Your views on Additional Support for Learning (ASL) in Scotland - BSL

Overview

The Education, Children and Young People Committee is holding an inquiry into Additional Support for Learning (ASL). The inquiry will focus on the following themes:

1. The implementation of the presumption of mainstreaming. This means that, where possible, children and young people with additional support needs should be educated in mainstream schools alongside other pupils, rather than in special schools or units 
2. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on additional support for learning 
3. How disagreements with schools and local authorities about the provision of additional support for learning are resolved 

The inquiry will consider how the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 has been implemented and how it is working in practice. The Act sets out how children and young people with additional support needs should be supported in their education in Scotland.  

The Committee would like to hear your views on ASL in Scotland and what your experiences are. This could include your own personal experience or the experiences of your children or other family members. 

The Committee wants to hear views from a range of people including parents of children with additional support needs, teachers, support staff, carers, pupils and organisations.

Find out more about the inquiry.

How to respond

You can respond to each question using written text, or you can send us a BSL video with your responses: ecyp.committee@parliament.scot 
 
When you answer the questions, please do not tell us your name or the name of other members of your family. Also, please do not tell us anything that could identify anyone else, for example, the name of a school or a teacher. If this is not followed, the Committee may have to ask you to review your responses before they can be accepted.  

Your responses will be published on this platform in English, along with your name, unless you tell us that you don’t want your name or your response to be published. 

If you are responding by written text

Please share your answers on this platform, using the text boxes provided beneath each question. 

If you are responding using a BSL video

Please use a file transfer service and state clearly which question numbers you are referring to in your video. Please send your finalised BSL video file to ecyp.committee@parliament.scot

If you send us a BSL video, we will translate it into written English. Only the translation will then be published on our website, not the original video, so your image will not be made public. 

Please state in your video if you wish the written English translation of your response to be published and if you wish your name to be published. If you do not want your response to be published, or if you want it to be published without your name, please tell us this at the beginning of your video.  
 
Whichever way you respond, you can answer as many questions as you like – you do not need to answer all of them.  

If you have any questions about this call for views, please email info@parliament.scot or call 0800 092 7500. To contact through BSL, you can call the same number through the Contact Scotland BSL video relay service: contactscotland-bsl.org

The call for views closes on 31 December 2023.