In Scotland, children and young people who have Additional Support Needs (ASN, SEND in England) are provided with support to help them access education on an equal footing with their peers. This support can come in many forms, and one of the most crucial roles in this provision is the Personal Support Assistant (PSA). Personal Support Assistants work directly with ASN children to provide dedicated help during the school day. This paper explores the provision of full 25-hour PSA support, discusses the allocation methods, addresses the legislative framework like the ASL Act 2004, and examines compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), especially Article 29, which emphasizes the child’s right to education.
How PSA Support is Used
The provision of PSAs aims to ensure that ASN pupils have consistent and reliable support across the school week, amounting to 25 hours in most cases. The PSAs are tasked with facilitating access to the curriculum, promoting social interaction, aiding with personal care, and managing behavior or emotional challenges. The overall goal is to help ASN children to learn effectively and independently, wherever possible.
However, most parents are kept in the dark about the quality and quantity of PSA support their child receives.
Typically, PSAs may support multiple children in a school, which means they are often required to juggle various responsibilities and tailor their approach based on individual children’s needs. This includes a range of activities such as helping children with mobility around the school, assisting with academic tasks, offering emotional support during challenging moments, and even handling physical needs like feeding or using the restroom. The Scottish Government’s commitment to ensuring children’s rights to education and care is evident in these roles, but challenges remain in fulfilling these rights effectively and consistently.
Allocation of PSAs: Pooled or Individually Assigned?
One of the ongoing debates in Scotland concerns whether PSAs should be allocated individually to specific children for the full 25 hours or pooled to serve multiple ASN students across the school. Theoretically, the decision hinges on the level of need of each child and the resources available in schools. In some cases, children who have more complex or significant support needs might be allocated a PSA who works exclusively with them. This is sometimes referred to as “full 25-hour” support. However, the reality in most Scottish schools involves pooling PSAs to serve multiple children throughout the school week, with prioritization based on moment-to-moment needs.
This pooled system is favored by some schools due to its flexibility and cost-effectiveness. However, there are criticisms that this approach leads to inconsistencies in support and deprives certain children of the continuous and reliable assistance they require to thrive. Research indicates that children who need consistent guidance can feel unsettled or unsupported if the PSA attention they receive is inconsistent or divided between multiple pupils.[1] This raises the question of whether the pooling of PSAs is fully aligned with the intended goals of the ASL Act 2004.
In answer to a parent’s question, “Are the PSAs supporting a child with Down’s syndrome in mainstream education qualified?” a teacher responded that one of them, unqualified, went on a Down’s course— once.
Deficiencies in the ASL Act 2004 and the PSA System
The Additional Support for Learning (ASL) Act 2004, which sets the legislative framework for ASN provision in Scotland, aims to create an inclusive educational environment. However, the Act has faced criticism for its ambiguity in defining specific entitlements for support services like PSAs. One key deficiency is the lack of clarity on the statutory right to consistent, full-time support. The Act emphasizes a child’s right to additional support but does not explicitly guarantee 25-hour PSA support for each ASN child who requires it.[2]
Parents of a child in mainstream education, allocated the full 25 hours support each week, were shocked to discover from teaching staff that does not happen because PSAs are shared with lower needs children – and had not happened for two years.
Furthermore, the way funding is structured often leaves decisions regarding PSA provision to the discretion of local authorities, resulting in wide discrepancies in PSA support between different councils and schools. This variability has been a persistent issue, leading to accusations of a “postcode lottery” in terms of ASN support across Scotland. Children with the same support needs might receive differing levels of assistance based on where they live or which school they attend, due to disparities in local budgets and policies.[3]
Critics also argue that the Act does not adequately address the accountability and training standards for PSAs. As a result, many PSAs enter their roles without sufficient preparation for the specific needs of ASN children, impacting the quality of the support provided. This situation raises questions about compliance with the UNCRC’s Article 29, which mandates that education should be aimed at the development of the child’s personality, talents, and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential.[4]
In one case the management team responsible for oversight of a vulnerable child’s education contract and progress had not attended a Child Planning Meeting (CPM) for at least two years. “Is it any wonder my child has been taught how NOT to be engaged in class?“
Compliance with Article 29 of the UNCRC
Article 29 of the UNCRC focuses on the right to education that fosters the development of the child’s personality, abilities, and respect for human rights. In the context of Scotland’s ASN provision, this article implies that ASN children should receive a level of support that enables them to fully access and participate in education. While Scotland has made strides towards inclusive education, the inconsistencies in PSA allocation and training have led some to question whether the system truly fulfills Article 29.
