Social Inclusion - Opening the door to a better Scotland

6. Promoting inclusion among children and young people

6.1 The Government believes that the best way to achieve a significant, long-term difference to the incidence of social exclusion is to focus on today's children and young people. The aim is to ensure that every young person in Scotland, as they leave full-time education or training, should possess all the basic 'life skills' _ literacy, numeracy, communication and social skills; should have had the chance to develop more advanced knowledge and skills in school or college; should be confident and healthy; should value themselves and those around them; and should see themselves as being part of society, and having something to offer society in return.

6.2 Most young people make the transition smoothly into adulthood. But too many do not. They may have failed at school - or, to put it another way, school may have failed them. They may not have had the benefit of a supportive family; they may have had problems with health, or drugs; they may have experienced mental, physical or sexual abuse; or they may have been drawn into crime. However it happens, many young people enter adult life disadvantaged because of their experiences as a child. There is a pressing need to tackle this disadvantage, and to give children and young people the social skills and knowledge which will help them resist exclusion as adults.

6.3 Education is clearly central to the achievement of these aims: the Government's proposals for delivering the vision of a world-class education system are described in the White Paper 'Targeting Excellence: Modernising Scotland's Schools'. Effective, broadly-based and integrated support for children and families, involving education, health and social work services but driven by the needs of the child and their family will also be significant, especially in the early years or for those who face particular difficulties.

Young children

6.4 The early years - the period before a child attends school for the first time - are particularly crucial in terms of the long-term promotion of social inclusion. The central challenge is to ensure that every child arrives at school healthy and ready to learn. What can be done to help ensure this? The Government believes there are two key issues: the availability of opportunities for early development; and the provision of effective, integrated support that addresses the needs of a child and their family as a whole.

6.5 The Government has already done much to help provide opportunities for children's early development. A free, part-time education place is now available for virtually every Scottish child in the pre-school year whose parents want one; and the Government has committed an extra £138m over the next 3 years to ensure that, by 2002, pre-school places are available for all three year olds whose parents wish it. Guidance on pre-school learning highlights the importance of supporting children's personal, social and emotional development in the early years.

6.6 As described in section 4, the Government is also investing heavily in promoting an expansion of childcare provision. While part of the aim of this investment is to help parents take up opportunities to work or learn, good quality childcare can also provide opportunities for young children to develop through play and through socialising with other children. For some disadvantaged children it can provide an element of stability and of stimulation that is not present at home.

6.7 In addition to the substantial resources being invested in childcare generally in Scotland, the Government is devoting £42m over the next three years to expand support for families with very young children before they are at the age for pre-school education. The aim is to ensure a good start in life through supporting parents and children, with a focus on areas of greatest need. In most areas support will be provided through family centres, but this will not always be the best approach. Social exclusion is not simply an urban phenomenon and in rural areas, for example, other approaches such as use of mobile resources and childminder networks may be the best way forward. Objectives include providing a stimulating environment where children, through play, have opportunities for social, emotional and physical development; support to parents in providing a healthy upbringing for their child; and promoting self-esteem and personal confidence in both children and parents. It is recognised that for support to be effective parents must themselves be encouraged to identify what support will be helpful.

6.8 As will be apparent throughout this document, the Government places considerable emphasis on different services working together to deliver the best possible service to individuals and families. Support through family centres will require a corporate approach from local authorities involving, for example, social work and education expertise as well as co-operation with health bodies and relevant voluntary and private sector organisations. Guidance on implementing this initiative was issued to all these bodies and prepared jointly by the Scottish Office departments responsible for education, social work and health. The objective is to meet the needs of parents and children in an integrated way.

6.9 A key challenge will be to ensure that the various elements of this new investment - pre-school education, childcare and family centres - 'fit' together and meet parents' needs. This is part of the more general challenge of ensuring that services are planned in a co-ordinated way and that services themselves work effectively on the ground. The statutory requirement upon authorities to prepare Children's Services Plans is already based on the clear understanding that such plans must reflect the range of services that children and families can expect from local authorities and relevant agencies. The Plans should indicate clearly what action is being taken to deliver services as effectively and efficiently as possible. They should also have straightforward objectives and performance indicators or targets so that authorities and those receiving services can be assured about quality and expectations.

6.10 A review has been completed of the first round of Children's Services Plans identifying the strengths and weaknesses in the planning arrangements, including the co-ordination with early years and pre-school planning. The outcome has been conveyed to local authorities to assist with the roll forward of Plans for the next two years.

