The Scottish Government

The term "Additional Support Needs" (ASN) is now used in Scotland in preference to "Special Educational Needs" (SEN), although the legislation currently in force refers to the term 'special educational needs'. Most pupils with ASN are included in mainstream schools, though special schools also exist for pupils with particular types of ASN.

The Scottish Executive Education Department does not direct education authorities in the forms of provision that they should make for pupils with additional support needs. However, education authorities are required to secure adequate and efficient education for children in their area. Following the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000, they must also secure that education is directed to the development of the personality, talents and mental and physical abilities of the child or young person to their fullest potential. This Act also requires that pupils are educated in schools other than special schools except under certain specified exceptional circumstances. This requirement is supported by Inclusion Programme funding.

Special education in Scotland has its roots in the 19th century, when such bodies as The Glasgow Society for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, founded in 1819, set up a school. By the end of the century there were four institutions catering for the deaf and dumb and four for the blind. The 20th century saw the creation of classes and then schools for other children who had "special educational needs", and by 1930 there were 60 such classes and 52 special schools.

In the 1920s a number of 'child guidance clinics' were set up to study and advise on children with handicaps, thus providing the foundation of the present education authority psychological services.

In the years post-1945 there was both interest in and concern about special education and a number of reports were produced, culminating in 1954 in a set of Regulations which defined categories of 'special educational treatment'. By the 1970s there was a move away from the approach through categories. It was recognised that many children who had previously been thought 'ineducable' could be helped. By the Education (Mentally Handicapped Children) (Scotland) Act 1974 the institutions which had cared for such children were transferred to education, and teachers were appointed to them to replace the previous 'instructors'.

Two important reports dating from 1978 laid the foundation for the present situation: the report by HM Inspectors of Schools on The Education of Pupils with Learning Difficulties in Scottish Primary and Secondary Schools and the Report of the Committee of Enquiry on Special Educational Needs, known as the Warnock Report (which applied to the whole of the United Kingdom),. The former report has since been superseded by the 1994 HMI report: Effective Provision for Special Educational Needs and by A Manual of Good Practice in Special Educational Needs (SOEID, 1999). In 1999 an Advisory Committee also published its report on Educational Provision for Children with Severe, Low-Incidence Disabilities (the Riddell Report) . Following this report a Special Educational Needs Programme of Action was published in June 2000 by the Scottish Executive. Current Scottish executive policy is set out in a strategic framework document - Moving Forward! Additional Support for Learning, which was published in January 2003.

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Most children with special educational needs are in mainstream schools, only about 1% being in special schools. The report Moving to Mainstream, prepared by Audit Scotland in partnership with HMIE, reports on the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools.

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Pupils recognised as having additional support needs in Scotland constitute a fairly broad group. It includes pupils, often in mainstream schools, who have relatively minor or temporary difficulties in learning, who have language-related difficulties, such as dyslexia, or who have behavioural problems or problems of social adjustment. High achievers in mainstream schools may also be in this group. In most cases, such pupils are usually identified through their teachers' awareness of how they are dealing with class work, perhaps with additional professional assessment, for example, by an educational psychologist. Other categories of pupil within the broad group are, for example, pupils with physical disability or impairment or significant psychological difficulties.

Legislation imposes a duty on education authorities to open a Record of Needs for children with pronounced, specific or complex special educational needs which are such as require continuing review. This duty applies to those children aged from 2 yrs to under school leaving age (16 years). Education authorities have a power to open a Record of Needs for those under 2 or for those young persons still at school who are not yet 18 yrs of age. The legislation covering the current Record of Needs system is contained in the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 [as amended]and its exact form was defined by subsequent Regulations. A Record of Needs identifies the child's additional support needs following a full assessment by an appropriate range of specialists, including the psychological and medical services and educationists. Consultation with parents is a very important part of the process.

