Supporting Children's Learning - Code of Practice: statutory guidance - consultation
The Supporting Children's Learning Code of Practice provides statutory guidance on the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. We are consulting on the refreshed guidance, designed to improve clarity, readability, and navigation for all users.
Open
52 days to respond
Respond online
Ministerial Foreword
Jenny Gilruth MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills
The Scottish Government's approach to supporting the needs of children and young people in schools continues to be a highly inclusive one and there continues to be consensus around the principles of inclusion on which our system is based. Whilst we have heard that the intention of our additional support for learning legislation and the approach of our policy is right, we also know that improvements are necessary to ensure we are translating that intention effectively into practice, across Scotland.
As Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, I absolutely recognise the challenges in the system and understand the desire to see short term change. Angela Morgan was very clear that her recommendations through the ASL Review were not a quick fix and that cultural change to deliver improvement on the ground for children and young people would take time.
As we continue to work at pace to respond to these challenges, building on our existing ASL Action Plan, we must ensure that the correct level of support is available to those who are working with our children and young people on a day-to-day basis. It is crucial that staff working in schools and those who have statutory duties under additional support for learning legislation have guidance available to them which is clear, accessible and reader-friendly. This refreshed guidance seeks to do this whilst also meeting commitments we have made in response to the ASL Review and recommendations made by the Education, Children and Young People Committee of the Scottish Parliament.
I would like to offer my sincere thanks to everyone who has invested their time and energy to get the refreshed guidance to this point, particularly members of our Additional Support for Learning Code of Practice Working Group.
This consultation represents an important step in the process of revising the Code of Practice, and the Scottish Government will consider next steps following the outcome of this work. I therefore welcome your views on the refreshed Supporting Children’s Learning Code of Practice.