Education, Children and Young People Committee
ADES submission for Covid 19 impact on Children and Young People December 2021
Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) submission
ADES Submission
The impact of the pandemic upon children and young people with additional support needs, care-experienced young people and those from a background of socio-economic disadvantaged backgrounds.
Introduction
Improvement in how we engage with and support children and young people who have additional support needs (ASN), are from a background of socio-economic disadvantage, and those who are care-experienced has been a long-standing key priority for ADES within our duties to support implementation of UNCRC, GIRFEC, The Promise and Additional Support for Learning Act, and recent ASL Action Plan from the Morgan review.
For many children and young people, socioeconomic inequity and its impact on learning and wellbeing during school closures will have exacerbated the poverty related attainment gap (Audit, Scotland, 2020; Engzell, Frey & Verhagen, 2020; Scottish Government, 2021; EEF, 2020a).
From the local and national data gathered since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic period, it has been apparent that we need to maintain a focus of improvement activity on the children and young people for whom the impact of disruption in their learning was likely to be greatest. Recalibrating Equity and Social Justice in Scottish Education: Bouncing forward after COVID-19 lockdowns | Research | National Improvement Hub
To effectively target support for children and young people most affected by poverty and COVID-19 educational establishments, local authorities and national agencies need to continue to use data and research as part of an evidence base. Addressing the impact of interrupted learning now will minimise further disruption (OECD, 2020).
ADES therefore continues to work closely with partners across the system including Parents (through ASLIG with NPFS); Social Work and Health Professionals; Education Scotland; and the Third Sector in order to respond to and support recovery of all children and young people, and in particular those most disadvantaged. Identifying and monitoring Wellbeing must be seen and assessed in relation to risk and protective factors within the context of the GIRFEC National Practice Model (Annexe A) alongside the factors giving rise to ASN: the learning environment; family circumstances; disability or health needs; and social and emotional factors.
This framework was used by many local authorities to determine children and young people’s access to Hubs and schools/nurseries.
Our local and regional evidence for this report is based on collective self-evaluation at this stage due to no collated national reporting of overall outcomes at the time of submission. The methodology for gathering evidence for this submission has come from:
• focus groups of ADES members;
• thematic analysis of a sample of local authority recovery reports to local committees
• a range of evidence provided to the National Collective Leadership Group (of which ADES is a member)
• consultation with SEALCC (children and young people with EAL)
• consultation with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
• case studies of practice (including one with the Children and Young People’s Improvement Collaborative - CYPIC)
• Education Scotland’s national overview of practice in relation to remote learning
We have also taken account of the Equity Audit’s findings in the continued response to address the needs of children and young people who have been adversely affected by the pandemic. Equity Audit | Scottish Attainment Challenge 2020-21: Equity in education | Resources for practitioners | Scotland Learns | National Improvement Hub
The key areas which local authorities are addressing through the period of recovery follow.
1. Health and Wellbeing
1.1 Children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing will have been affected in many different ways as a result of the pandemic and it continues to be a key priority for all services in local authority partnerships. Needs which have been identified include:
• Anxiety about returning to school for some children, young people and their parents
• Distressed behaviour relate to disruption in relationships and routines
• Loss and bereavement
• Concerns about speech and language development for targeted pre-school children
Therefore, having a range of approaches which are proactive as well as responsive, from universal through to specialist services are central to school/nursery and education service plans. Mental health and wellbeing: whole school approach: framework - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
1.2 The Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme Board workstreams have also created the opportunity to address the inter-related priorities which will respond to a number of the Morgan Review recommendations including the Neuro-Developmental Service Specification Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme Board - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
1.3 Supports and services to address mental health and wellbeing must operate under the principles that people who know children and young people best are fully supported in their work; and in doing so counselling and other therapeutic interventions can be provided within a continuum of a resilience-based approach which promotes least intrusive, most effective solutions.
Health and Wellbeing, including mental health, is a responsibility for all practitioners and many authorities have a Standard of Health and Wellbeing ‘Responsibility of All’ across all schools (Annexe A)
1.4 All educational settings in Scotland have a link Educational Psychologist who they can consult with to seek support and advice. Educational Psychology Services aim to improve emotional health and wellbeing outcomes for children and young people in a range of ways including:
• Support to educational settings so that they can be prepared in the event of a sudden bereavement or critical incident
• Staff training on trauma, attachment, and nurture
• Support educational settings to design and evaluate projects to help improve the emotional health and wellbeing of their pupils.