The Record of Needs also sets out how the education authority proposes to provide for the child's needs. Typically, education authorities now adopt a staged approach to intervention (often one of four stages) in which different levels of support are planned and provided for pupils judged to have different levels of need. The opening of a Record of Needs is the final stage of this process. Pupils with a Record of Needs may be included in mainstream schools or may attend an appropriate special school. Parents whose child has a Record of Needs can make a placing request to an independent special school.

The Education (Additional Support for Learning)(Scotland) Bill, passed by the Scottish Parliament in April 2004, is currently awaiting Royal Assent. When this legislation is in force it will repeal the current legislation relating to special educational needs and will introduce a new legislative framework relating to children with additional support needs.

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Education authorities are bound to provide appropriate support for pupils with Records of Needs without charge to their families. As part of their general funding of schools, education authorities also make provision, for example learning support staff in mainstream schools, to help pupils with additional support needs but who do not have a Record of Needs. Other provision to support these pupils may be provided by local authority peripatetic staff and educational psychologists.

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There is a Scottish Executive Inclusion Programme, which is referred to in the opening paragraph of this chapter. This encourages education authorities and schools to educate children with additional support needs, including children with disabilities, in mainstream schools. Funding is also available within general local government revenue for improvements to buildings, equipment and staffing to facilitate this programme.

The majority of children in Scotland (almost 99%) are educated in mainstream schools. The quite wide range of additional support needs met in mainstream schools is indicated in section 10.3.

Some education authorities concentrate resources in specific schools, for example for visually impaired or hearing impaired pupils, in order to be able to provide the specialist support which pupils require to cope successfully in normal mainstream classes. Pupils who require additional support may receive this from a support for learning teacher ( see sections 4.11 and 5.14).

The most important pieces of legislation which affect the provision for additional support needs are the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, as amended by the Education (Scotland) Act 1981, the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986, the Self-Governing Schools Etc (Scotland) Act 1989 and, more recently, the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000 and the Great Britain Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001. The first of these put in place the present policy with regard to children with special educational needs. The second was an Act of Parliament relevant to the whole of the United Kingdom but with a special section, which applied to Scotland, dealing with disabled children. The third devoted one or two sections to adjusting the provisions which had been made in 1981.

A number of Regulations were introduced under the powers granted to the Secretary of State (now the Scottish Ministers) in the 1980 Act. Among these are the Regulations referring to Records of Needs. The Scottish Executive Education Department also issues guidance to education authorities on the implementation of policies on special educational needs. Circular 4/96 advises authorities about statutory arrangements in Scotland for providing for children and young persons with special educational needs and particularly for undertaking assessments and opening Records of Needs.

The Standards in Scotland's Schools etc Scotland Act 2000 placed a new duty on education authorities to ensure that the education which they provide is directed to the development of the personality, talents and mental and physical abilities of children and young persons to their fullest potential. It also established a duty on education authorities in Scotland to provide education in mainstream schools for all children, except under certain specified circumstances.

The extension of the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) to education, through amendments introduced by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001, makes it unlawful for education authorities to discriminate against disabled pupils and prospective pupils in the provision of education and associated services, and in respect of admissions and exclusions. The Code of Practice for Schools, published by the Disability Rights Commission, provides guidance on how the new duties under the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) should be interpreted.

The Education (Disability Strategies and Pupils' Educational Records) (Scotland) Act 2002, requires education providers to improve access to education for pupils with disabilities and gives all parents the right to access their children's educational records.

The Education (Additional Support for Learning)(Scotland) Bill, passed by the Scottish Parliament in April 2004, is currently awaiting Royal Assent. When this legislation is in force it will repeal the current legislation relating to special educational needs and will introduce a new legislative framework relating to children with additional support needs.

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The general aim is to identify the nature and severity of the individual pupil's educational needs and to provide appropriate means of meeting them in a context of equality of opportunity for all pupils.

