ACCOUNTS of the struggles children with additional support needs experience at school have been given in evidence to a parliamentary committee.
More than one hundred parents voiced their concerns to Holyrood’s education committee which concluded that many children with additional support needs are battling to thrive in Scottish schools due to a lack of staff and support.
The committee reported that some children felt more excluded in a mainstream school than they might have done in a special school due to a lack of resources. Also noted was the drop in the number of specialist staff, support services and special school places as contributing factors to the children's difficulties.
After hearing the evidence from parents, the committee has called on the Scottish Government to carry out a review to look at how widespread these concerns are amid a 153 per cent increase in the number of children with additional support needs in Scotland since 2010.
Ministers have also been urged to undertake a review of whether council spending on additional support is in line with the level of need and to look at any cultural barriers in some areas to the policy of inclusion.
“The committee was overwhelmed with the response it got from parents, teachers and those who live and work with children with additional support needs,” said committee convener James Dornan.
“There is still widespread support for the policy of inclusion and we also heard about the positive difference support can make to children.
“But we also heard about what can happen when there is not the staff and support to help those most in need.
“For example, there is a very real concern that some children feel more excluded in a mainstream school setting than they may have done in a special school.”
The report emphasised the committee's support for the effective inclusion of children with additional support needs, but has warned that parents often reported having to fight “every step of the way” to get it.
MSPs have now called for more advocacy services in light of the fact that parents from deprived areas were less likely to get the support their children need.
Ross Greer MSP, the Scottish Greens’ education spokesman, said: “The reality is that one in four children in Scotland have some kind of additional support need and at present, the education system is simply failing far too many of them - as well as other pupils and their teachers.”
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