Heads relying on 'goodwill' of teachers as additional needs levels 'not sustainable'
Among a suite of measures, School Leaders Scotland is looking for local authorities to strengthen partnerships with outreach services including CAMHS and social work
Additional support needs (ASN) capacity is "not sustainable" as schools increasingly rely on "staff goodwill” to cope, it has been claimed.
New figures report 44.7 per cent of schools recording at least 51 per cent of pupils having ASN.
School Leaders Scotland (SLS) is now calling for urgent action to strengthen the capacity of additional needs provision.
The education body for head teachers and senior managers said schools are under pressure to meet increasingly complex and diverse needs.
David Barnett, General Secretary of SLS, said: “Schools remain absolutely committed to inclusion and to ensuring that every young person can thrive.
“But our latest evidence shows that needs are becoming significantly more complex while access to specialist provision and wider support services has become increasingly difficult.
“School leaders and staff are working creatively and flexibly to meet these needs, but schools cannot indefinitely compensate for insufficient wider system capacity.”
Each year, SLS carries out a schools survey asking about the wider conditions teachers are working within.
While SLS supports the presumption of mainstream - where pupils with ASN are taught in mainstream schools - the organisation says more resources are vital.
It says sufficient staffing, appropriate specialist services and provision, professional support and resources are urgently needed.
Some 94.3 per cent of secondary schools surveyed said ASN-related workload had increased while 68.8 per cent reported an increase in the proportion of pupils with ASN since 2024–25.
Some 83.7 per cent reported increased dysregulated behaviour and 79.4 per cent reported increasing complexity of need.
Meanwhile 74.5 per cent reported that access to specialist provision had become more difficult.
SLS claims schools are increasingly compensating for gaps elsewhere in the system through flexible timetables, alternative curricula, targeted groups and relying on the goodwill of teaching staff.
The report warns that this model is not sustainable, with schools increasingly absorbing pressures created by diminishing wider support.
SLS president Kirsty Ayed said: “This is not an argument against inclusion. It is an argument for supporting schools to make inclusion sustainable.
“School leaders, teachers and support staff are working with extraordinary commitment to ensure that young people are supported, but goodwill and resilience cannot substitute indefinitely for sufficient staffing, specialist expertise and wider system support.
“We also need to recognise what this means for school leaders themselves.
“When increasing levels of complexity, crisis response and gaps in wider provision consume leadership capacity, there is less time for strategic improvement, staff development and supporting the wider school community.
“Sustainable inclusion requires sustainable leadership.”
SLS is calling for the Scottish Government to develop a national ASN workforce strategy, addressing recruitment, retention, specialist training, professional learning, career pathways, specialist advice and staff wellbeing.
It also wants ministers to consider investing in sustainable specialist provision, including specialist placements, hubs, language and communication support/resource centres and outreach arrangements.
Among a suite of measures, it is also looking for local authorities to strengthen partnerships with outreach services including CAMHS, educational psychology, speech and language therapy and social work.
Mr Barnett added: “Scotland cannot rely indefinitely on schools absorbing pressures created by insufficient wider capacity.
“This call for action is about the kind of society we want for Scotland, one in which every young person is supported to develop to their fullest potential, to participate meaningfully in our society and to thrive.”
The Scottish Government was contacted for comment.
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