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Pupils and students in mainstream education with additional support needs will follow the normal pattern of primary and secondary education and experience the same range of learning and teaching methods as other pupils. The term "remedial teaching " is no longer in use in Scotland. The learning support teacher has the key role in helping pupils with learning difficulties or additional support needs in mainstream schools by:

• offering consultancy to the management team in the school or to class teachers on policies and practices related to additional support needs;
• working in mainstream classes alongside class or subject teachers to give support to identified pupils with additional support needs;
• providing individual or small group tutorial support to pupils with additional support needs;
• offering advice to colleagues on the curricular programmes being provided; and
• providing, at the request of the head teacher, staff development and in-service training for colleagues.

In many cases pupils with additional support needs will have Individualised Educational Programmes (IEPs), which are used as a basis for planning, setting targets and ensuring that pupils make progress. In some cases an IEP may specify curricular modifications for a particular pupil. All teachers of a pupil with an IEP are expected to be aware of it and to take account it. In all cases the methods used relate to the nature of the individual pupil's needs. For example, there have been considerable developments in the adaptation and use of computers to support learning and there have been important developments in the teaching of the deaf through British Sign Language.

Depending on the needs of the pupils, many different professions may be involved in their care and education. Psychologists, doctors, nurses, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists all have an important part to play in the care and education of some children. The role of auxiliaries is particularly important, especially when children require physical care or constant attention or help when travelling.

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For pupils with more significant learning difficulties, there is a variety of provision across Scotland, including day or residential special schools or units, and special classes. Education authorities manage almost 200 special schools and units. Sometimes these provide for a particular group of pupils with similar additional support needs, such as learning difficulties related to visual or hearing impairment or to physical disabilities. Special schools are encouraged to develop strategies for enabling pupils to interact with the community or with neighbouring schools.

In addition to education authority provision, there are seven schools run by independent Boards of Governors or by charitable organisations, but supported financially by the Scottish Executive. These grant-aided schools offer residential and day provision for pupils with a specified range of needs, such as those with visual and hearing impairment or physical impairment.

There are also over 30 independent special schools, which also provide for pupils with additional support needs, including those deriving from social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. If they think it is appropriate to do so, education authorities may place pupils with additional support needs in the grant-aided schools or in the independent special schools and meet the cost of fees. It is also possible for education authorities to send children with additional support needs to schools outside Scotland and even outside the United Kingdom.

There has been for many years educational provision for children in hospitals, both for those who are long-term patients because of illness and for some children in psychiatric hospitals. In the latter case it is now policy only to have children in hospital if they require medical attention.

A further group of children are those who have been committed for legal reasons to Secure Units. They receive appropriate education for their age and current level of attainment.

The legislative framework set out in section 10.5.1 is relevant to special schools.

As in mainstream schools, the general aim is to identify the nature and severity of the individual pupil's educational needs and to provide appropriate means of meeting them in a context of equality of opportunity for all pupils.

All Scottish education authorities make provision for special schools and for inclusion of pupils with ASN in mainstream schools. Where necessary, transport is provided. There are examples of education authorities co-operating so that children with ASN may attend a school in a different authority from the one responsible for them but which is geographically more convenient.

Generally, pupils in special schools or units have a Record of Need, which their education authority has opened for them - see section 10.3.

In special schools or units, the size of the group or class will be related to the size of the school/unit and the nature of the pupils' needs. Pupils in such schools are usually grouped according to the extent of their needs and are, therefore, often accommodated in mixed age groups, although the schools also try to ensure that age bands are not too wide.

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The organisation of the school year in special schools and units is similar to that in mainstream schools.

In 2002 the Scottish Executive issued guidance to education authorities to assist them in considering and reviewing their policies relating to the length of the school week for pupils in special schools and units. It is expected that pupils in special schools will generally have the same length of school week as their counterparts in mainstream schools.

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There is no specific curriculum for pupils with additional support needs. The curriculum offered will take into account the nature and severity of the needs. The 5-14 Programme contains guidance on the structure of education for all pupils aged 5 to 14 years, including pupils with additional support needs. In the programme there are appropriate opportunities for curricular adaptation and development in response to a pupil's individual needs. A guidance document: Support for Learning, provides an interpretation of the 5-14 curriculum for pupils with additional support needs. A Special Educational Needs support pack was issued in November 1999 by the Scottish Executive to provide a focus for staff development, to help professionals set targets for pupils with additional support needs at all levels and to identify areas for improvement.

