Physical Intervention in Schools – One Year Review of Guidance

Conclusion

This is the first time the Scottish Government has requested statistics on this topic for schools and feedback on the guidance published in November 2024. In drawing conclusions from this one-year review, it is important to take into account the known limitations with the feedback that has been received.

Response rate, ongoing engagement and quality assurance

The statistical returns and data were gathered between December 2025 and February 2026 and these relatively short timescales may have contributed to the low response rate among some respondent categories and the partial nature of some returns. While it is positive 30 out of 32 local authorities completed the survey questions, some local authority respondents were unable to provide data on the number of restraint incidents. It should also be recognised that the returns from the independent and grant-aided sector represent a small proportion of their respective sectors. Another factor that may have influenced returns was the request for data between November 2024 and November 2025, outwith the standard school academic year reporting period.

Children and young people engagement on this topic has necessitated bespoke engagement sessions that are still underway at time of writing - some representative organisations are issuing survey questions to their networks. Therefore, it has not been possible to include their feedback in this report as intended and their feedback will be considered separately.

The timescales for preparation of this report, and the anonymity of respondents to the survey have not enabled the Scottish Government to undertake a full quality assurance process for the data.

Restraint Data

This is the first time the Scottish Government has requested restraint data for schools from local authorities, independent and grant-aided schools. The data received indicates a significant numerical majority of most types of restraint incidents occurring in primary schools (2,628 incidents in total), the exception to this being incidents of mechanical restraint which were higher in special schools. There were a large number of incidents occurring in special schools (1,773 in total) with a relatively small number of incidents of any type of restraint being recorded in secondary schools (248 in total). Incomplete data and contextual information make it difficult to draw any further inferences in relation to the prevalence of restraint on average per pupil in different school settings.

Of the number of restraints recorded, there were over 10 times as many instances of physical restraint recorded – 3,786 - than any other individual type of restraint (mechanical restraint, seclusion or other restraint). While data on the number of pupils and schools this data represents was requested, the inconsistent responses to these questions meant that this contextual information could not be provided.

Zero incidents

8 of the 30 authorities recorded no instances of any type of restraint in their schools over the review period. It is not possible to know from these responses whether zero instances of restraint occurred in these authorities, whether zero returns indicate issues with the implementation of local recording and monitoring policies or if there were local system issues in extracting the data for the period requested.

In committing to gather this information to inform a one-year review of the effectiveness of the 2024 guidance, the Scottish Government acknowledged the possibility that the number of incidents recorded in schools may increase year on year as recording practices improve in line with the guidance’s implementation. However, as noted above, it is not possible to know at this point. To establish an effective baseline of restraint data, any future national data collection would need to consider returns from each local authority, all grant-aided schools and a higher proportion of independent schools.

Guidance implementation and improved practice

The purpose of the review was to gather evidence on whether the physical intervention in schools guidance, published in November 2024, has been implemented and embedded across all schools, and to identify whether there is any early evidence of improved practice.

Below are the key findings from the review relating to implementation and impact.

Local policy updates

The review found evidence of local policy updates being completed or underway. Of the 61 total respondents who answered the question on whether their school or local authority had a policy on physical intervention, 80% (49) answered yes, with just under 10% (6 respondents) answering no.

Of the 49 total respondents who answered the question on whether their school or local authority’s guidance had been updated following the publication of the national guidance in 2024, 67% (33 respondents) answered yes, with 31% (15) respondents confirming that their local policy update is underway.

Of the 49 total respondents who answered the question on whether the definitions used in the 2024 guidance have been incorporated into their local policy, 80% (39 respondents) answered yes.

Of the 61 total respondents that answered to what extent existing practice has changed since November 2024, 57% (35) found there had been either significant or some improvement, with 39% (24) responding that there had been no change.

When asked, broadly, what percentage of schools in your local authority have implemented the guidance most local authorities answered either 100% or over 75%.

These responses indicate that the national guidance is being implemented locally, with the majority of local policies having been updated, with updates to most of the remainder underway. However, the perceived impact of the national guidance is, to-date, inconsistent. Across all relevant respondent groups, the guidance is generally viewed as supportive in raising awareness of physical intervention. Policy alignment is underway, but not yet universal. Full alignment, parental notifications and recording expectations is not yet consistent.

Parental notification

When asked whether parents or carers were notified of restraint in line with the 2024 guidance expectations (during the school day or exceptionally within 24 hours), 54% (33 respondents) of the respondents who answered advised that this happens 100% of the time, with a further 10% (6 respondents) advising that this happens over 75% of the time.

When the parents of children who had experienced restraint in school between November 2024 and November 2025 were asked if they were notified with the timeframe set out in the 2024 guidance, the answers varied by restraint type – 40% of those where it was applicable said yes following physical restraint, 33% answered yes following mechanical restraint, 65% said yes following seclusion and 50% answered yes following other types of restraint.

