 2002, the position was:

Integration of services

Integrated Community Schools have the twin aims of promoting social inclusion and raising educational standards in Scotland. The approach is founded on the beliefs that giving children the opportunity to realise their full potential, so that they leave school with relevant skills, well motivated and with high self-esteem, will equip them for adult life and reduce the risk of social exclusion, and that establishing an integrated approach in which workers in education, social work and health collaborate to help children and young people will help them to overcome barriers to learning.

Across Scotland in 2002, 440 (19%) primary, 11 (6%) special and 89 (23%) secondary schools were reported as having adopted the Integrated Community Schools approach as outlined in the prospectus. These are the numbers of schools involved to-date as pilots or through the early stages of the roll-out of the initiative.

It is planned that by 2007 all schools will be Integrated Community Schools. Details of local progress and targets can be found in the local authority sections of this report.

International comparisons

The Programme for International Student Assessment 2000 (PISA) compared international data and found that only in the UK as a whole was the level of support provided by teachers considered to be as high as that in Scotland. In most countries there was a positive correlation between pupils' perception of the support they received from teachers and pupils' reading test scores. In Scotland the strength of that link was slightly above the OECD average.

Homework was more likely to be graded in Scotland than in any other OECD country, and only in the rest of the UK did more pupils feel that that they received useful comments on their homework. A higher proportion of pupils in Scotland than in any other country felt that the teacher wanted them to work hard in most lessons.

85% of 15 year olds in Scotland felt that they belonged at school. 15 year olds in Scotland generally engage well with school, compared to most other countries. Fewer pupils felt lonely at school than in any other country.

Special Educational Needs

Education within mainstream school is the norm for the majority of pupils with SEN in Scotland. The Scottish Executive has made clear its support for the presumption of mainstream education in the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000. It is recognised, however, that special schools play an invaluable role in Scottish education and will continue to be the most appropriate option for some pupils.

The arrangements to provide education for children with Special Educational Needs attending mainstream schools in 2001 are summarised in the table below.

The 8,183 pupils who were in Scotland's 197 special schools in 2001/2002 made up 1% of the total population of pupils in publicly funded schools.

Gaelic

Demand for Gaelic medium education is not spread evenly across the country. Concentrations of demand exist in the Western Isles, Highland, Argyll & Bute, East and North Ayrshire, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Across the country as a whole, almost all requests for Gaelic medium education in primary and secondary schools were met.

There have been consistent increases in the numbers of children receiving Gaelic medium education. In 2001/2002, the position was:

Provision for Gaelic medium education

Gaelic classes for learners and native speakers have been taught in secondary schools for many years. In 2002, the numbers entering for National Qualifications were:

How schools rated themselves in 2002

The introduction to this report explains how schools use How good is our school? (HGIOS) in their regular self-evaluations to reach judgements on where they see themselves as standing in relation to a range of quality indicators. The schools rated themselves on the four point scale described in HGIOS; the scale runs from 1 (unsatisfactory) to 4 (very good).

Schools are asked to rate themselves on quality indicators because this is important in helping them see where they have room to improve. Authorities and schools will be continuing to build up their expertise in self-evaluation and moderation of progress with the National Priorities over the period to the end of school session 2004/2005. Some self-evaluation in this report is therefore provisional at this stage. HMIE are undertaking independent and robust external evaluation of how well Scottish schools and education authorities are delivering the National Priorities in Education and their report will be published after the end of school session 2004/2005.

Schools report on four quality indicators from How good is our school? which cover aspects of inclusion and equality. For each indicator, the proportion of schools which rated themselves in each of the four categories is shown in the charts below.

Did schools think that they were effective at promoting 'equality and fairness'?

Schools used the relevant quality indicator from HGIOS to assess the quality of the arrangements which they made to promote 'equality and fairness'. In reaching their conclusions schools took account of issues of equality and fairness across the range of pupils' experiences including those for whom English was an additional language, pupils with disabilities, those with irregular attendance caused by illness, and any other vulnerable groups within a school. The use of this indicator involved schools gathering, assessing and reaching conclusions drawn from evidence relating to how, for example, they promoted equality of opportunity and a sense of fairness at all levels, how well pupils were prepared for their future lives in society and how they used whole-school approaches to issues such as racial harassment and sexual discrimination.