6.11 The main responsibility for their children's health and development will always rest with parents. So there is a need to think not only about opportunities and support for children, but for their parents too: to help develop parenting skills and to involve parents in their children's early educational development. A comprehensive survey of programmes or projects designed to assist parenting skills has been undertaken, and results will be published shortly. Local authorities and relevant voluntary or private sector agencies will be invited to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of current provision across Scotland.

6.12 The health of children and young people will be an important focus of the National Health Service's work to improve health and tackle health inequalities and thus help break the cycle of social exclusion. This was made clear in the Priorities and Planning Guidance issued recently to the Service in Scotland, which also highlighted the importance of joint working with other local interests to deliver co-ordinated programmes of action in this area. 'Towards a Healthier Scotland' confirmed that child health was a key priority in the drive to better health in Scotland. A new health demonstration project, 'Starting Well', will develop and disseminate best practice in supporting children's health from pre-conception through to school entry. This project will, among other things, aim to develop effective and innovative use of health services for children, linking with those involved in family centres, child care services, social work and employment as well as education.

6.13 Primary care professionals - especially GPs and health visitors - have a key role in promoting children's health. Their close and regular contact with children from a very early age - also, crucially, with whole families - puts them in a position to detect a range of problems which may burden families and harm children's well-being, with a view to bringing in support from other services at an earlier stage.

6.14 Health Improvement Programmes, which health boards develop with NHS Trusts, primary care practitioners and other relevant organisations, set out proposals aimed at improving the health of their populations and tackling health inequalities. These will help the NHS make sure that its work to enhance the health of children in their areas is effectively structured and focused. A range of other initiatives introduced by the Government to promote social inclusion, including the Healthy Living Centres funded from the New Opportunities Fund, and New Community Schools, offer new opportunities to tailor action within the wider community to meeting children's health needs.

6.15 Maternal health is also important if children are to receive the best start in life. Conversely, maternal ill health, including post-natal depression, can hamper children's early development and education. Women living in deprived circumstances, and those exposed to violence from their partners, have an increased risk of post-natal depression and other mental illness. The new health demonstration project foreshadowed in the White Paper - 'Starting Well' - will have particular regard to the promotion of family health by encouraging and supporting parents as well as fostering good nutrition before and during pregnancy, and through breastfeeding. It will also target post-natal depression in mothers.

School-age children

6.16 The first priority, then, is to ensure that each child reaches school healthy and ready to learn. The Government believes that in promoting inclusion during the school years, there are five key issues: raising attainment; making the education system more inclusive; developing integrated support for children and families based around schools; promoting opportunities for personal and social development; and tackling specific barriers to development.

6.17 Educational attainment is central: we need a culture where schools are always seeking to improve and to raise attainment levels, for all children. The opportunities children will have as adults clearly depend in large measure on what skills and qualifications they gain at school. This aspect _ of promoting inclusion through educational attainment - thus forms part of broader efforts to promote attainment in Scottish schools, as described in the White Paper 'Targeting Excellence: Modernising Scotland's Schools'. As that paper states, the educational system should pay particular attention to those who may be finding the process of learning difficult, and who might otherwise be left behind. In other words, the educational system itself should become more 'inclusive'.

6.18 Action is already underway to take forward these two ideas, of inclusiveness in education and of the integration of services around a school. The Early Intervention Programme, representing a total investment of £60m over 5 years, is supporting a range of projects to help children at the earliest stages of primary school who have difficulty in the basic skills of reading, writing and numeracy. A significant focus of many projects is the development of home-school links, and other approaches to ensure parents can play a full role in the early stages of their children's education.

6.19 Exclusion from school is an important sanction for schools in cases of serious or criminal misbehaviour, but it should be seen as a last resort. Children who are excluded from school often fall behind and find it difficult to catch up, jeopardising their educational future further. The Government has announced national targets to reduce exclusions by a third by 2002 and to ensure the provision of full time education for all children excluded for over three years. Authorities are developing strategies to meet these targets, and the Government has made £23m available under the 'Excellence Fund for Schools' to assist them. This is in addition to resources provided under the Alternatives to Exclusion Grant Scheme, which awarded £3m to authorities to pilot innovative alternatives to exclusion.

6.20 Organised opportunities for learning out of school hours - known as study support - can also be very beneficial to children and help them to reach higher standards. This is especially so for those who may be at risk of falling behind in school: study support can provide a quiet and secure place for homework or study, and allow learning in a less formal setting than school. Activity takes a variety of forms - including homework clubs, breakfast, lunch and evening clubs, and summer and holiday schemes. The Government will fund further development of study support. The eventual aim is that all children will have access to out of school hours learning activities if they want them. To this end, resources totalling £27m will be available from the Government's 'Excellence Fund for Schools' in the three financial years from 1999-2000, complementing the £23m available for study support from the New Opportunities Fund to a similar timescale. The Government is also supporting networking arrangements to share ideas and good practice.

