Consultation on Draft Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Bill, 17/01/03 [S]

A consultation on the Scottish Executives draft Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Bill.Consultation period: 17/01/03 to 28/03/03Background

The draft bill arises from concerns expressed by many people that the existing assessment and recording system for children with special educational needs is outdated and overly bureaucratic. Comments on the need to review the current system also came from the Riddell Advisory Committee in a review of provision for children with severe low incidence disabilities (1999); and from the Parliament's Education, Culture and Sport Committee in its Inquiry into Special Educational Needs (2001).When 'Assessing Our Children's Educational Needs: The Way Forward?' was published in May 2001, the Scottish Executive began a review of the assessment and recording system for children and young people with special educational needs. The vast majority of responses suggested that the Record of Needs procedure required amendment and improvement.

The aim of the draft Bill, and the new framework document, Moving Forward! Additional Support for Learning, is to provide an overarching framework that encompasses all children who may have a difficulty in accessing and benefiting from learning, whatever the reason or cause may be for that difficulty. These children already exist and are already being supported in their learning. But we need to make sure we have systems in place that ensure no child falls through the net and their learning needs are undiscovered, ignored or unmet simply because the label does not suit.

The draft Bill is comprised of 8 main sections:

Assessment and Intervention

There should be a simple, transparent and systematic framework for the identification, assessment and support of the learning needs of a wide range of pupils, arising from factors relating to social, cognitive, linguistic, disability, family/care circumstances.

The draft Bill:

1. introduces a duty on education authorities to publish local policies, arrangements and provision for children and young people with additional support needs and explain parents' role, responsibilities and rights.

2. removes the compulsory nature of educational, medical and psychological observation and assessments as part of the consideration by the education authority of a child's needs.

3. education authorities will also be obliged to take into account the views of the parents and the child and any information they may provide.

Parent and Family Involvement and Support

Under existing legislation parents have a duty to promote their child's development, to provide suitable education for their child, whether through the public system for education or otherwise, and to provide direction and guidance.

The draft Bill:

1. encourages education authorities to involve parents of children with additional support needs and to acknowledge the parents' role in supporting their child's education.

2. provides a duty on education authorities to publish their policies, arrangements and provision for pupils with additional support needs and this will include how they intend to offer parents the opportunity to be involved.

Mediation

Education authorities will need to publicise mediation services so that parents know what is available and when they could use the service. Mediation will be for all parents within the area who have a dispute with the education authority on any function by the authority under this draft Bill. Education authorities will be able to purchase the mediation service from national or UK organisations or local voluntary sector organisations or to provide the service directly.

Transitions and future needs

It was clear from the earlier consultations that all transitions need to be improved for those pupils with additional needs. By their nature, having additional support needs, can mean that transition is a particularly difficult episode for children and young people. The key to successful transition, whether it be from one level of school to another or across the same level, is preparation and planning.

The current statutory Future Needs Assessment will be discontinued. Instead there will be a greater focus on planning and preparing a child with additional support needs for any transition between schools to ensure support is continued where it is needed. For the leaving school transition, the emphasis will be on preparing the child for life beyond school and working with other agencies to plan support

Co-ordinated Support Plan (CSP)

The draft Bill introduces a statutory Co-ordinated Support Plan (CSP). The aim of the CSP is to plan long term and strategically for the achievement of learning outcomes and to foster co-ordination across the range of services (multi-agency and multi-disciplinary) required to support this. CSP's will be for those children who face complex or multiple barriers to learning which significantly, and adversely, affect their educational development over the long term: and require frequent access to a diversity of services out with services from the school and education authority.

The format of the CSP is expected to contain biographical information about the child, name the people involved in the CSP (various professions and others (and their agency), parents, child), a named contact person responsible for co-ordinating the CSP, parents' views and child's views, details of the authority's conclusions regarding the additional support needs, the learning outcomes (both short term and long term) and the services to be provided, the nominated school and the proposed date of next review.

The CSP will detail the long and short term learning outcomes for the child or young person. Long term target outcomes are expected to be for a minimum of 12 months and ideally for 2 to 3 years (or longer) where practicable and realistic.

The CSP will be a 'working' document that records target outcomes, provision of support and facilitates practice. Parents or the young person (and the child if appropriate) will receive a copy of the CSP (and subsequent copies each time it is amended or updated)

The CSP will be reviewed at least annually. The review will include a fundamental consideration of the child's or young person's circumstances (for example a change in diagnosis or becoming a Looked After Child), the long and short term outcomes and the setting of new ones, the support required in light of these, as well as consideration of the parents' and child's or young person's views.