The chart which follows summarises their conclusions.

Equality and fairness

How effective did schools think they were at meeting the needs of young people with Special Educational Needs?

Schools used three of the HGIOS quality indicators to reach conclusions about how good they thought they were at meeting the needs of young people with special educational needs. They looked at the arrangements which they made to provide 'support for learning', for the 'implementation of SEN and disability legislation' and for the 'placement of pupils with SEN and disabilities'. In reaching their conclusions they took account of a number of themes relating to each indicator, e.g. pupils' progress and attainment in respect of 'support for learning', knowledge and understanding of legislation and related procedures in respect of the second indicator, and processes for the placement of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities into classes in respect of the third indicator.

The three charts below illustrate the conclusions which they reached.

Learning support

Implementation of SEN and disability legislation

Placement of pupils with SEN and disabilities

Action to support Inclusion and Equality locally

Attainment of looked after children

Education authorities have all declared objectives for addressing the needs of looked after children, and have reported on a range of actions being undertaken to improve the achievement and attainment of those pupils. Authorities have set targets for the percentage of looked after pupils who will attain at least SCQF level 3 or above in English and maths by the time they leave care. These targets should see the percentage of 16-17 year olds leaving care with at least that standard of attainment rise to 70%.

Action taken to address the needs of looked after children includes:

• identifying provision for looked after children as a priority to be addressed by schools in their school development plans, frequently by designating a member of staff to co-ordinate the attainment and welfare of looked after children
• encouraging and supporting schools to adopt curricula which better meet the needs of looked after children
• establishing personal learning plans for all looked after children
• the roll-out of the Integrated Community Schools programme; putting in place arrangements by education and social work services to monitor and track the progress of these young people more closely using enhanced management information systems
• projects developed and delivered in partnership with voluntary organisations.
• targeted supported study and other out of hours learning schemes. ²⁵

Attainment gap

Education authorities have set targets for the improved attainment of their lowest-performing pupils, and have reported on a range of actions to raise performance among that group. When these targets are achieved the average tariff score of the lowest performing pupils should rise from 58 to 71, a rise of 13 points, or more than 20%.

Actions under way to improve the attainment of the lowest performing pupils include:

• individual target setting so as to track and monitor the progress of individual pupils
• planned interventions (e.g. emotional support, study support) targeted on those vulnerable groups or individuals most likely to under-perform, particularly those with a low or zero tariff score
• applying lessons learned from the Integrated Community Schools programme more generally to provide a more holistic educational experience
• providing vocational and other alternative curricula better matched to pupils' needs and which can be accredited through the SCQF framework.

Uptake of free school meals

Children learn better when they are adequately nourished. School meals make an important contribution to the nutritional well-being of significant numbers of children across Scotland. Education authorities have committed themselves to encouraging pupils to take up their entitlement.

The report, Hungry for Success - A Whole School Approach to School Meals in Scotland, made a comprehensive set of recommendations directed towards providing access to good quality nutrition and an understanding of healthy lifestyles through partnerships between pupils, schools, families and communities. The recommendations focus on the role of education authorities in providing school meals and other catering services in schools, and authorities are already taking actions which are consistent with many of these recommendations. These include the promotion and marketing of school meals, actions to improve the quality of school meals (e.g. the introduction of healthy option menus), cashless payment systems, healthy tuck shops and the refurbishment of school dining halls. A research study in a central Scotland secondary school found, following the introduction of a swipe card system, that uptake of free school meals increased by 50%. ²⁶

Gaelic and community languages

Authorities across the country have stimulated demand for Gaelic medium education, for example, by appointing Gaelic development officers, mounting publicity programmes involving the production and distribution of newsletters, programmes of cultural, social and recreational events, home-visiting schemes, providing adult classes in Gaelic, providing Gaelic classes for young people who want to learn the language, supporting Gaelic organisations and establishing pre-5 Gaelic medium education.

