The education of young people with additional support needs (ASN) is the focus of a teachers’ conference taking place in the capital.
Teachers attending the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) event in Edinburgh on Saturday are expected to hear that having sufficient resources is key to good ASN provision in schools.
The event will be chaired by EIS president Alison Thornton and will feature a keynote presentation by Professor Lani Florian, the Bell Chair of Education at Moray House School of Education at Edinburgh University.
It coincides with the publication of an EIS guidance document on ASN.
READ MORE: Workers at Scottish Qualifications Authority back strikes
In it, the union’s general secretary Larry Flanagan writes: “The topic of Additional Support for Learning (ASL) has been the subject of intense scrutiny in Scotland in recent years.
“This scrutiny is likely to be sustained, and perhaps to intensify, as the complexity of needs among the learning population grows, against a backdrop of under-invested public services struggling to meet the array of needs in every classroom.
“There is a well evidenced gap between theories of inclusion, the law on children’s rights, and daily practice in our schools; a gap which stems from massive under provision of the sources of support children require.”
The event comes after analysis last month indicated the number of pupils with ASN has soared in the past six years, while funding and the number of specialist teachers has fallen.
READ MORE: Nearly half of teachers 'seeking medical help for stress'
The Scottish Children Services Coalition analysed the annual Scottish Government Pupil Census and found large increases in most categories of pupils requiring additional support.
Speaking ahead of the conference, Ms Thornton said: “Ensuring adequate provision of education for young people with additional support needs is one of the most frequently cited concerns by teachers across the country.
“The EIS remains absolutely committed to the principle of inclusive education, and to the policy of educating young people with additional support needs in mainstream classes where this is the most appropriate environment for their learning.
“It is clear that where issues with ASN provision arise, these are most often associated with a lack of resources and specialist staff to support young people with additional support needs.
“It is the operation and resourcing of ASN policy that causes the most concern, not the principles that lie behind it.”
READ MORE: Scottish teachers hit out over new tests for alcohol and drug use
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “All young people deserve the same opportunity to succeed and reach their full potential.
“We have recently published revised guidance on the presumption to mainstream education, alongside online resources for staff.
“This provides improved methods to assess needs and help young people, and signposts actions to further support inclusion, informed by the latest research.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here