“Radical reform is needed”
This piece, by Nicola Killean, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, was first published in The Herald on 9 December, 2024.
This year, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) was incorporated into our law, changing children’s rights in Scotland by making UNCRC rights legally enforceable in some circumstances.
The UNCRC sets out the rights of all children, including their rights to education. Adopted internationally 35 years ago, it establishes the goals of education in inclusive terms. Children have the right to an education at all levels that develops their personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential. The right to education is about all of that development, not only academic attainment.
Disabled children have the right not to be discriminated against, and to receive special care to support them to participate in all aspects of their lives. Both the UNCRC and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) reinforce that we need to consider children as rights-holders, with their own agency, rather than passive recipients of care, protection and welfare. Yet despite these protections, too many children and young people’s needs are not being met in our current education system.
And we know the number of children in Scotland identified as needing additional support is over a third of the school population and this is increasing year-on-year.
By not giving them the support they need – and to which they are entitled – children are being let down. No child should have limited opportunities for future work, or to access further and higher education choices, simply because they didn’t receive the supportive education they should have.
It’s not just me as their Commissioner saying that – that’s what children are telling me. They have shared their experiences of feeling misunderstood or being in classes where the trusted adults simply don’t have the time to help. Others have told me they worry about seeing their classmates struggling, and that they need more support and understanding.
We need radical reform to education. The Scottish Government’s proposed Education (Scotland) Bill is a first step but will barely move us forward in addressing deeper issues impacting the provision of education, particularly for children with additional support needs.
Our work with children has identified key areas for change that go way beyond structural changes to the SQA and HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE). Children need a system-wide reboot of the education system.
First of all, children need to have a national, rights-based vision for education which develops every child to their fullest potential.
Children need culture change in education. Let’s embed children’s rights to participation, and design supports and educational environments together.
Children need tailored support. That will require meaningful investment, resources, training and development of staff, and facilities that are accessible and inclusive.
Children need a responsive curriculum – one that suits their learning needs and offers them opportunities to fulfil their potential.
And when it comes to exams and qualifications, children need less pressure and better ways to demonstrate their unique skills and abilities.
Children need the recommendations from high-profile education reviews commissioned by the Scottish Government to be promptly delivered in full. Professor Angela Morgan, who led the review into Additional Support for Learning published a robust set of recommendations in 2020. Professor Ken Muir published his recommendations in 2022, and last year Professor Louise Hayward published her recommendations to reform exams and qualifications
Yet here we are, with dilutions and delays.
Children and young people are yet to feel change. For some children, if reform is not urgent, they will be denied their right to an education that develops them to their fullest potential for their entire school experience.
People may have read or heard about current issues in education framed in terms of behaviour, attendance or exams. How much of that coverage has focussed on why these issues are happening? Or what children and young people say are their main concerns? Unmet need for meaningful support and development is the real diagnosis behind many of these symptoms.
But Scotland has an opportunity still. A real chance to change lives, to invest in education, to support practitioners, and to make it work for every single child, not just the two-thirds.
A more inclusive learning environment is essential for children who have additional support needs, but ultimately it will benefit every child.
