Improving relationships and behaviour in schools: ensuring safe and consistent environments for all. Joint action plan 2024 - 2027: 2nd Annual Progress Report

Theme 2: Supporting local application of national policy

Action 5: Implement framework of support to assist the local application of national policy.

A priority within the action plan is to ensure that the setting of expectations using national policy is underpinned by practical support to schools and school staff to implement policy in practice and to provide children and young people with the right support at the right time.

The publication of the Fostering a positive, inclusive and safe school environment guidance was supported by an information session for relevant staff, run by Education Scotland, to discuss the main themes and approaches set out within the guidance. 359 practitioners attended the information session.

Education Scotland also developed a new relationships and behaviour section of their website, containing links to national guidance, professional learning, and practical resources to support developing a local relationships and behaviour policy, and promote self-evaluation. 3892 practitioners visited the new website between 20^th Aug 2025 to 15^th Feb 2026.

Similarly, the new guidance on risk assessments for violent, aggressive and dangerous behaviour was supported by a professional learning session in September 2025. 169 practitioners attended the information session. The guidance also contains an exemplar risk matrix, audit and assessment template, and wellbeing plan template. Education Scotland has also run a comprehensive programme of professional learning on relationships and behaviour since April 2025. This includes their Keeping Trauma in Mind professional learning programme, which helps create a trauma-informed and responsive education, and its Relationships Matters programme. Just under 3000 practitioners attended sessions across both programmes between April 2025 and December 2026 with many participants attending more than one session. Participants came from every local authority, covering all sectors, and from a wide range of roles. The biggest number of participants came from the primary sector and the role most represented was class teacher. Overall 97% of participants who completed an evaluation (337) found the quality of the professional learning excellent or good, 94% said it enhanced their understanding of the topic, 90% agreed that the professional learning had enhanced their skills, and everyone who completed an evaluation said they would implement the learning.

To coincide with the publication of the interim guidance on responding to racism and racist incidents between children and young people and on the Whole School Approach to Racism and Racist Incidents, Education Scotland ran bespoke professional learning sessions to discuss the new guidance. These sessions included speakers from Education Scotland, Scottish Government, and Anti-Racism Mentors from Education Scotland’s Building Racial Literacy Programme. 133 practitioners attended the information session on the interim guidance. Additional resources to support the implementation of the guidance will be available on the Education Scotland website from summer 2026.

Following the publication of updated anti-bullying guidance Respect for All in November 2024, respectme invited all local authorities to engage directly to discuss their anticipated timescales for updates to their local policies. Between March and October 2025, meetings were held with the 24 authorities who responded to the invitation. Five local authorities have completed their policy updates, and most others are working towards late 2025/mid-2026 with subsequent implementation plans into 2027. The model template anti-bullying policy developed by respectme to coincide with the launch of Respect for All has been downloaded 2582 times as of 12 February 2026.

Education Scotland is developing a Gender Based Violence (GBV) Mapping Resource in collaboration with partners leading on GBV prevention and support, planned for publication in Spring 2026. This resource is designed to support educational settings across Scotland, and will form part of a wider suite of equalities guidance and professional learning materials. Together, these resources aim to help schools and settings plan more effectively, adopt a whole-school approach, and embed preventative work within improvement planning. They will also support settings to identify how different resources and programmes can complement one another to manage capacity effectively, for example, Equally Safe at School and Mentors in Violence Prevention.

Action 6: Identify examples of current/ developing practice that can be shared with schools.

In June, at the World Anti-Bullying Forum 2025, respectme launched ‘Start with the Heart: positive practice in anti-bullying.’ This report compiles insights from the good practice of schools which have completed the respectme reward programme. To obtain the reward, schools must provide evidence of how they are putting their anti-bullying policy into practice, have surveyed pupils, staff and volunteers and parents and carers about the school’s approach to anti-bullying; and assessed their practice through a series of reflective questions. This report showcases the policy and practice that enables reward schools to create a culture of respect, where there is no place for bullying. This programme has led to the following outcomes:

• children and young people feel safer and happier
• friendships and relationships have improved
• children and young people are better able to deal with conflict and support each other
• children and young people have a greater awareness of bullying, its negative impacts and how to get support

Anti-bullying work in Scotland has three key strands: Prevention, Inclusion and Response. The report is structured around these themes, enabling local practice to be shared and replicated nationally.

Education Scotland published a report on their nurture survey and produced a series of case studies to support practitioners.

As outlined in action 7 below, since February 2024 HMIe has been providing enhanced feedback to schools on relationships and behaviour to support their approaches to promoting positive relationships and behaviour. HMIe has also been considering schools’ attendance trends, the extent of persistent absence and approaches to improving attendance including interventions and strategies to support improvement. HMIe is currently considering how the insights gathered from these inspections can be shared more widely to support practice across Scotland.

Action 7: Develop mechanisms to provide schools with individualised feedback on relationships and behaviour approaches and areas for development.

Since February 2024, HM Inspectors have been providing enhanced feedback to schools on relationships and behaviour. This feedback highlights key strengths and areas for improvement, supporting schools to reflect on and enhance their approaches to promoting positive relationships and managing behaviour, and is gathered through:

• listening to staff, learners, parents, and partners to understand current priorities and challenges related to relationships and behaviour in their school
• asking the school to reflect on the effectiveness of their approaches to promoting positive relationships and behaviour, as well as how they record and respond to incidents
• gathering and evaluating evidence as part of usual inspection processes, ensuring approaches align with the school’s context
• exploring in more depth how the school promotes positive relationships and behaviour through:
• self-evaluation discussions with the school and local authority representative on the effectiveness of current approaches and the support provided by the local authority
• focus group discussions to gather views from staff, pupils, parents, and partners
• reviewing how behavioural incidents are recorded and the strategies used to support those involved

As highlighted at action 6 above, HMIe is currently considering how the insights gathered from these inspections can be synthesised at a national level, identifying emerging trends, highlighting effective practice, and pinpointing areas requiring further support.

Action 8: Implement the recommendations of Education Scotland's report ‘Improving Attendance: Understanding the issues.’

Since August 2024, Education Scotland has been providing a package of support to local authorities to support improvements in attendance.

By the end of March 2025, a cohort of schools from six local authorities had completed Education Scotland’s Improving Attendance Quality Improvement Programme. Early in phase 2 a second cohort of the programme was run, expanding the reach of the programme to a total of 16 local authorities. All attainment advisors were trained to deliver the programme by September 2025, with all local authorities offered the opportunity to participate during the 2025/26 academic year. A third cohort of the programme began in January 2026, working with schools from nine local authorities.

Education Scotland have also been working closely with the Young Scot Equity Panel and with the Child Poverty Action Group to ensure the voices of young people are at the heart of improvement. Two Education Scotland Associates have been identified to develop a resource to support staff in schools. Tools within the Quality Improvement Programme are supporting schools to capture the voices of children and young people.

A national attendance marketing campaign aimed at parents and carers of P1 to S4 pupils ran between 30 October and 30 November 2025. Channels included video on demand, outdoor advertising, radio, digital and social media advertising, appearing in trusted environments where our target audience is known to engage. A second burst of paid digital activity ran between 12 January to 8 February. The campaign sought to encourage parents to engage proactively with their child's school to develop tailored support that addresses the specific barriers affecting their child's attendance. Campaign messaging included that struggling with school attendance doesn't reflect parental failure, that every child's situation is unique, and that small collaborative steps between parents, children, and schools can create meaningful positive change. The campaign showcased practical examples of how families have successfully addressed attendance challenges through partnership approaches and signposted to the Parent Club website as a source of support.