‘Lost generation’ should have been avoided

Rising numbers of school pupils with additional support needs sneak up on Scotland’s distracted ministers

When the late Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was asked what was the greatest challenge faced by politicians, he famously replied: “Events, dear boy, events.” All governments need to be on the lookout for trouble on the horizon so that, when it arrives, they are in a position to deal with it. Great leaders also make sure to avoid creating unnecessary problems for themselves, so they have the time to deal with those thrust upon them.

The rising number of pupils with “additional support needs” (ASN), including those with social and emotional behavioural needs, moderate learning difficulties and whose first language is not English, is not a new phenomenon, having nearly doubled in ten years to over 36 per cent of the entire school roll. However, the Covid pandemic and cost-of-living crisis have both boosted the figure, as a result of increased poverty and the effects on children’s mental health.

This has meant that the real-terms spending on additional support per pupil has fallen from almost £5,700 in 2012/13 to about £3,760 last year. According to the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition, an alliance of charities, schools and care providers, this “devastating” reduction means that Scotland is facing “a lost generation of children with ASN”. Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth’s insistence that funding for ASN had reached the “highest level on record” – helped by high inflation – hardly offers hope to individual pupils in need of greater help.

The news comes after it was revealed there has been a 53 per cent increase in school violence since before the pandemic, painting a grim picture of our schools, which recently took a slide down international league tables.

As the Snp-green coalition struggles to deal with far too many problems of its own making, it feels like several “events” have come into view and flown right past ministers. The worst example was Nicola Sturgeon’s infamous admission her government had taken its “eye off the ball” on the rising numbers of drug-deaths.

Education is the foundation of our economy and society. If it is allowed to crumble, heaven help us.