CALL Scotland receives enhanced grant for 2025-2026!

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 17th April, 2025

Category Assistive Technology

We are delighted to share the good news that we have received 70% additional funding from the Scottish Government Learning Directorate to support our work in 2025-2026! This will enable us to enhance our services and products and recruit more staff to the CALL Scotland team. We're looking forward to working with our partners to improve access to education and inclusion for children and young people with additional support needs in Scotland and beyond.

CALL Scotland has received grant funding from Scottish Government since 1991 and this has underpinned our work over the past 34 years. The grant has remained constant at £367,177 since 2012, and while we have been fairly successful in generating income through our partnerships with local authorities and schools, professional learning and project and consultancy work with SQA and other agencies, it has been getting hard to keep things going with what is effectively a 30% cut in real terms.

We are therefore extremely excited to announce that Scottish Government has provided an additional £255,000 for the 2025-2026 financial year. 

This is a great endorsement of CALL Scotland and our services and activities and a much needed investment in assistive technology for Scottish education. We are really grateful and excited that Scottish Government have made this funding available, especially given the current extremely challenging financial context.

We intend to use some of the additional funding to recruit and invest in new staff, so if you are interested in joining CALL for a career in assistive technology, keep a look out for news on upcoming opportunities.

For April 2025 to March 2026, we plan to enhance all areas of CALL's activities. Our additional objectives are to:

Free Inclusive Digital Learning Resources 

• Develop links between our Books for All web site and RNIB Bookshare to enhance opportunities for Scottish teachers and learners to access digital learning resources.

• Licence and provide the Scottish and Gaelic digital voices free of charge for Scottish learners who use iPads or Chromebooks, as well as window devices.

• Develop Scottish curriculum resources in Grid format for pupils who use specialised access tools such as switches or eye-gaze.

• Expand the resources available on Symbols for All.
• Create Bookbug symbol resources for the Bookbug at Home Kits in addition to our existing Bookbug and Explorer bags.

• Explore mechanisms to convert the remaining Flash-based activities on Doorway Online, to HTML.

Information and advice

Enhance our information and advice provided via email, telephone, web sites and social media. We intend to: 

• Develop online webinars specifically for parents and carers of children and young people with complex additional support needs. 
• Develop a bookable consultation service whereby parents and carers can arrange online meetings and in-person visits to meet CALL staff.

Professional Learning

To broaden opportunities for teachers and practitioners to access professional learning we will:

• Offer a limited number of Scottish-Government funded places on our 2025-2026 Professional Learning courses:

• Technology to Support SQA Digital Assessment Arrangements (starts 21 August 2025)
• Technology to Support Dyslexia in Education (starts 9th September 2025)
• Technology to Support Communication (starts 28th October 2025)
• Technology to Support ASN in Education (scheduled for February 2026)
• Technology to Support Literacy for Learners with Complex Needs (scheduled for Spring 2026)

Assistive technology and AAC loan bank

• Enhance the loan bank with new equipment.
• Develop and raise awareness and resources around 3-D printing to create bespoke resources for pupils with ASN.

Partnerships

• Work with Scottish Government and local authority partners to develop a Scottish National Assistive Technology Pathway similar to the National AAC Pathway.
• We'll have more time to collaborate with colleagues in Scottish Government, Education Scotland, Qualifications Scotland, local authorities and schools and national third-sector organisations.

Everything we do in CALL is driven by the needs of the children and young people that we meet in schools and their teachers and supporters, parents and carers. We try and 'get it right for one child' and then apply what we learn to help 'get it right for every child'. 

Communication and assistive technology have huge potential to help learners be more successful, confident, responsible and effective - it's going to be an exciting year and we look forward to working with you to support you and children and young people who need assistive technology!