Q: How many pupils need extra help? A: Pass

AS our recent coverage has shown, there are challenges for schools in meeting the needs of pupils with additional support needs. Enable Scotland’s thorough survey of pupils, parents and education staff provided ample reason for concern about the mainstreaming policy which assumes such children will learn in regular classrooms in ordinary schools.

As I have reported, the learning disability charity found 60 per cent of such young people complained of loneliness at school, while two thirds had been bullied. Two in five parents said their child had been informally excluded, one in five said this happens weekly. Teachers too felt the policy wasn’t working, with 22 per cent saying it wasn’t working at all, and only three per cent claiming it works well for all pupils. A BBC Scotland documentary Am I Included?, to be shown tonight, will air similar concerns.

But the challenge is much less for some councils than others. Fewer than one in ten primary pupils on Angus Council’s books, for example have additional support needs (9.2 per cent), and the same applies in South Ayrshire (nine per cent). But Aberdeenshire has to manage to provide support for 39 per cent of its primary aged children who have additional support needs and 35.6 per cent of its secondary cohort.

At secondary, life is easier for schools in Angus and South Ayrshire too, with 14.1 per cent and 14.9 per cent respectively of pupils requiring some kind of additional support.

Glasgow and Edinburgh are somewhere in the middle, with around a quarter of their primary pupils recorded as having ASN although this rises sharply in Glasgow to 37.6 per cent of high school learners.

But can Aberdeenshire really have nearly four times as many children with special needs living in its catchments as there are in neighbouring Angus? Of course not. There is no magical barrier along the border affecting the ability of pupils.

The remarkable variations are the result of a lack of consistency in either the vigour with which education authorities assess the abilities and needs of pupils or the criteria they use to identify pupils in need of help.

Charities such as Kindred Scotland, which offers support and advice to parents of children with special needs, have been flagging this up for a while. In the summer, the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition - of which Kindred is a member - warned that the disparities amount to a postcode lottery for children with additional needs.

The Scottish Government has merely said it is “committed” to improving guidance for education authorities on how to report the numbers of pupils with special educational needs. That seems the least that is required. Education Secretary John Swinney also plans revised guidance on the policy of presuming all children’s needs will ideally be met in mainstream schools.

But it already seems clear the policy is not working, at the very least for a sizeable minority of children with disabilities. And a shortage of specialist teachers and resources seems to be a key part of this. That can be fixed, but Mr Swinney can’t know the scale of the challenge unless the sheer randomness of how such needs are identified can first be eliminated.

‘‘ There is no magical barrier along the border between Aberdeenshire and Angus affecting the ability of pupils