6.21 The structure of the curriculum can also contribute to making the education system more inclusive. The introduction of Higher Still is intended to broaden opportunities to gain qualifications, by providing courses in S5 and S6 at 5 levels suitable for the whole age cohort. In particular, the Access courses will improve the attainment of students with a wide range of learning difficulties. The Intermediate levels will provide more appropriate learning for that wide group of students for whom S5 Higher is a step too far.

6.22 A key element of the Government's programme to promote social inclusion is the development of New Community Schools. An improving, inclusive school should consider the needs and potential of the child as a whole. To achieve this, much closer working is needed between the school and other agencies, parents and the community to bring together the services required by children, families and parents in a way which can ensure they are delivered in an integrated and effective way.

6.23 New Community Schools will bring together in a single team professionals from a range of services, including school education, social work, family support and health education and promotion services. Besides these core services, local authorities will be encouraged to be innovative and flexible and to bring in other services. Through partnership working, the focus is on improving educational attainment and the subsequent social and economic participation of those children and young people who, at present, simply do not fulfil their potential. Through the 'Excellence Fund for Schools', the Government has committed £26m to supporting some 60 pilot projects across Scotland, in three phases from 1999-2000. In the first phase, there will be significant emphasis on the primary sector and on schools serving deprived areas.

6.24 Parental support of their children's learning is crucial. Children's learning is much more effective if parents are engaged with it, and potential problems can be spotted much more quickly if parents are involved and in touch with their children's school. Many parents are fully supportive of their children's schools, but some, perhaps because of a negative experience of school themselves, or a lack of self-confidence, never come anywhere near their children's school. Reaching these parents is the Government's key concern. Initiatives such as family literacy schemes, parent support groups and home-link teachers are already in place in authorities across Scotland, many funded by the Early Intervention Scheme. The Government has also made £15m available through the 'Excellence Fund for Schools' for initiatives like these which support the role of parents in their children's education.

6.25 In preparing children for adult life, the development of strong inter-personal and social skills is also vital. The school curriculum is one means of developing these skills; the 5-14 national guidelines on Personal and Social Development include among their aims that of helping pupils develop life skills to enable them to participate effectively and safely in society, and contain a strong emphasis on values which are important to the home, school and community. In the upper secondary school, personal and social education courses include a substantial emphasis on inter-personal skills in the context of relationships with others in the community at large. This is also an area where informal activities, such as sport, clubs, and other out-of-school activities have a major contribution to make. Community education also has a role to play, particularly with those children and young people who may be alienated in some way or simply lack the confidence to get involved in activities which will help with their personal and social development.

6.26 By improving educational attainment, by making the education system more inclusive, and by integrating support for children and families around the school system, the prospects of all children can be improved. But some children face special difficulties which, if not addressed, could all too easily consign them to exclusion in later life.

6.27 There is clear research and other evidence that children looked after by local authorities are a group particularly at risk of social exclusion. Every year in Scotland around 1,900 children are looked after away from home, and local authorities will have responsibility for over 5,000 who may still live at home. The reasons for children being taken into care to be looked after by local authorities are very diverse. This can range from behavioural or health problems to difficulties at home when a parent may need extra support or assistance for a short time. It is particularly true that for those children and young people looked after by local authorities in a residential setting, the public body has a legal and moral responsibility to ensure safety and security as well as maximising the potential of each and every young person concerned in terms of their social and educational capacities.

6.28 Children and young people who are looked after by a local authority are entitled by law to an individual care plan. This must cover arrangements for a range of care including health, education and social welfare. Part of care planning is to ensure that when the time comes for a young person to leave the care of the local authority there is a structured and supported system in place to allow and encourage access to relevant services. Local authorities have legal duties to assist, including financial support, young people who were in their care at school leaving age or at any point thereafter towards the cost of education, training, accommodation and maintenance. This applies up to and in some cases beyond the age of 21. Such young people who are also homeless are a priority group under homelessness legislation. Projects supported through the Rough Sleepers Initiative have also addressed the problems of exclusion faced by young people formerly in care who are sleeping rough. There is now greater recognition than ever before that children and young people looked after by local authorities need sustained and focussed support. Proposals to develop partnerships focussing on the needs of young people formerly in care are currently the subject of bids for Social Inclusion Partnership status, as part of the competition described in section 7.