The time taken to conduct the review and to amend the CSP will be set. The existing CSP will stand during the review period and must continue to be implemented accordingly. The education authority must send a copy of the revised CSP to the parents or young person and again provide appropriate information to those involved in providing support and monitoring progress of the child or young person.

The education authority or parents or young person will be able to request a review sooner than annually when there has been a significant change in circumstances including progress towards the learning outcomes. If the education authority is unwilling to review then they should inform the parents (or young person) of this giving their reasons. The parents (or young person) will then have recourse to mediation and ultimately the new Tribunal. If parents or the young person disagree to a review, then the authority will have no power to force them (or the child) to participate, though this will not prevent the review going ahead without them. The parents or young person will still have recourse to mediation and appeal if they are not content with any aspect of the resulting revised CSP.

Transitions between schools should be planned and prepared for well in advance, as should the transition to leaving school. The development outcomes and provision in a CSP must take account of this.

The draft Bill provides that all parts of the CSP, including provision, will be eligible for appeal to a new Tribunal, as will decisions to draw up or not to draw up a CSP, to discontinue it or not to review it. Parents will also be able to appeal to the Tribunal if there is undue delay in drawing up or reviewing a CSP.

If as a result of a review, the education authority decides that the child or young person no longer meets the criteria for a CSP, the parents or young person should be notified in writing of this decision and advised of their appeal rights. If there is no objection to this decision then the CSP will be discontinued and preserved for a suitable length of time. Education authorities should discontinue the CSP if directed to do so by the Tribunal. It should also be discontinued once the young person is no longer receiving school education.

Appeals and the Tribunal

The draft Bill provides for new, independent, expert Tribunals to be established. Each Tribunal will consist of three members - m embers will be appointed by Scottish Ministers for a period of up to 5 years

The draft Bill sets out the types of appeal that can be taken to the Tribunal. Parents (or young persons) will be able to appeal against an education authority's decision on whether or not to prepare or review or discontinue a Co-ordinated Support Plan for their child and against the Co-ordinated Support Plan's contents..

Appeals against the decisions of the Tribunal will be to the Court of Session but on a point of law only. Legal aid will be available to children and their parents (if they qualify for it) for appeals to the Court of Session.

The Tribunal will:

1. be able to compel witnesses to attend to give evidence or to produce any document.

2. be able to order the education authority to open (prepare and maintain), discontinue, amend the contents or review a CSP.

3. only have jurisdiction over education authorities.

4. operate in a 'user friendly' manner and be expected to use clear, plain English.

The President of the Tribunal will publish an Annual Report and this is expected to contain a variety of data about appeals: what was being appealed, what the main difficulty in learning was and whether each appeal was successful. The Report is also expected to include a breakdown of appeal numbers by local authority, or groups of authorities if small numbers mean confidentiality may be breached. This should protect individuals from being identified, but will allow interested parties to see what the most common areas of appeal were and how successful certain types of appeal were.

Placing Requests

The draft Bill extends to all parents of children with additional support needs and to young people with additional support needs the right to make placing requests to independent special schools.

The education authority will have to comply with a placing request to an independent special school unless the child or young person does not have the appropriate additional support needs for that school or the education authority can make provision for those support needs in a school under its own management or by other arrangements (taking account of legislation on mainstreaming). Appeals against the decision of the education authority on a placing request will continue to be to the Education Authority Appeals Committee, unless the child or young person has a Co-ordinated Support Plan.

Where a child has a Co-ordinated Support Plan, and the nominated school is not the preferred school the parents (or young person) will be able to appeal to the Tribunal.


Transitional Provisions

It is expected that those children or young people who currently have a Record of Needs will be considered under the new framework whenever their Record comes up for review. Consideration will need to be given to the most appropriate planning arrangements for the individual child.

The new Tribunal would be set up as soon as is practical after the proposed Bill has completed the whole Parliamentary process. It is expected that appeals, which are ongoing at that time, will be completed under present arrangements and will not transfer to the Tribunal. However, no new Records of Needs will be opened once the Co-ordinated Support Plan has started to be phased in.

Elaine Lane
Additional Support for Learning Bill Team
Scottish Executive Education Department
Area 3B(N)
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ

The consultation document is available on the Scottish Executive website.

Further Information

1. CONSULTATION ON DRAFT EDUCATION (ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR LEARNING) (SCOTLAND) BILL
2. Assessing our childrens educational needs: The Way Forward?
3. Assessing our childrens educational needs - The Way Forward? Summary of the consultation seminars
4. Assessing our childrens educational needs: The Way Forward?

Home     More Articles