Definitions and glossary

Additional support needs (ASN)

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) Scotland Act 2004 (as amended) states that a child or young person has an additional support need where they need additional support in order to benefit from school education.

Centrally employed teachers

Teachers who were recorded as working across multiple schools in a local authority rather than specific individual schools.

Child’s Plan

Single or multi agency plans based on an assessment guided by the Getting it Right for Every Child National Practice Model .

Co-ordinated Support Plan (CSP)

This statutory education plan is prepared by local authorities to identify, and ensure provision of, services for children and young people with complex or multiple additional support needs.

English as an additional language (EAL)

Refers to pupils for whom English is a second or additional language.

Excepted pupils

These pupils do not count towards class size for the purpose of class size limits. A list of the reasons that a pupil may be defined as excepted can be found in the Background Notes.

Full-time equivalent (FTE)

The total number of hours worked divided by the number of hours in a standard full-time working week.

Grant-aided schools (GAS)

Schools that are supported financially directly by the Scottish Government and follow the Curriculum for Excellence but are independent from local authorities. Grant-aided schools are not equivalent to schools termed ‘academies’ in other parts of the UK.

Grant-aided special schools (GASS)

These schools provide for young people with a wide range of ASN. There are seven GASS in Scotland.

General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS)

The independent professional body responsible for keeping a register of teachers in public education in Scotland and advising Scottish Ministers on teacher education. All teachers in public education must be registered with the GTCS.

Individualised Education Programme (IEP)

Individualised Education Programmes are written plans setting targets that a child with additional support needs is expected to achieve.

Independent schools

Privately owned and self-financing schools (also known as private or fee-paying schools). The statistics in this report relate to publicly funded schools only and exclude independent schools.

Lead Teachers

A new role of Lead Teacher was established in June 2021 by the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT). The Lead Teacher role provides a career pathway for specialist roles in curricular, pedagogical and policy delivery.

There are three levels of Lead Teacher: school, local authority and regional/national.

Local authority schools

Schools which are run and financed by the local authority.

Primary schools

Children usually start school between age 4 years and 6 months and age 5 years and 6 months. There are seven stages from Primary 1 (P1) to Primary 7 (P7). Pupils are not streamed by ability at primary school and automatically move up a stage each year.

Pupil enrolments

As pupils can change schools during a year, the attendance, absence and exclusions collection counts pupil enrolments rather than total pupils. These are identified using the combination of a school’s unique identifier (SEED code) and a pupil’s Scottish Candidate Number. A pupil who is on roll at one school during the year will have one enrolment, whereas a pupil who was on roll at two or more schools will have multiple enrolments.

Pupil teacher ratio (PTR)

The average number of pupils per teacher.

Publicly funded schools

Includes local authority and grant-aided schools.

Secondary schools

Pupils attend for up to six years (S1 to S6). Qualifications are usually taken in S4 to S6 starting at age 15-16.

Special schools

Most children with additional support needs are educated in mainstream schools but some with complex or specific needs are educated in special schools. Not all local authorities have special schools. In these statistics pupils attending special schools are not assigned to primary or secondary or to a stage.

Teacher Induction Scheme probationer

Teachers provisionally registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) (for example those that have recently completed their initial teacher education) are required to complete a period of probation before becoming eligible for full registration. Probation can be completed through either the one-year full-time Teacher Induction Scheme (TIS) or a flexible route.

Teachers

Most teachers have a four-year degree including or concurrent with a teaching qualification or have completed a Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) following a degree.