All children receive support at school and nursery to help them learn. ‘Additional support for learning’ is how we describe any support that is extra or different to the help that most children receive.

Most of this additional support is provided by teachers in mainstream classes, focussed on learning and support to be fully involved in school life. For nearly all children and young people this will be delivered in a mainstream classroom supported by their classroom teacher for a few this will mean some additional support alongside the classroom teacher, and for a very few this will be part-time or full-time access to a school with a learning centre or an inclusion base.

How We Allocate Learning Assistants in Schools 

We use information from SEEMIS, our education data system, to help decide how learning assistant support is shared across schools. This data tells us about the levels of support needed by children with additional support needs.

Instead of assigning specific hours to individual children, we use a formula that helps us fairly distribute learning assistants across all schools in the region. Schools always make sure that children who need the most help get support first, so every child gets the right level of help, at the right times within the school day, to learn and grow.  

This approach ensures that schools can use their share of support in the best way possible, making sure the children who need the most assistance, for an activity, receive it as a priority.

The provision of additional support for learning is a legal duty for all Councils and schools through the education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 amended in 2009. Additional support should be tailored to the child’s individual needs, build on their strengths and help them overcome any difficulties they are experiencing.

The Presumption of Mainstream means that most children will be supported in their local mainstream school.

What is Additional Support for Learning (ASL)?

If your child is experiencing a barrier to their learning they can be said to have ‘Additional Support Needs’ (ASN).

Children may need additional support for short or long periods of time and for a variety of reasons.

The reasons can include:

• Disability or Health
  Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Autism spectrum disorder, Deaf and hearing impaired, Physical and motor impairment, Visual Impairment, Down’s syndrome, Health needs, Language or speech disorder.

• Learning environment
  English as an additional language, Dyslexia, Highly able pupils.
• Family circumstances
  Young Carers, Separated families, Interrupted learning, Looked after by the local authority.
• Social and emotional factors
  Experiencing bullying behaviour, Social and emotional behavioural needs, Bereavement, Restorative approaches.

If you are worried about your child, you should speak to a member of staff in the school in the first instance. The majority of children with additional support needs have them met in the classroom by their teacher, through differentiated teaching approaches.

Further information can be found on our Framework for Inclusion – Getting It Right for All Learners website.

If worries becomes concerns, the staged intervention process will escalate the response to an appropriate level of support. Stages of Intervention Booklet.