6.29 In its response to the Kent Report on Safeguards for Children Looked After by Local Authorities, the Government has set out a plan for action, backed by a new Children's Services Development Fund with extra resources of almost £37m over the next three years. The funding is intended to improve the quality of care and to maximise the provision of family-type settings, either smaller units or specialised foster carers, in order to tackle the factors that can expose this group to the risk of social exclusion. The new initiatives flowing from the Kent Report will be monitored and evaluated in order to check regularly on their impact in improving services.

6.30 The inclusiveness of the education system, which was discussed above, is particularly important to children who have special educational needs. The Government's aim is to ensure that the vast majority of children with special educational needs are fully integrated into mainstream education, with the appropriate support. However, the needs of some children can best be met in a specialist setting: such settings should be centres of excellence. Identification of special educational needs should occur at the earliest possible stage; the necessary support should be put in place quickly; and all staff working with children with special educational needs should receive the appropriate training. The Government's discussion paper 'Special Educational Needs in Scotland' reviewed a wide range of issues relevant to improving the position of children with special educational needs. Responses to that paper are being analysed, and a full response will be presented shortly; a number of new initiatives will be funded under the 'Excellence Fund for Schools'.

6.31 Besides the excluding effect of the crime they commit, children who offend are also vulnerable to exclusion in later life. As with adult offenders, the aim wherever possible should be to secure that child's participation in the activities which will promote their inclusion in society - school, family life, other activities - while addressing to the full whatever wider problems the child may face. These principles underpin Scotland's Children's Hearings system, within which a view can be taken on what is best for the child.

6.32 More persistent young offenders present their own challenge. The Government, in partnership with local authorities, the police and voluntary bodies have been giving support to two projects aimed at cutting crime by changing the lives of the offenders. The Freagarrach project, which is devised and managed by Barnardos and based at Polmont and Alloa, aims to confront persistent young offenders with the consequences of their actions, and thus discourage them from re-offending; CUE-TEN, devised and managed by APEX and based at Glenrothes, works with juvenile offenders aged between 14 and 16, and aims to reduce their re-offending by changing their attitudes to training and employment. These two projects are being independently evaluated, and results will be available during 1999. If the projects are effective in cutting crime levels and preventing the most persistent young offenders embarking on a life of crime, there may be scope to apply the same principles more generally in Scotland.

6.33 Focused early intervention is the hallmark of a new project that will tackle offending behaviour by children in the 8-14 age rank. The project, due to start in mid-1999, will use multi-agency teams to identify young people at risk of offending and to draw up action plans aimed at reducing the risk. The overall objectives are to cut offending rates and avoid the need for young people to be placed in residential care.

6.34 Poor health can also contribute to low levels of attendance and attainment. The development of New Community Schools, health promoting schools, work to improve nutrition, and to target smoking, drug and alcohol misuse throughout children's time in school are necessary parts of efforts to promote health among school-age children. So is tackling the common diseases of childhood, through immunisation and the management of chronic illnesses like asthma. As with young children, effective joint working so that health professionals are fully involved in addressing children's needs will be key.

6.35 Children with disabilities can have particular problems in taking part in education and other opportunities to develop. Local authorities have clear statutory duties under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 to support children with disabilities, and children affected by disability in the family. Such children and young people have a right to an assessment of their needs, and an action plan designed to check that those needs are met. Local authorities must ensure that assessments of need are undertaken in good time and are regularly reviewed, and that young people and their families are fully consulted about the range of services available to them. An advisory group under the chair of Professor Sheila Riddell is to advise on the needs of children with severe disease or disability.

Young people

6.36 Young people leaving school face a distinct but complex set of challenges. For many it will be the time they first encounter the demands of the job market, or have to seek out suitable job-related training. But the paths into employment or into continued training and education are often unclear, even for those who have a good idea of the direction they want to go in. Other major transitions, like leaving the family home and becoming independent, present their own challenges.

6.37 Besides the agenda of education, health and broader support which is crucial in preparing children for later life, action to prepare young people for and help them through the transition from school to a life of work and, indeed, continued learning, can make a major contribution to an individual's prospects of inclusion and prosperity as an adult. Equally, specific new challenges arise which, if not addressed, could jeopardise those prospects.

