Advisory Committee: Report into the Education of Children with Severe Low Incidence Disabilities

ANNEX C

Statistical Information Presented to Advisory Committee on Severe Low Incidence Disabilities

Introduction

The Scottish Executive Education Statistics Division (ESD) was asked to adopt the most appropriate categories of main difficulty of learning as recorded by schools, in the annual School Census. Having agreed the categories to be used, a wide range of analyses was undertaken _ which this note summarises.

Analysis of SEN pupils with Severe Low Incidence Disabilities

For the purpose of these analyses, SLID included pupils with the following categories of main difficulty in learning:

• Hearing impairment
• Visual impairment
• Physical or motor impairments
• Language and communication disorder
• Social, emotional and behaviour difficulties
• Severe learning difficulties
• Profound learning difficulties
• Severe multiple/complex learning difficulties; and
• Profound multiple/complex learning difficulties.

In special schools, SLID includes all pupils with the above categories whether they have a Record of Needs or not. In mainstream schools, SLID only includes pupils who have a Record of Needs, as the main difficulty in learning is not collected from non-recorded pupils.

Table 1a.1 Number of pupils with SLID based in Special and Mainstream¹ schools in Scotland

1. Excluding pupils in nursery schools
2. Excluding 305 pupils not funded by a Local Authority and 26 pupils attending mainstream provision
3. Including a small number of pupils based in Grant Aided and Self Governing Mainstream Schools and excluding pupils funded outwith Scotland
4. The total excludes 333 pupils not funded by a Local Authority and 34 pupils funded outwith Scotland.

Table 1a.1 provides a breakdown of pupils with SLID based in special and mainstream schools in September 1997, by type of provision.

Table 1a.2 Breakdown from table 1a.1 by Local Authority.

1. Including a small number of pupils based in Grant Aided and Self Governing Mainstream Schools and excluding pupils funded outwith Scotland
2.The total excludes 333 pupils not funded by a Local Authority and 34 pupils funded outwith Scotland.

This table provides a breakdown of table 1a.1, by the Local Authority responsible for providing education. For mainstream schools it was not possible to identify the Local Authority responsible for educating the pupils, it was assumed therefore that the educating Local Authority was also the Local Authority responsible for the education of these pupils.

In 1997, there were 305 pupils with SLID who attended independent special schools and were not funded by a Local Authority, therefore they were not included in these tables as it was not possible to identify their (home) Local Authority who are responsible for their education. 28 pupils were funded out-with Scotland and were not included in this table.

1.1 percent of all school pupils in Scotland had a SLID category as their main difficulty in learning. The lowest proportions of school pupils with SLID were funded by Orkney Islands, where 0.6 percent of their school pupils had SLID. This compared with 1.4 percent funded by Glasgow City. Glasgow City was responsible for a high proportion of all pupils in Scotland with SLID.

Table 1b Pupils in all schools¹ with a Record of Needs, by funding Local Authority

1. Excluding pupils in nursery schools
2. Excluding 45 pupils not funded by a Local Authority and 31 pupils funded outwith Scotland and including 55 pupils with RoN who attended mainstream Independent provision and 314 pupils in Independent special school provision.
3. The total excludes 333 pupils not funded by a Local Authority and 34 pupils funded outwith Scotland.
* Small numbers have been asterisked to avoid disclosure of individuals or small groups.

Table 1b provides a breakdown of pupils with a Record of Needs in any category of main difficulty in learning, by type of provision and the responsible Local Authority. Similarly as for tables 1a.1 and 1a.2, it was not possible to identify the funding authority for pupils in mainstream; consequently it was assumed that the funding authority was the same as the educating authority.

There were 45 pupils with a Record of Needs who attended independent special schools and were not funded by a Local Authority, therefore they were not included in this table as it was not possible to identify their home Local Authority. 31 pupils were funded out-with Scotland and were not included in this table.

In Scotland, 1.9 percent of all school pupils had a Record of Needs. Renfrewshire funds the highest proportions of school pupils with a Record of Needs, where 2.6 percent of their pupils had a Record of Needs. This compared with 0.8 percent of pupils funded by Orkney Islands.

The number of total school pupils in tables 1a.1, 1a.2 and 1b do not include 333 pupils who were not funded by a Local Authority and 34 pupils funded out-with Scotland. Table 1b is not a subset of table 1a.1 and 1a.2 as not all SLID pupils have a Record of Needs.