Additional Support for Learning: review

Introduction

This review examines how additional support for learning is delivered in practice. It was commissioned to understand how well the education system delivers additional support for learning in today’s context. It examines how national expectations, local delivery arrangements and day-to-day practice interact to shape children and young people’s experiences of support.

This analysis builds on a substantial body of existing work. The aim is not to revisit earlier findings, but to provide a focused assessment of how the system is operating currently, why familiar patterns persist, and what needs to be in place to strengthen delivery.

The report sets out what the evidence shows about the current system, why these patterns matter, and what is required to ensure that additional support for learning is experienced earlier, more consistently and with greater confidence by children, young people, families, and staff.

Why this review was needed now

More children and young people require additional support than at any point since the current legislative framework was established. Their needs are reported as often more complex and sustained, and requiring greater coordination across education, health and social care.

Teachers, support staff, and specialist services work with increasing intensity to meet children and young people’s needs, often amid rising demand and pressure, and with capacity that does not always align to current levels of need. In this context, support is not always experienced as early, consistent, or predictable as it should be.

This review starts from the expectation that wherever a child lives in Scotland, they should experience support that:

• is early and not dependent on escalation.
• begins in everyday learning and is strengthened through targeted and specialist input when needed.
• is coordinated, especially when more than one service is involved.
• recognises progress in learning, participation, and development.
• is consistent, with flexibility to respond to individual needs.
• adapts if needs change over time.
• Enables children and young people achieve success.

These expectations reflect what works when the system is aligned and operates in a coherent and connected way.

How the review was conducted

The review is evidence-led and draws on a range of existing sources, including:

• national datasets on additional support needs
• progress reporting on delivery of the Additional Support for Learning Action Plan
• published audit and parliamentary committee evidence
• survey and stakeholder data.
• workforce data and insights
• evidence relating to early learning and childcare
• previous engagement with learners, families, and practitioners

No new large-scale consultation or data collection was undertaken. This was a deliberate decision, reflecting the breadth of existing evidence and avoiding placing additional demands on staff, learners, families, and services.

Patterns across these sources provide a strong basis for understanding how current delivery is operating.

A small number of focused discussions were held. Engagement included a mix of attending existing meetings, short discussions with individuals or small groups, and providing brief updates where appropriate.

The review adopts a system-level perspective. It considers how national expectations, local arrangements and day-to-day practice interact to shape how reliably support is delivered. This includes how decisions are made, how information flows through the wider system, and how schools and services work together to meet children and young people’s needs.

Early learning and childcare is included, where appropriate, recognising that many pressures emerge before primary school. Several of the pressures identified in this review, including rising complexity, variation in access to specialist input, and gaps in early identification are already present in early learning and childcare.

The evidence base has some limitations, but these do not affect the overall conclusions. The strength of the review lies in the consistency of the patterns identified across sources.

This report therefore focuses on system conditions rather than individual practice. It sets out what needs to be strengthened so that additional support for learning is experienced earlier, more consistently and with greater confidence by children, young people, families, and staff.

Why this matters now

The context in which additional support for learning is delivered has changed. The scale and complexity of need now shape not only what the system is required to deliver, but how it must operate to do so in a more coherent and dependable way.

Additional support for learning is no longer a marginal part of the system. It is a central feature of teaching, learning and relationships across all stages of education. This requires alignment across workforce capacity, planning, services and curriculum design and assessment.

Expectations of inclusion have strengthened. There is greater recognition of children’s rights, the importance of participation, and the need to understand progress in broader ways. Meeting these expectations requires a greater level of precision, coordination, and consistency.

These shifts matter because the current delivery model was developed for an earlier context. Its principles remain sound, but the environment in which it operates is different. The scale, complexity and duration of need now require greater alignment across the system to ensure support can be delivered reliably and sustainably.