Scottish Armed Forces Education Support Group minutes: March 2026

Attendees and apologies

• Scottish Government (SG) Learning Directorate (Chair and Minutes)
• Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) Advisor (AA)
• Education Scotland, Inclusion Wellbeing and Equalities (ES)
• Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) National Education and Transitions Officer (NETO)
• Naval Families Federation (NFF)
• Forces Children Scotland (FCS)
• Army Families Federation (AFF)
• RAF Families Federation (RAF-FF)
• MOD Royal Navy Representative (RN)

Apologies

• Napier University
• MOD RAF Representative (RAF)
• MOD Armed Forces Families and Safeguarding
• MOD Army Representative (AR)
• Scottish Government (SG) Safer Communities Directorate

Items and actions

Review of actions of previous meeting

The note of the last meeting was shared for comments and published on the Scottish Government website following proposed amendments. An action from the previous meeting was for the chair to share data on Armed Forces Children & Young People data collected as part of the pupil census in September. It was noted this data will be published on the 24th March and will be shared with members when it is live. Another action was for the chair to share link to the supporting children’s learning code of practice consultation when it goes live. This was shared with members on the 12 February 2026. with the consultation will be open for 12 weeks, closing on 6 May 2026.

Safeguarding

Members had nothing to raise on Safeguarding.

Data collection

Data on Armed Forces Children and Young People is ready and will be published on Tuesday 24th March. Members will receive a link to this data. This data contains the number of children and young people in each Local Authority (LA), what sector they are in and a breakdown of service background. These figures are part of the Annual Pupil Census collection so do not include ELC. 

Members noted thanks to the Chair for help in progressing a piece of work which will help inform practice and policy going forward.

It was noted that undisclosed service backgrounds has been a longstanding known issue. Some parents choose not to declare any details or status, and there is also a question on the precision with which schools collect this data at point of discussing with parents. It was noted with current developments we may see more parents choosing to not disclose this information.

Action:

• The chair will share the link to the data once published.

Additional support for learning review action plan

The final update of the ASL Action Plan was published alongside the final Progress Report on the 12 March. The Progress Report highlights that 72 out of the 76 recommendations made my Angela Morgan had been delivered. Firm plans have been set out on how the remaining 4 actions will continue to be monitored and delivered beyond the life of the ASL Action Plan.

At the same time, an ASL Review led by Janie McManus, the Scottish Government’s Professional Advisor for Education was published. This review highlighted that the current system has not adapted at the same pace as the complexity of need we see now in classrooms. This Review set out 6 recommendations:

Recommendation 1: National Planning and Staged Intervention

Recommendation 2: Workforce Alignment

Recommendation 3: Early Intervention Capacity

Recommendation 4: National Visibility of Need, Progress, and Impact

Recommendation 5: Delivery Model

Recommendation 6: Curriculum design, delivery, and assessment

Whilst the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skill accepted these recommendations, it will be for the incoming Government to consider how these recommendations will be taken forward.

Transitions

It was noted the Transitions toolkit had been signed off by the transitions sub-group on the 10 March 2026. The 15 May 2026 has been identified as the formal and official launch date of the toolkit. A launch email and draft comms have been prepared for sharing across networks and through social media. Educators who have had early sight of the toolkit have commented this will be a welcome resource. Work will begin to share an evaluation and review form following publication to help inform future thinking in this area of work. It was noted a meeting will take place with educators in which the toolkit will be discussed, particularly focussed on how the toolkit can be pushed through LA’s, schools, ELC settings and parent communities. Members noted their thanks for the work done to get the toolkit to this position.

Members Updates

The ADES Advisor and Napier University representative went to a conference organised by Matt Blyton focussed on meeting additional needs of children. The conference had representatives from Scotland, England and Wales and those in attendance had a strong willingness and openness in discussing cross-jurisdiction issues. It was noted one of the academy trusts chief executives has a forces background and has made this an important issue, setting up a system which will facilitate the exchange of information, similarly to SEEMiS.

