Supporting Children's Learning - Code of Practice: statutory guidance - fourth edition

Introduction

Vision for education

Scottish education should be ambitious, inclusive, and supportive in order to deliver:

• Excellence through raising achievement and improving outcomes: ensuring that every child and young person achieves the highest standards they can.
• Achieving equity: ensuring every child and young person has the same opportunity to succeed.

The National Improvement Framework 2025^[1] sets out the key priorities below:

• Placing the human rights and needs of every child and young person at the centre of education;
• Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing;
• Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people;
• Improvement in skills and sustained, positive school-leaver destinations for all young people; and
• Improvement in achievement, particularly in literacy and numeracy.

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004^[2] (“the 2004 Act”) supports the National Improvement Framework’s (NIF) priorities by ensuring legal protections, inclusive practice and targeted support are in place for children and young people with additional support needs.

Key legislation

1. The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 provides the legal framework for identifying and supporting children and young people who experience barriers to learning. The 2004 Act ensures that all children and young people receive the necessary support to help them reach their full potential.

2. The 2004 Act also promotes collaboration among those who support children and young people, including education authorities, parents, and other appropriate agencies. Additionally, the 2004 Act sets out the rights of children, young people, and their parents to access and receive additional support for learning.

The 2004 Act has been substantially amended by the:

• Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009^[3] ("the 2009 Act") and the
• Education (Scotland) Act 2016^[4] ("the 2016 Act").

Purpose of the code

3. Under Section 27^[5] of the 2004 Act, the Code of Practice (“the code”) provides statutory guidance on the duties of education authorities, appropriate agencies, and others in supporting children’s and young people’s learning. It sets out the 2004 Act’s provisions and the secondary legislation that supports it.

4. The code includes good practice examples illustrating how the provisions of the 2004 Act can be applied in different situations to support consistent, lawful practice. It also details procedures for resolving disagreements between families and education authorities.

5. Education authorities and appropriate agencies (such as NHS Boards) must have regard to the code when exercising their functions under the 2004 Act. The code serves as a guide for effective decision-making but cannot dictate specific actions in individual cases. Education authorities and appropriate agencies should ensure that their policies, practices and information and advice services comply with the 2004 Act’s legal requirements.

6. It is important to read the code as a whole and not consider individual chapters in isolation from the entire document, the 2004 Act, or related secondary legislation. The code is not a substitute for seeking appropriate legal advice regarding specific circumstances. Decisions about the law ultimately rest with the courts and tribunals.

7. This is the fourth edition of the code and replaces all previous versions. Although there are no legislative changes in regard to the 2004 Act, the content has been updated with an aim to improve clarity, readability and navigation.

Who should read the code

8. The code is intended for a wide range of organisations and individuals who are involved in supporting children and young people with additional support needs. The following groups are expected to be familiar with the code and its application:

• Education authorities and relevant agencies involved in advising or supporting children and young people with additional support needs, as well as their families, should encourage and support their employees in understanding the content of this code and how it applies to their daily work.
• Early years and childcare: early years practitioners, early years workers in family centres, practitioners in early learning and childcare establishments and staff delivering out-of-school provision.
• Education sector: directors of education, head teachers, teachers, classroom assistants and support staff, educational psychologists, staff in schools and early learning and childcare provision.
• Multi-agency planners: policy officers, planners and service managers working in children’s services planning networks across education, health, social care, further education and training.
• Health professionals: health visitors, public health nurses, school nurses, community child health teams, paediatricians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, other allied health professionals, clinical psychologists, and medical practitioners in paediatrics, general practice and child and family psychiatry.
• Social work sector: social workers, residential child care staff, support workers, adoption and foster care service staff and social workers with responsibility for child protection and looked after children.
• Other agencies: professionals in other agencies who may be involved in integrated assessment teams, for example, childcare fieldworkers, youth workers, Children’s Reporters, police, schools/community liaison team, community workers, staff working in Skills Development Scotland (careers services) and in higher and further education.
• Voluntary sector: professionals working in organisations that provide children’s services.

9. Parents, children and young people may wish to refer to the code for information and advice on exercising their rights. Specific guidance tailored for families is also available to them from Enquire^[6], the Scottish national advice and information service on additional support for learning (funded by the Scottish Government).