A range of actions to support pupils whose first language is not English or who speak other languages at home has been reported on by authorities. These include the establishment of a database of learners with a first language other than English, the implementation of a strategy to sustain early literacy initiatives for bilingual children, a Best Value Review of English as an Additional Language Service and the development of Urdu and Hebrew materials to support the delivery of the 5-14 curriculum. Several education authority schools in the west of Scotland teach Urdu.

In the context of the desire to promote equality and fairness, authorities have reported too on the work that they continue to do to address issues such as racism. They have done this by developing and disseminating race equality policies, publishing and disseminating guidelines on, for example, dealing with incidents of racism, establishing arrangements for monitoring racist incidents and for supporting young people in dealing with anti-racist behaviour. They have run a variety of training events for teaching and other staff and conferences on such matters have been mounted with and for pupils.

On-going equality issues

Similar initiatives to address gender and disability issues have also been undertaken. For example, some authorities have audited practice while others are already implementing monitoring frameworks within which schools are required to demonstrate the active promotion of equality. Some authorities have events to celebrate diversity and others provide guidance and support materials and calendars of cultural events. Most authorities are planning to review and/or update policies, particularly in the light of recent legislation, if they have not done so already.

Most authorities have extensive plans to support pupils with disabilities and special educational needs, in addition to improving physical access. These include: support bases and support assistants, CPD for teaching and non-teaching staff, staged intervention using IEPs and target setting, staff tutors and alternative learning and work experiences for vulnerable young people.

National frameworks and programmes to support Inclusion and Equality

The Scottish Executive outlined its commitment to promoting social justice and equality of opportunity for all in Social Justice...a Scotland where everyone matters, available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library2/doc07/sjmd-00htm

Some recent legislation is particularly relevant to inclusion and equality. The Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000 itself set out specific expectations for schools and education authorities. These included the assertion of the right of every child to an education which is aimed at developing his or her 'personality, talents, mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential'. It was also made clear that there would now be a presumption that the education of all pupils would normally be provided in a mainstream school unless there were exceptional circumstances. ²⁷

Community planning provides a framework for shaping services around the needs of individuals and communities. The Community Planning Task Force's report of May 2003 can be accessed at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/planning/frcp-00.asp

The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 provides a statutory framework for the community planning process. It can be accessed at http://www.scotlandlegislation.hmso.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/acts2003/20030001.htm

Further work will be done to make the links between community planning and the school improvement framework clearer and to avoid duplication of effort.

Under the terms of the Education (Disability Strategies and Pupils' Educational Records) (Scotland) Act 2002 education authorities will be producing action plans describing how they will improve access to schools and the curriculum for people who have disabilities. Their progress in achieving their action plans will be monitored.

The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 (RRAA) puts a general duty on public bodies, including education authorities, to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination, and to promote equality and good race relations. There are also specific duties laid on key public bodies, again including education authorities, in order to support the general duty. The compliance date was 30 November 2002. An RRAA Education Delivery Group was set up with key stakeholders to help ensure smooth implementation of the Act across the schools sector. The Group issued an awareness raising leaflet on duties to all school staff.

Developments have not been confined to legislation. The 2001 report of the Action Team on Better Integrated Children's Services, entitled For Scotland's Children, recommended improved co-ordination of children's services with the aim of supporting vulnerable children so as to avoid exclusion. Scotland's National Cultural Strategy had a particular focus on promoting cultural inclusion in areas of social disadvantage.

In line with this, the Integrated Community Schools Programme aims to focus support on the family unit to bring out the best in both parent and child through family learning, and the development of positive parent-child relationships is also an important part of the Integrated Community Schools approach. ²⁸ A full and formal evaluation of the impact so far of the New (Integrated) Community School Programme ²⁹ has been carried out by the Institute of Education, University of London, and was published in August 2003.

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