The ADES Advisor also attended an all-party parliamentary group at Westminster to share the Snakes and Ladders resource and present its research findings. The Minister for School Standards, Georgia Gould, and Calvin Bailey MP took a particularly keen interest in the resource and expressed a genuine interest in learning from Scotland and getting into cross-jurisdiction issues.

Education Scotland noted they have been working closely with Scottish Government colleagues in organising and running the recent ASL National Event that took place on 12 March 2026. It was also noted a new landing page for children and young people from armed forces families will be updated on the Education Scotland website after Easter.

AFF noted their devolved team are travelling to Kinloss to present a series of briefings to serving personal and families of 39 Engr Regt, as well as offering drop-in clinics. It was noted families are in a period of discomfort as they don’t have clear timeframes of the length of deployment.

NFF updated members that NASEN will be hosting a UK wide webinar at the end of April on strengthening provision for young people from Armed Forces Families with additional needs. Members noted that whilst NASEN presents itself as a UK wide organisation, more consideration needs to be given to how the present their materials and events to be inclusive of all UK nations. The organisation’s name including “special education needs” can give the impression of it being an England focussed organisation. NFF noted there is a Tri-Families Federation ‘Valuing Forces Families Overseas (VFFO)’ project underway - a series of information videos to support families with overseas assignments are in production as part of this.

Forces Children Scotland are in the process of developing four different resources. one will be resources for practitioners in Scottish early years settings, another is a deployment resource co-produced with primary settings. They are also next month starting a participation project in secondary settings focussed on supporting the development of a digital resource on child relocation. Finally, at the end of March a children’s book that has been co-produced with young people will be launched about the experiences of young people from a forces family.

Forces Children Scotland report

Commissioned by the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, Forces Children Scotland share their report. The report explores 6 themes: culture, curriculum, personalisation and support, assessment and qualifications, purpose and transitions, separation and loss.

This report started by looking at what FCS had already heard from children and young people and sharing that information with adult partners to check if it was a fair representation of what they had also heard. FCS then identified and targeted the information gaps by hosting a series of engagement activities with approximately 145 children and young people aged 8 – 17, half of those young people had not been previously engaged. With the data collected from these sessions FCS drafted their report and recommendations. To ensure it remain aligned with children and young people’s experiences, they convened once again with young people from across Scotland to check the themes were right and what the report set out reflected their experiences.

The report’s key findings highlight that children and young people described recurring and cumulative challenges relating to Forces life:

• Repeated disruptions to learning due to mobility
• Anxiety and concentration challenges linked to deployment and separation
• Gaps in curriculum when moving between systems
• Inconsistent additional support for learning
• Support that depends on individual staff rather than embedded systems
• Feeling different, misunderstood or stereotyped
• Reluctance to seek help after previous requests went unheard

The report also identified several weaknesses within the systems that children encounter:

• Poor transfer of information between schools and local authorities
• Reassessment rather than continuity of support
• High-stakes assessment models that disadvantage mobile learners
• Limited understanding of Forces life in some schools
• Inconsistent mental health support, especially at times of deployment
• Lack of joined-up coordination between education, welfare and MOD systems

The report called for a move from “fragmented, reactive responses” towards “coordinated, rights-based systems that follow the child”. 4 recommendations were made at the end of the report:

• Guarantee proactive support during times of transition, separation and loss
• Embed a whole-school, rights-based approach
• Reform teaching, learning and assessment
• Improve data, accountability and coordination

Members thanks FCS for their work in producing this report. It was suggested that the SAFESG group potentially extend an invite to a future meeting to the Children’s Commissioner, and that the SAFESG group meet in-person during the summer.  

Any Other Business

It was noted that 26 March is the deadline for minutes to be published on the SG Website. SG secretariat will be in touch with members with a draft note of the meeting to be cleared in advance of that deadline.

Thanks were passed to the ADES National Education and Transitions Officer, and the ADES Advisor, who were attending their final SAFESG meeting. Members expressed their gratitude for the work they have done to support children and young people from armed forces families.