Deborah Lynch, Senior Policy Officer in the Scottish Government’s Supporting Learners’ Team provides an update on progress on the Additional Support for Learning Action Plan.
“In October 2020, the Scottish Government and COSLA published a joint action plan in response to Angela Morgan’s review of additional support for learning. This set out the different things that would be done to address the recommendations made by the review.
In November 2021, the Scottish Government and COSLA published a progress report and updated action plan. This highlighted the progress that had been made to deliver the actions within the first year. Some of the key actions were:
- Publication of the Vision Statement for Success, created by the Young Ambassadors for Inclusion
- Significant progress has been made to develop a national measurement framework that will change the way achievements and successes of children and young people are recognised and celebrated
- The GTCS refreshed their professional standards so that they had an enhanced focus on additional support for learning
- Publication of the Autism Action Plan and progress report
- Development of a professional learning framework for support staff
- Continued work to try to strengthen parental engagement and access to information and guidance
- Work to look at UNCRC and its impact on additional support for learning legislation
- Publication of the C0-ordinated Support Plan (CSPs) report about some of the barriers to accessing CSPs and how these can be overcome
While there has been good progress made so far, there is still much more to be done. The Additional Support for Learning Implementation Group has the responsibility to oversee progress to deliver the action plan. They have agreed to look again at the action plan and the progress that had been made despite some of the challenges that we have faced because of COVID. As part of this, they want to re-engage with families and professionals to ensure that their voices inform the actions we need to prioritise to make sure we achieve the changes needed to help children and young people with additional support needs realise their full potential. More information about this will be available soon.”