Combined, these responses provide conflicting evidence of the extent to which whether parental notifications are taking place. The sample size of parents or carers to whom this question was applicable was small for each restraint type. However, it can be concluded from answers to both sets of questions that parents are not being notified after every incident of restraint at this stage of implementation.

Recording and monitoring systems

Only a minority of local authorities and school staff (21%, 13 out of 61 respondents) reported using the standard dataset (which sets out categories of data that should be recorded following any incidents of restraint) outlined in the 2024 guidance. System issues, lack of training, and outstanding updates to local policy were identified as key barriers.

Almost half of total respondents (61) who answered the question on how frequently restraint was monitored for their school/s confirmed that incidents were monitored on a regular basis – 18% daily (11 respondents), 10% weekly (6 respondents) and 21% monthly (13 respondents). 28% (17 respondents) fed back that other monitoring frequencies were used, which included termly (4 times a year) and those who monitor immediately following any incident.

These findings indicate barriers remain to the effective implementation of the national dataset across local authorities and schools. Regular monitoring of incidents is taking place, with a variety of frequencies. However, there remains a question as to the effectiveness of local recording practices when progress with the implementation of the 2024 guidance dataset is considered alongside the data returns provided for this review.

Training

The review found evidence on relevant training taking place to support the implementation of the guidance.

Of the 61 total respondents who answered the question ‘has training taken place in your school/s to support implementation of the guidance?’, 57% (35 respondents) answered yes. Those that answered yes confirmed that the training that had taken place on a number of topics – 97% (34 respondents) advised that training took place on de-escalation, 74% (26 respondents) ASN related training, 71% (25 respondents) confirmed restraint related training had taken place and 66% (23 respondents) advised that recording related training had taken place.

As noted in earlier chapters, local authorities recorded a high percentage of restraint training delivered as being certified as meeting the Restraint Reduction Network standards.

When asked whether there is a need for further professional learning on this topic, 75% of respondents (46 out of a total of 61) answered yes. Those that answered yes said that professional learning in the following areas is needed: 74% (34 respondents) de-escalation, 65% (30 respondents) ASN related, 52% (24 respondents) on restraint and 67% (31 respondents) on recording.

Further clarity in relation to the guidance’s advice on training was sought. Of the 66 respondents who answered the question, what could be strengthened in relation to the 2024 guidance, 52% (34 respondents) answered “training advice”.

Access to training also varies considerably between what is reported by teachers and what has been reported by Local Authorities and Grant Aided and Independent schools who responded to the survey.

While there is evidence of relevant training having taken place, the review has found significant appetite for further professional learning on this topic and a request for further advice on training in the guidance.

Summary

To summarise, the review has found:

• A prevalence of restraint incidents recorded within primary and special schools between November 2024 and November 2025.
• Uncertainty over zero restraints being recorded within some authorities.
• The majority of local policy updates have been completed with some still underway.
• The majority of local policy updates have incorporated the guidance definitions, although some reported other definitions still being used.
• Parents and carers are not being notified of all instances of restraint on their children in schools at this stage of implementation.
• The adoption of the national dataset for recording restraint is currently low, with barriers having been encountered to full implementation.
• Regular monitoring of restraint for schools is taking place; however, data recording limitations remain.
• Evidence of training having taken place to support implementation for the guidance.
• Appetite for further professional learning on this topic and further advice on training to be added to the guidance.

Next Steps

The review provides evidence of progress to date with implementation of the Physical Intervention in Schools guidance published in November 2024. While they provide a valuable insight which can be used to inform next steps with local implementation of the existing guidance, the review’s findings are also relevant for the current context of policy developments on the use of physical intervention, restraint and seclusion in schools.

The Scottish Parliament is currently considering the Restraint and Seclusion in Schools (Scotland) Bill, a Member’s Bill introduced by Daniel Johnson MSP. The Bill:

• defines restraint and seclusion;
• requires Scottish Ministers to develop and publish statutory guidance on the use of restraint and seclusion in schools;
• introduces a duty to inform parents of the use of restraint and seclusion;
• Introduce a duty to record and report incidents with the number of incidents being reported to Scottish Ministers annually and then, by Ministers, to Parliament; and
• Makes provision relating to the maintenance of a list of approved training providers for the use of restraint and seclusion.

Should the Bill pass, the Scottish Government will begin work on implementation. The findings of the review would be directly relevant to this work. In particular, the findings from the data collection process, the data itself, feedback areas where additional clarity is being sought from the guidance, parental notifications, recording and training would help inform this work.

Irrespective of the outcome of the Member’s Bill, the Scottish Government will use the review findings to inform future updates to the Physical Intervention in Schools guidance and engagement with delivery partners regarding further improvements to the implementation of the guidance.

The Scottish Government would like to thank all participants for the time taken to provide feedback on this important topic.