Skip to main content
Printable page generated Friday, 29 March 2024, 5:58 AM
Use 'Print preview' to check the number of pages and printer settings.
Print functionality varies between browsers.
Unless otherwise stated, copyright © 2024 The Open University, all rights reserved.
Printable page generated Friday, 29 March 2024, 5:58 AM

4 Educational contexts and current debates in policy, education and practice

Introduction

Module 1, Section 4 Recap

There is a range of legislation and educational policies which place duties and expectations on schools and local authorities to ensure that they deliver an inclusive education and do not discriminate against those with protected characteristics.

Dyslexia is a Specific Learning Difficulty and when the impact of dyslexia on an individual is significant on their daily life, it is a recognised disability under the Equality Act 2010 (formerly the Disability Discrimination Act 1995).

Before reading further you may find it useful to revisit sections 1.1 and 1.2 which provide an overview of the Scottish educational context.

4.1 Current legislation and policies

Legislative framework

We have a wide range of legislation to support inclusion and equality in education which are explained in further detail in this section:

  • Disability Strategies and Pupils’ Educational Records (2002);
  • Additional Support for Learning (Scotland) Act 2004 (as amended 2009);
  • Equality Act (2010);
  • Children and Young People Act (2014); and
  • Education (Scotland) (2016).

These promote a child centred approach to encourage every child to reach their ‘fullest potential’. Our legislation ensures rights and entitlements for children and young people to education, support and wellbeing. There is a range of legislation and educational policies which place duties and expectations on schools and local authorities to ensure that they:

  • deliver an inclusive education
  • support learners to achieve to the best of their ability
  • do not discriminate against those with protected characteristics
  • provide assessments when requested

Children’s rights and entitlements are fundamental to Scotland’s approaches to inclusive education. It is supported by the legislative framework and key policy drivers including Getting It Right For Every Child, Curriculum for Excellence and the Framework for Professional Standards for teachers. These are underpinned by a set of values aligned to social justice and commitment to inclusive education.

4.1.1 The Standards in Scotland’s Schools Etc. Act 2000

Every child or young person has the right and the entitlement to education, as detailed in this act. They have the right to be educated within mainstream education along with their peers and to use their rights to affect decision making about them. Local authorities, with their partners, have a duty within the Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. Act (2000) to ensure that ‘education is directed to the development of personality, talents and mental and physical abilities of the child or young person to their fullest potential.’ This wording deliberately reflects Article 29 1(a) of the UNCRC. This duty is for all children, regardless of whether they require additional support to reach their full potential The presumption in favour of providing mainstream education for all children is in place except where education in a school other than a special school would:

  • not be suited to the ability or aptitude of the child;
  • be incompatible with the provision of efficient education for the children with whom the child would be educated; or
  • result in unreasonable public expenditure being incurred which would not ordinarily be incurred.

It will always be necessary to tailor provision to the needs of the individual child and it is recognised there is a need to make available a range of mainstream and specialist provision, including special schools, to ensure the needs of all pupils and young people are addressed.

The Act also places education authorities under duties to provide education elsewhere than at a school where a pupil is unable to attend school due to ill health, and to make provision where a pupil is excluded from school.

4.1.2 The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (as amended) (the ASL Act)

The ASL Act provides a framework for identifying and addressing the additional support needs of children and young people who face a barrier or barriers, to learning. Children and young people have additional support needs when they require additional support in order to benefit from school education. Young people are those over school age but who have not yet attained the age of eighteen.

The ASL Act places duties on education authorities and requires certain other agencies to provide help where this is requested and provides parents and young people with certain rights.

Education authorities are required to identify the additional support needs of each child or young person for whose school education they are responsible. The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 and amendments made in 2009 provide the legal framework for assessment. However, no particular model of assessment or support is prescribed in "the Act".

The 2010 Code of Practice is also important and is designed to help schools, parents and others to understand the Act and ensure its implementation.

4.1.3 The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act (2014)

The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act (2014) places a duty on local authorities and schools to ensure the wellbeing of children and young people is safeguarded, supported and promoted. This has been an important recent change to our range of inclusive education legislation because the experience of the child or young person and the extent to which they feel included impacts on their wellbeing. The voice of the child or young person is essential in understanding their needs and ensuring their wellbeing is safeguarded, supported and promoted. Fostering strong relationships between staff and children and young people is essential to this practice.

The Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) approach has been national policy since 2010 and is now defined in statute in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act (2014). The Act aims to strengthen children’s rights and improve and expand services that support children and families, including looked after children. Its purpose is to ensure an inter-agency approach across education, health and social work to improve outcomes for children and young people.

It helps practitioners focus on what makes a positive difference through developing a shared understanding of wellbeing. It requires public services to work together to design, plan and deliver services for children and young people. This means services taking a collaborative approach to assessing needs, agreeing actions and outcomes to best support the child. Children and families are at the centre of the process. Agencies should work together to support streamlining of planning, assessment and decision-making so that the child gets the right help at the right time.

Most children get all the support and help they need from their parent(s), wider family and local community, in partnership with services like health and education. Where extra support is needed, the GIRFEC approach aims to make that support easy to access, with the child at the centre. It is for all children and young people because it is impossible to predict if or when they might need extra support.