In practice, there are numerous cases where ASN children have reported feeling unsupported or marginalized due to insufficient or inconsistent PSA support. The emphasis on pooling PSAs rather than allocating them individually raises concerns about the adequacy of support provided to children with high needs. The frequent reassignment of PSAs can be detrimental to building trust and understanding between the PSA and the child, which is critical to fostering an inclusive learning environment.[5]
Monitoring of PSAs by Local Authorities
Local authorities are responsible for monitoring PSA provision and ensuring that ASN pupils receive the support they require. However, evidence suggests that the effectiveness of this monitoring varies considerably across Scotland. Some authorities implement regular evaluations of PSA roles and performance, while others lack the infrastructure or resources to monitor support quality effectively.[6]
According to a study conducted by the University of Edinburgh, many PSAs report feeling unsupported or isolated in their roles, with limited access to ongoing training or guidance from educational psychologists and other specialists. This lack of professional development directly impacts their ability to support ASN pupils effectively.[7] Additionally, there is a lack of consistent reporting mechanisms to assess the adequacy of PSA support, which results in discrepancies between the level of support that is intended and the reality experienced by ASN children.[8]
“Communication from the school is lacking“, said one group of ASN parents.
Moving Towards Better Provision
To address these issues, several improvements can be suggested:
- Clearer Entitlements: Revising the ASL Act to provide clearer entitlements to specific levels of support would help eliminate ambiguities and hold local authorities accountable for providing consistent and sufficient PSA support.
- Training and Professional Development: Establishing mandatory, specialized training for PSAs and ensuring ongoing professional development can help improve the quality of support provided to ASN pupils.
- Individual Allocations: Where needed, moving away from pooling models towards individually assigned PSAs would better align with the goals of Article 29 of the UNCRC by providing more consistent, tailored support.
- Enhanced Monitoring and Accountability: Implementing more rigorous monitoring systems at the local authority level could ensure that support services meet the intended standards and children’s needs are met adequately.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the provision of full 25-hour PSA support for ASN children in Scotland’s schools is a complex and evolving area of education policy. The flexibility of PSA allocation, while potentially efficient, may fail to provide consistent and adequate support to all children. The shortcomings of the ASL Act 2004 in specifying entitlements and monitoring PSA quality present ongoing challenges. Additionally, compliance with Article 29 of the UNCRC remains inconsistent, with many children not receiving the level of personalized support required to fulfill their educational rights. The Scottish Government, local authorities, and educators must continue working to address these challenges, striving to create a truly inclusive and supportive educational system for all ASN children.
References:
[1] Macpherson, E., & Dempsey, A. (2021). Assessing Support Provision in Scottish Schools: The Role of PSAs in ASN Education. University of Glasgow.
[2] Scottish Government. (2019). Review of the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004: Progress Report. Edinburgh: Scottish Government Publications.
[3] McGinty, R., & Fraser, J. (2020). “Funding Gaps and Inconsistent Support for ASN Pupils.” British Journal of Special Education, 47(2), 153-162.
[4] United Nations. (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child. New York: United Nations.
[5] Scottish Children’s Services Coalition. (2021). “Challenges in Meeting the Educational Needs of ASN Children.” [website].
[6] Geddes, M. (2022). Monitoring and Accountability in PSA Provision: A Local Authority Perspective. University of Edinburgh.
[7] Johnstone, D., & Allan, J. (2018). “Personal Support Assistant Training and Development Needs in Scotland.” Scottish Educational Review, 50(1), 63-78.
[8] Glazzard, J., “Effectively deploying teaching assistants to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)” (Exclusion from classrooms has a detrimental effect), https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/effectively-deploying-teaching-assistants-to-support-pupils-with-special-educational-needs-and-or-disabilities-send, 02Feb2018, as seen by MikeA 19Oct24