Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools minutes: September 2025

Attendees and apologies

Attendees

• Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (Chair, Items 5 - 8)
• COSLA Spokesperson on Children and Young People  (Chair, Items 1- 4)
• Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES)
• Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ)
• Connect
• COSLA
• Education Scotland
• Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS)
• General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS)
• His Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIe)
• NASUWT
• Association of Head Teachers and Deputes Scotland (AHDS)
• Early Years Scotland
• Association of Scottish Principal Educational Psychologists (ASPEP)
• respectme
• Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT)
• School Leaders Scotland (SLS)
• Scottish Council of Deans of Education (SCDE)
• Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA)
• Scottish Violence Reduction Unit (SVRU)
• UNISON
• Health and Wellbeing Unit, Scottish Government (Secretariat) 

Apologies

• Centre for Excellence for Children's Care and Protection (CELCIS)

Items and actions

Welcome and apologies

Cllr Buchanan welcomed attendees and noted apologies. He noted the Cabinet Secretary had been detained at another meeting and he would chair the agenda until Ms Gilruth was able to join.

The chair welcomed Dr Louise Campbell to the meeting, who is replacing Gillean McCluskey as the Scottish Council of Deans of Education (SCDE) representative on the group. The chair thanked Gillean for her contributions to the work of SAGRABIS during her tenure.

Minutes of the meeting on 6 May 2025

The minutes from the previous meeting on 6 May had been circulated for agreement by correspondence following the last meeting. One amendment was made following feedback - to confirm that the BISSR tender includes consideration of the involvement of parents. The updated minutes were provided for information and had been placed on the Scottish Government website.   

Update on action plan activity tracker

An update was provided on progress since the last meeting in May. A new progress template report had been provided, including a future meeting schedule. SAGRABIS members confirmed they wished this report to be used for future meetings.

Some points raised were:

• It may be helpful to have longer meetings to allow for more detailed discussion, and it would be helpful to identify which areas of the tracker the group wants to focus on, to ensure discussions are targeted and effective.
• The group discussed connections across behaviour, attendance, and ASN workload, recognising the complexity and overlap of these issues.
• It was noted the plan was producing a large volume of guidance for schools and that could be overwhelming for them.
• Members highlighted that despite communication from the Cabinet Secretary and COSLA Spokesperson on Children and Young People asking Directors of Education to share new guidance publications directly with schools, this had not been done in all local authorities.

Action: The Scottish Government to explore with the chairs the potential to extend the length of future meetings.

Update on review of national attendance guidance

The Health and Wellbeing Unit in Scottish Government provided an update on the review of Included, Engaged and Involved Part 1, the national attendance guidance.

A working group had been meeting regularly since May to update the guidance. The main focus of the group was on providing new guidance on the emerging issues of part-time timetables, persistent absence, and young people being present in school but not attending classes.  

Some points raised by SAGRABIS were:

• Clarification was sought on what linkages were being made between the attendance guidance and the child protection guidance. It was confirmed that those links were made within the guidance.
• It was agreed it would be helpful to have guidance on part-time timetables and that it would be helpful if this had a focus on exit strategies and support for returning to full-time attendance.
• HMIe noted they had insights from their inspections on effective practice that could be helpful for the guidance.
• It was noted it was becoming increasingly difficult to get children's panels to address cases where a student stops attending school. Referrals for non-attendance are often rejected if there are no child protection issues or offenses in the community, leaving schools in a difficult position. There was a suggestion that the guidance should include whether a referral to a reporter is valid and if it will be supported by reporters to go to a panel.

Action: SG would bring a draft version of the guidance document to the next meeting for a fuller discussion.

Action: SG to follow up with HMIe re insights from inspection data.

Collective language 

A member of SAGRABIS had requested a discussion on collective language. They had concerns that schools are receiving mixed messages due to variations in language used by different organisations. It was suggested it would be helpful to be more consistent in language used.

The group agreed it would be helpful to have greater consistency. Concerns were expressed about some of the language used in other areas of government such as justice, where they spoke about "youth violence" and it might be helpful to have greater consistency in language across portfolios.

SAGRABIS was in general agreement that consistency is needed in the language used to describe children's behaviour, especially considering the UNCRC and the Children's Care and Justice Act. No decisions were made regarding what that language should be.

Action: Secretariat to consider bringing this issue back to a future meeting.  

Extremism

A member of SAGRABIS had requested an item on extremism.

Some points raised were:

• There is increasing community discord around issues such as immigration.  
• This is impacting on some children and young people, as exposure to family and public rhetoric was normalising certain behaviours, and in extreme cases could pose a child protection concern.  
• Police response at protests is different from school environments, leading to a perception of tolerance for unacceptable behaviour.
• There are gaps in system messaging and support for schools in addressing these new situations. Targeted help and support are being provided to specific schools in partnership with the local authority, but it was suggested there was a need for a strategic response from national and local government.   
• There is a cluttered landscape of guidance, requiring a review and potential removal of outdated materials.
• COSLA reaffirmed the commitment of Scottish Councils to welcome all people seeking safety and ensure they feel safe, included, and treated with dignity and respect.

Collective responsibility 

A member of SAGRABIS had requested an item on the collective responsibility of all SAGRABIS members to raise awareness of the action plan and support its implementation. Members of the group were asked to reflect on what action they could take to support the plan.

The following suggestions were made:

• It was confirmed that SG and COSLA wrote to all Directors of Education in March and June highlighting new publications and professional learning support.
• COSLA could share the plan with board members and encourage them to raise the question in education committees.
• The Inspectorate had been gathering evidence on relationships and behaviour and could explore ways to share these national insights with schools such as through reports or webinars.
• It was also suggested that schools need time to get to grips with the plan and possibly some incentivization, such as an in-service day, though it was noted this would have cost implications.

Action: Members of SAGRABIS were to explore these options, and consider what else could be done individually and collectively to support the implementation of the plan.

Next Steps/AOB

 The chair noted the next meeting of SAGRABIS will take place on Thursday 6 November from 3:15 to 4:45.

The chair thanked all members for their contributions and closed the meeting.