6.38 Effective careers education and guidance is often in the front-line of preparing young people to engage with the labour market. The Government has asked careers service companies to work more closely with employers and schools, to make sure they can help young people understand how the labour market works, to focus more effort on disaffected and disadvantaged young people, and to work in partnership with others in this field. Work-related learning, including work experience, can also play a part in helping young people prepare for work. The Government's Education for Work and Enterprise agenda promotes links between education and industry. The agenda is designed to improve coherence and quality in work and enterprise related learning; anecdotal evidence indicates that work-related learning can aid social inclusion through improvements in attainment and attendance, and reductions in exclusions from school.

6.39 A further, very practical role of Government and other agencies lies in providing training for young people. Training is funded by Government through the Skillseekers programme, and is managed and delivered by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise through the Local Enterprise Companies. Within Skillseekers, young people with special training needs, including problems with literacy and numeracy, or with social or behavioural difficulties, can also have access to pre-vocational training.

6.40 The Government has set up the Beattie Committee under the chairmanship of Robert Beattie MBE, to consider what more can be done for young people who need addtional support to participate in futher education and training, or employment, whether the need for support stems from physical or learning difficulties or mental health problems, or from lack of skills or motivation. The Committee will report to Ministers at the end of June 1999 with recommendations for improving the coherence and continuity of provision. In addition, the Government will be consulting on options for improving participation and attainment in training for 16-18 year olds, with a particular focus on young people who may be underachieving.

6.41 Higher and Further Education have important roles to play in providing opportunities for young people and a pathway out of social exclusion. Historically, young people from disadvantaged backgrounds have been significantly under-represented in higher education. The Government very strongly believes that the opportunity to participate in higher education should be available to all who have the ability to benefit and, in partnership with the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, is taking forward a number of initiatives designed to widen access. Local and regional partnerships can do much in support of the strategies developed by higher education institutions to promote wider access, particularly where institutions target areas where under-representation in higher education is a significant factor in multiple deprivation. The Government recognises the important role which part-time provision has played in widening access to higher education in recent years and has introduced incentives for part-time students on low incomes, both by means of the £6m fee waiver pilot project introduced in May 1998 and, from autumn 2000, by means of loans of up to £500 to help such students with their course-related costs. The expansion in Further Education provision described in section 4 will also help provide opportunities for young people to move into this form of education.

6.42 As with other age-groups, young people can face specific problems which can make them more vulnerable to social exclusion.

6.43 Poor health can have a serious effect on the ability of a young person to participate in society. The most severe problem many young people face is drug misuse; those brought up in drug misusing households will be especially vulnerable. If young people are to develop the skills necessary to resist drug misuse, they need to be fully informed about the facts of drugs, in language they understand. Drugs education is a key feature of current health education campaigns, both in the classroom and in the community. The new drug prevention resource, announced recently by Ministers, should help communities in promoting consistent and effective prevention work with young people. Money is also being made available for work with young people to tackle the dangers of heroin misuse. The UK White Paper 'Tackling Drugs to build a Better Britain' makes helping young people to resist drug misuse one of its 4 main aims. In addition, the Government is supporting innovative community projects through the Scottish Drugs Challenge Fund. Young alleged offenders with drug-related problems can also now receive treatment for their drug misuse under special schemes which do not involve prosecution. The Government's drug misuse strategy for Scotland, to be published shortly, will set out objectives and action priorities for helping young people resist drug misuse and achieve their full potential in society. Work to tackle alcohol misuse and smoking is also highly relevant to social inclusion in this age group.

6.44 A high proportion of teenage pregnancies in Scotland occurs in the most disadvantaged areas with many teenage mothers, already socially and educationally disadvantaged, finding themselves excluded from further education as well as employment and other opportunities. A demonstration project, 'Healthy Respect', will aim to promote sexual health, prevent sexually transmitted diseases, and reduce the numbers of unwanted pregnancies, especially among teenagers. It will draw on experience in other parts of the world and build on the report by the Scottish Needs Assessment Programme on teenage pregnancy in Scotland. The Government has set the target of reducing the pregnancy rate among 13-15 year olds by 20% between 1995 and 2010.

6.45 As is described in section 8, the subject of 'excluded young people' has been chosen as a priority area for consideration under the social inclusion strategy. An Action Team will, by 30 September 1999, prepare a report surveying best practice and making recommendations on what more could be done. In addition, proposals to develop partnerships focusing on the needs of young people are currently the subject of bids for Social Inclusion Partnership status, as part of the competition described in section 7.

Conclusion

6.46 This section has looked at what can be done to promote inclusion in the long term, by helping today's children and young people develop the skills and attributes which will enhance their prospects as adults. We now look at action at the community level, to build stronger communities and to tackle the problems of exclusion that whole communities in Scotland face.