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Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 19th November, 2024
The updated ASL Action Plan has just been published, along with a Progress Report on activity since November 2022, and we are disappointed to see that Digital Learning and Assistive Technology are still not actioned, despite compelling evidence that technology has huge potential for pupils with additional support needs.
Angela Morgan's review of additional support for learning implementation was published in June 2020 and reported
- A significant disconnect between experience and the stated aspirations of the legislation and policy.
- Challenges in being able to respond to the needs of children and young people with additional support needs. It is dominating the focus and the time of many school leadership teams and specialist service managers, but this is not consistently or sufficiently recognised and understood at senior management and planning levels.
- Not all children, young people and the professionals who are committed to supporting them to flourish, are valued at an equal level within the education system. This is strongly reinforced by the pressures of the focus on Attainment.
- Children and young people and the parents, carers and professionals working closest to them all express frustration at not being listened to by people within the system who they perceive to have the power to act or make changes.
- A range of other strategic and operational factors are influencing, and are symptomatic of, the disconnect between the aspiration and objectives of the legislation and the reality of implementation.
Scottish Government published an Action Plan in October 2020, followed by a progress report in November 2021 and an update to the Plan in November 2022.
Last year we raised concerns that 'technology' was only mentioned once in the November 2022 Action Plan while 'digital learning' did not feature at all . Unfortunately, the latest iteration of the plan published on 5 November 2024 continues to ignore assistive technology and digital learning.
The final report of the National Discussion on Education in Scotland was published on 31 May 2023, and states that:
Digital learning must be at the core of Scottish education so that all learners in Scotland have choice, opportunity, and security in their lives, both now and in the future.”
How can the ASL Action Plan not include digital learning?
Pam Duncan-Glancy MSP, Labour Party Spokesperson on Education, visited CALL on 6th June 2024 and raised a question on this topic in Parliament:
This morning, I visited CALL Scotland at the University of Edinburgh and had the opportunity to see the fantastic work that it does. A particular concern that it shared was the fact that none of the 76 actions in the ASL action plan is on inclusive digital learning, and it mentions assistive technology only once.
The Doran review made recommendations on that 12 years ago. I understand that the Government is focused on the Morgan review, but it would be a lost opportunity if the Doran review were shelved.
What is the cabinet secretary doing to ensure that inclusive digital learning can happen in every school where it is needed?
What reassurance can she give to CALL Scotland that inclusive digital learning will remain a key part of her response to the intolerable circumstances that pupils with additional support needs face?
In response, the cabinet secretary said
Pam Duncan-Glancy has raised a really important matter in relation to the role that digital technology can play, particularly in supporting those with additional support needs in our schools. I am more than happy to write to her on the specific point that she has made.
We have not had sight of the response from the Cabinet Secretary, and I was hoping that the latest update of the ASL Action Plan would reflect her commitment to respond. I am disappointed that none of the 43 new actions address digital learning or assistive technology.
The Department of Education has been investigating how assistive technology can be developed. In 2020, Dave Edyburn's Rapid literature review on assistive technology in education reported that:
“When a person finds the appropriate AT, they are able to complete tasks that they previously could not complete, did slowly, or did poorly. The right AT augments, bypasses, or compensates for a disability.
At this time, AT is an under-utilised intervention to provide pupils and students with special needs and disabilities a means for accessing and engaging in the curriculum in ways that are representative of the ubiquitous nature of technology in society.
and a Pilot Project was subsequently designed to train teachers in the use of assistive technology.
“In response to evidence that teachers struggled to use technology to support learners with special educational needs1, the Department for Education (DfE) ran an Assistive Technology Training Pilot programme for 79 schools from January 2022 to March 2022. The training focused on upskilling school staff in identifying and implementing appropriate assistive technology for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in mainstream schools.”
A further project to train staff at 151 schools , entitled AT Test and Learn, ran from March to July 2023 at a cost of £180,000 plus VAT. An evaluation report on the programme was published in September 2024 and some of the findings are worth highlighting.
From the qualitative interviews, participants mentioned that their biggest improvement, and the one that led to most change in their school, was their confidence around being able to identify and suggest potentially useful types of AT for their students.
Before going on the course only a small percentage of participants thought their school used AT well to support their students, but this increased to more than half after the course. Most participants considered that their school was using AT well.”
The majority of participants indicated that the use of AT in schools has had a positive impact on various aspects, with the most common impact cited being the behaviour and engagement of SEND and EAL pupils (86% and 67% respectively).
Over two-thirds (67%) of participants felt AT has had a positive impact on support staff time, and almost half (47%) indicated that using assistive technology has had a positive impact on the use of teacher time.”
“Following the AT training course, participants reported significant improvements in the independence (92% and 78%) and confidence (89% and 78%) of SEND and EAL pupils respectively. Around six-in-ten (61%) also reported improved confidence and over half (58%) reported improved independence levels in non-SEND and non-EAL pupils.”
“Additionally, the use of AT had positive impacts on the behaviour and engagement of SEND pupils (86%) and EAL pupils (67%) in a majority of participating schools. It also had a positive impact on the levels of attainment of SEND pupils (64%) and EAL pupils (47%).”
“AT itself had a transformative effect on the independence, engagement and progress of the individual pupils who were using it, especially to help with writing. Embedding AT as part of a broader whole-school approach was underway but was a gradual process.”
Why are we not investing in similar actions in Scotland?
In Scotland, we are fortunate that Scottish Government funds CALL Scotland to provide:
Our core grant from Scottish Government underpins everything else that we do, including our assessment and support service for individual learners and our research and development - for example, the collaboration with SQA on digital assessment arrangements.
Some local authorities do have their own assistive technology specialists or teams, but not all.
CALL is completely funded through the grant and our partnerships with schools, local authorities and SQA: we do not receive any funding from the University of Edinburgh.
However, our grant from Scottish Government has not increased since 2012, and we find it increasingly difficult to generate sufficient income from other sources to enable us to continue providing these free services. The grant is provided on a yearly basis, which makes it difficult for us to plan for the future.
We do provide a wide range of professional learning opportunities, but we have to charge participants in order to generate income to keep ourselves employed and therefore limits who can benefit, particularly in the current financial climate. The AT Test and Learn project in England shows the impact of free professional learning on assistive technology.
We need a national assistive technology plan to ensure that all learners in Scotland can get access to appropriate assistive technology.
This should be designed as part of the Doran strategic commissioning of national services.
It should also be addressed adequately in the ASL Action Plan.
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