At secondary school level, students with learning difficulties have been encouraged to go forward for certification at Standard Grade. Provision has been made also by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) to enable all those with additional support needs to follow the framework of National Qualifications in school and in further education colleges. This makes provision across the continuum of additional support needs for pupils (aged 14 and above) and adults.

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No method is specifically laid down for teaching pupils with additional support needs. In many cases pupils will receive individual attention and will work in small groups. As in mainstream schools, many pupils with additional support needs in special schools or units have Individualised Educational Programmes (IEPs), which are used as a basis for planning, setting targets and ensuring that pupils make progress. In all cases the methods used relate to the nature of the individual pupil's needs. For example, there have been considerable developments in the adaptation and use of computers to support learning; and there have been important developments in the teaching of the deaf through British Sign Language.

Pupil Evaluation

Because the aim is to provide appropriate education for each pupil and to meet particular needs, assessment is usually continuous and formative. However, depending on the nature of the pupil's needs, there may also be a place for the use of standardised tests. An important outcome of assessment for certain pupils is the Record of Needs. A further assessment is carried out at age 14, the Future Needs Assessment procedure, which is also on a multi-disciplinary basis, with advice from psychological, medical and social services and employers, and looks to the future of the child beyond the school.

Promotion to the Next Class

There are no special conditions for promotion of pupils with additional support needs from stage to stage and most progress through school with others of their age group. A small number, because of their particular disabilities and their need for specialist care, remain in a particular group or class where their needs can be met.

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Guidance of pupils with additional support needs in special schools is largely in the hands of educational psychologists, medical staff when appropriate, class teachers and teachers specifically designated for guidance, particularly in secondary schools. A research project in 1989 identified many of the issues related to guidance for pupils with additional support needs (Thomson, 1989). Inspections of special schools have since highlighted the generally high quality of guidance offered to pupils in these schools.

The Future Needs Assessment procedure, as provided for by the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 [as amended], is an important step in identifying provision for children with a Record of Needs when they leave school. In further education, opportunities have greatly improved for students with additional support needs in recent years and the FE colleges have been encouraged to provide better support and guidance. SOEID (now SEETLLD) issued Circulars in 1993 and 1994 which broadly define the provision of further education for such students.

The Government set up a Committee of Enquiry, the Beattie Committee, to examine post-16 education and training provision for young people with additional support needs. In September 1999 the Committee published its report: Implementing Inclusiveness: Realising Potential, in which it made the following key recommendations:

• an 'Implementing Inclusiveness' network should be established both at national and local levels;
• improvements should be made in guidance and support arrangements during transition to post-school learning or employment;
• inclusiveness policies should be developed in FE colleges and by training providers; and
• disability statements should be introduced by FE colleges and improvements made in accessibility and supply of equipment for young people with disabilities.

The Scottish Executive has now established a National Action Group (NAG) which is taking forward the recommendations in the report.

It is possible for pupils with significant additional support needs to obtain a Scottish Qualifications Certificate (Standard Grade). Most pupils with additional support needs follow the National Qualifications framework provided by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) leading to appropriate certificates. Special arrangements are frequently made to enable pupils who have specific needs to cope with examination conditions.

The place of independent and grant-aided schools in the education of pupils with additional support needs is indicated at section 10.6.

There are no specific national arrangements for the education of the children of immigrants or asylum seekers, who normally attend their local mainstream school. Each education authority makes provision as needed for support, for example in the form of specialist teaching of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). Schools' guidance and support for learning staff are usually closely involved to help ensure that these pupils feel well integrated into the school community and make appropriate academic progress.

In addition to those given here, more detailed statistics are available on the Scottish Executive web site at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/.

Figures relating to pupils in publicly funded schools: ASN (September 2002)