Month: October 2020

ASL Review Action Plan published

On By Iain NisbetIn Additional Support Needs, ASL ReviewLeave a comment

The Scottish Government and COSLA have issued their action plan in response to the ASL Review today. You can read the action plan here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/additional-support-learning-action-plan/.

As you know, I am in the process of working my way through the review itself in detail, and will return to a detailed coverage of the action plan once that is complete.

However, in the meantime, a quick summary.

Almost all of the recommendations in the review are accepted, with one set of recommendations being partially accepted. True to form, there is much set out here which is already in place or underway. The first review of progress against the recommendations is due by October 2021.

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Potential Energy (Part 4)

On By Iain NisbetIn Additional Support Needs, ASL Review, Inclusion, School EducationLeave a comment

Theme 3 of the Support for Learning review is “Maintaining focus, but overcoming fragmentation”.  It is a shorter section, covering only two A4 sheets, but addresses an important issue.  How do we ensure specialist knowledge and experience is available in the system for those who need it, without creating “silos” and giving the impression that additional support for learning is only for specialists?

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Dyspraxia Awareness Week 2020

On By Iain NisbetIn Additional Support NeedsLeave a comment

This week (4-10 October 2020) is Dyspraxia Awareness Week. According to the NHS, “Developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia, is a condition affecting physical co-ordination. It causes a child to perform less well than expected in daily activities for their age, and appear to move clumsily.”

It can also have a wider impact, affecting things like processing, short-term memory and spacial awareness.

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Potential Energy (Part 3)

On By Iain NisbetIn Additional Support Needs, ASL Review, Inclusion, School EducationLeave a comment

Following consideration of Theme 1: Vision and visibility, we turn our attention to Theme 2: Mainstreaming and inclusion. This obviously covers a lot of the same ground as the revised “Guidance on the presumption to provide education in a mainstreaming setting” on which I recently completed a ten-part series of blogs. You can read my conclusions on that guidance in Mainstreaming, I presume? (Part 10).

Thankfully, this review reaches many of the same conclusions about mainstreaming, and explicitly adopts many of the key concepts and principles from the guidance:

  • the review confirms that the “physical presence of a child” in a mainstream school alone does not constitute inclusion;
  • it adopts the four principles of inclusion from the guidance – present, participating, supported and achieving; and
  • it underlines the importance of inclusion “in the life of the school” which includes the playground, school trips, sporting events, social events and being “visible as part of the community”.

Continue reading “Potential Energy (Part 3)” →