Under fire on special needs

A motion by the SNP calling for“concern”over a report on Additional Needs Support education was defeated at 14-8 at the North Lanarkshire Council Education Committee meeting.

SNP Group education spokesman councillor Tom Johnston criticised aspects of North Lanarkshire school statistics presented to the committee.

Councillor Johnston said:“24.9 per cent of all pupils in Scotland are recorded as having an additional support need.

“However,only 15.6 per cent of North Lanarkshire pupils have identified ASN needs. North Lanarkshire has the second highest deprivation rate in Scotland and there is some correlation between deprivation and ASN needs. So why 25 per cent for Scotland and just 15 per cent in North Lanarkshire? I am not convinced ASN pupils and teachers are getting adequate support.”

In May 2016 the Enable Scotland charity survey found just 12 per cent of parents of ASN pupils in mainstream schools felt their child was receiving enough support,compared to 57 per cent of parents with children in additional support need schools.

Councillor Johnston also expressed concern at North Lanarkshire’s pupil teacher ratio. He added: “The current NLC pupil-teacher ration is 14.1 compared to 13.7 for Scotland. It is unacceptable for the second most socially deprived area in Scotland to have a poorer pupil teacher ratio than the average for Scotland.

“When Scotland lost 4000 teachers due to recession and falling pupil numbers, one-tenth of this loss was in North Lanarkshire which has only one-fifteenth of Scotland’s population.

“We have catching-up to do in teacher numbers.”

Councillor Frank McNally, convener of education, said:“The challenge is not in meeting pupil need but ensuring that needs they have are recorded appropriately.

“We are confident all our schools are aware of the specific additional support needs of their pupils and have robust processes in place.”