Neurodivergence (Education Workforce Training)

All teachers are required to undertake additional support needs training during initial teacher education. That is a requirement to meet the professional standards for registration with the General Teaching Council for Scotland. All teachers therefore have competences in meeting the needs of neurodiverse pupils and pupils who have additional support needs of all kinds.

Through Education Scotland, we have introduced a national professional learning offer to strengthen ASN knowledge, inclusive practice and leadership. We are also expanding the GTCS-accredited dyslexia and inclusive practice professional recognition programme, and we continue to fund the autism toolbox and digital learning tools for teachers across Scotland.

I appreciate the importance of mandating training. That is why I am keen to stress that all teachers, as a requirement for GTCS accreditation, must undertake ASN training during their initial teacher education. However, that is not enough for me. I want to encourage, support and fund continuing professional development, which we are doing in the various ways that I listed in my initial answer.

I will give a little more information on the Education Scotland package. Our new professional learning offer for teachers is delivered through Education Scotland. It supports practitioners working in a range of settings, including ASN and special schools. It is helping to build ASN knowledge, inclusive practice and leadership capacity. There has been a strong uptake in engaging with that work. It has proven to be very popular, and I hope that it will be possible to expand the offer’s reach.

It is also worth highlighting that we fund the centre for teaching excellence, which is based at the University of Glasgow and which, among many dedicated hubs, has one for diverse classrooms, with a focus on ASN.

I recognise the importance of ASN training as both a foundation of initial teacher education and a continuing professional offer.

Ensuring that sufficient, accessible support is available for young people with additional support needs requires co-ordinated, cross-portfolio efforts. What assessment has the cabinet secretary made of how the national staged intervention model is working in practice? What role do local authorities play in that?

Ms Haughey is absolutely right to mention the national staged intervention model as one of the key policy developments in the coming years that will make a significant difference to young people’s and families’ engagement with education and to the management of young people’s additional support needs.

Last week, when I visited Forehill primary school in Ayr, in the constituency of the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise, I was able to speak directly with educators, children and young people and their parents and carers about how staged intervention operates in practice.

We are collaborating on that complicated work with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and others. At its core, the work is about intervening in a young person’s learning journey at the earliest possible stage with the most predictable support that can be offered. That means that young people with additional support needs will be supported early on no matter where they live in the country.