4.1.4 Education (Scotland) Act (2016)

The Act introduces measures to improve Scottish education and reduce pupil’s inequality of outcomes. The Act includes provisions for strategic planning in order to consider socio-economic barriers to learning. The rights of children aged 12 and over, with capacity, are extended under the Additional Support for Learning Act. Children who are able to can also exercise their rights, on their own behalf, to affect decision making about them. Also included within the Act are provisions on widening access to Gaelic medium education and streamlining of the process of making a complaint to Scottish Ministers. The Act also introduces the National Improvement Framework (NIF) and amendments to the Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. Act 2000, the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 and the Welfare Reform Act 2007.

4.1.5 Equality/Disability

What is disability?

The Equality Act 2010 defines a disabled person as a person with a disability. A person has a disability for the purposes of the Act if he or she has a physical or mental impairment and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

This means that, in general:

  • the person must have an impairment that is either physical or mental;
  • the impairment must have adverse effects which are substantial;
  • the substantial adverse effects must be long-term; and
  • the long-term substantial adverse effects must be effects on normal day-to-day activities.

All of the factors above must be considered when determining whether a person is disabled.

Legislative and policy position

The duties of the Equality Act 2010 (commenced 1 October 2010) require responsible bodies to actively deal with inequality, and to prevent direct disability discrimination, indirect disability discrimination and discrimination arising from disability and harassment or victimisation of pupils on the basis, or a perceived basis, of protected characteristics, including disability. The provisions include:

  • prospective pupils
  • pupils at the school
  • in some limited circumstances, former pupils

In addition, under the Equality Act 2010 responsible bodies have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils and provide auxiliary aids and services. The duty is ‘to take such steps as it is reasonable to have to take to avoid the substantial disadvantage’ to a disabled person caused by a provision, criterion or practice applied by or on behalf of a school or by the absence of an auxiliary aid or service. (Commenced 1 September 2012)

Further, under the Education (Disability Strategies and Pupils' Educational Records) (Scotland) Act 2002 responsible bodies have duties to develop and publish accessibility strategies to increase pupils’ access to the curriculum, access to the physical environment of schools and improving communication with pupils with disabilities.

Also education authorities and other agencies have duties under the (Education Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (as amended) to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils, including those with disabilities. The provision made to support a pupil with an additional support need arising from a disability may include auxiliary aids and services, such as communication tools and support staff.

Education authorities can ask other agencies (including social work services, health boards and Skills Development Scotland) for help in carrying out their duties under the Act. Other agencies must respond to the request within a specific timescale (there are exceptions to these timescales).

Figure 21 highlights the overlaps which can occur between the two acts concerning disability and additional support needs. Please note that the lists are not exhaustive.

Figure 21 Disability and Additional Support

Described image

Activity 30 Reflective questions for professional dialogue with colleagues

The following questions can be used when engaging in professional dialogue during professional learning opportunities and discussions with colleagues. The outcomes from these discussions can support planning for professional learning opportunities and improvement plans.

You can collate the responses in your reflective log. Click to ‘download’ a discussion sheet if required.

  • Why does inclusion matter?
  • How can the legislation and policies within Scottish education be supported into practice?

 

Activity 31 Disability quiz

You should now take the Activity 31 quiz.

4.2 Staged level of intervention

Module 1, Section 4.1 Recap

Staged intervention is used as a means of identification, assessment, planning, recording and review to meet the learning needs of children and young people. All local authorities have a staged intervention and assessment process in place which enables practitioners to assess and meet learners’ needs, including dyslexia. Staged intervention:

  • Provides a solution-focused approach to meeting needs at the earliest opportunity and with the least intrusive level of intervention.
  • Involves the child, parents/carers, school staff and, at some levels, other professionals. All working in partnership to get it right for every child.

Staged intervention is designed to be flexible and allows for movement between stages depending on progress. There are variations between local authorities regarding the number of stages within their process - the diagram below highlights 3 stages. The majority of learners with dyslexia will be supported within Universal support. Further details can be found on the Addressing Dyslexia Toolkit within the Supporting Learners section.

Described image
Figure 22 Staged level of intervention

4.3 Literacy debates

Reading approaches

If learners are encouraged and supported to read a wide range of texts for enjoyment, they will become more confident in making independent choices in their reading material. Developing as a reader is linked to positive attitudes and experiences as well as skills. Curriculum for Excellence recognises the fundamental importance of reading for enjoyment within the reading experiences and outcomes.

Over the years there has been a range of professional debate and dialogue over the most effective and appropriate methods for teachers to use when developing reading skills in children which are summarised below.

Top down theory

The top down approach to reading emphasises that reading is a meaning driven process, where the reader uses meaning predictions to read. When meaning is lost the student focuses more intently on the visual information to process the print.

Bottom up theory

The bottom up approach to reading emphasises that reading is taught through students first learning the alphabetic principle (grapho-phonic – the rules of sound and symbol relationships). Meaning takes place after accurate decoding of print.

Turbill, (2002) suggests that constant discussion of these theories drives teachers to search for better ways in creating a balanced pedagogy of reading for all children.

Teachers will need to be comfortable and aware of how to teach reading in order to make adjustments to the reading programme as required. The literacy circles offer some support to teachers in understanding the aspects involved in reading and writing

4.4 Identification debates

Dyslexia has been a focus of debate spanning several decades. There are a range of definitions available internationally and which have different perspectives and focuses embedded within in them, for example, some may view dyslexia within the context of reading and spelling and consider dyslexia to be a ‘reading disability’. Professional bodies and academic research can also influence the direction of a definition and the approaches and process which are recommended.

Module 3 will explore the area of identification in deeper detail.

Further reading and research on this area can be found in section the Literature Reviews and Further Research section of the CLPL route map for dyslexia and inclusive practice.

Now go to Sustaining and developing professional learning.