1.5 The Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework and associated funding specifically addresses establishing or developing community supports and services that target issues of mental and emotional distress and wellbeing rather than mental illness and other needs that may be more appropriately met through CAMHS. It supports an approach based on prevention and early intervention. The framework is intended to be used to help partnerships to design and build services and supports that are in line with GIRFEC, national priorities and principles, relevant to local developments and are based on local needs assessment, responsive to the needs of local communities. To date there are a wide range of commissioned services, many of which are from the Third Sector, which reflect local community demographics, and small-scale sampling indicates that children and families who have engaged with supports and services have benefitted from them. Some examples include:
• ‘TogetherAll’ provision of online counselling to support the age range 16-24 (or 26 for care experienced young people) to target mental and emotional distress and wellbeing through open access, drop in and digital means.
• Support for Young Carers; and for those who are LGBT+
• Parental support groups addressing a range of mental health and wellbeing concerns
• Interventions for children and families with additional support needs including those with Autism and wider social and communication needs
• Organisations which support families affected by developmental trauma including domestic abuse and substance mis-use
• Healthier Minds Hub coordinating interventions for children and young people with ASN who require support for their mental wellbeing and resilience.
1.6 Feedback from authorities implementation of Counselling in Schools services for children age 10 years+ indicates that the predominant presenting issues discussed within counselling have been: anxiety/stress; interpersonal relationships; family issues; and self-esteem. These are the issues that counsellors would expect to be prevalent amongst children and young people at the ages and stages of those engaging regardless of pandemic impact. The most significant pandemic related issues identified were: increased anxiety; worry about school work/exams; sense of removal of support networks; and loneliness. A range of individual outcomes have been formulated in counselling through children and young people working with counsellors to identify what may help such as: being more aware of feelings / behaviour; being able to cope better; being more positive; and being better able to solve problems.
1.7 While many children with ASN have adapted well on return to school (for those who attended throughout lockdown as well as those who did not) ADES members report an increase in distressed behaviour of some children in early primary and early secondary. Taking a trauma-informed approach based on Nurture principles is an evidence-based response to children’s needs which requires resilience of staff. Debriefing has been shown to support staff following incidents.
1.8 Liaison with the RC Speech and Language Therapy Services and data provided to the National Collective Leadership Group indicates some concerns about the development of some children’s early speech, language and communication needs. A few authorities are delivering interventions which aim to build the capacity staff to directly support gaps in children’s vocabulary and communication skills. Longer term, implementation of a systematic and collaborative approach which takes account of the RCSLT Communication cycle must be seriously considered. communication-capacity.pdf (rcslt.org)
1.9 Tracking and monitoring of children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing will provide a longer-term picture of their resilience through a range of measures some of which are more established than others, e.g. individual monitoring through Team Around The Child frameworks have been in place for some years, while implementation of the national framework for the Health and Wellbeing Census and forthcoming Transforming Outcomes Framework in 2022. In addition, use of the Glasgow Wellbeing Toolkit is being used in a number of authorities which can provide a further source of evidence of the extent to which children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing is affected and becoming more resilient over time.
2.Attendance and engagement
2.1 School attendance and engagement of learners is crucial for children’s educational attainment particularly for children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and those who need support to access learning. During the Covid-19 school closures, socioeconomic inequalities in engagement with home learning were exacerbated, which will likely lead to an increase in disparities in educational achievement.
2.2 ADES have worked in collaboration with the Children and Young People’s Improvement Collaborative (CYPIC) to identify ‘what works’ in improving attendance and engagement. Collaboration across 6 authorities with 14 teams demonstrated improved outcomes for the children they were working with whether on-line, in school or both. The programme improved the engagement, time-keeping and attendance for all children identified. Specific changes noted included daily video calls, self-evaluation through personalised contact, mentors support for senior pupils, home visits, and 1:1 person support. The programme impacted on an average of 40 staff and over 400 children (Annexe A).
Collectively, these 14 teams have demonstrated that a systematic approach across diverse demographical areas, and with the support of their strategic leaders, creates new learning for everyone in the system. We will need to track the longer-term impact of the achievements made in this academic year to know how they can be sustained.
2.3 Some local authorities have noted that as a result of the attendance and engagement of children and young people with additional support needs being prioritised during 2020-21, including those who are care experienced, there has been an improvement in their overall attendance level.
2.4 Care Experienced Children and Young People: The Scottish Attainment Care-Experienced Children and Young Person’s Fund has helped address specific outcomes affecting our care-experienced young people. Local authorities have focused on improving engagement, attainment and outcomes, through a range of interventions including:
• Employability Mentors working with Throughcare and Aftercare Teams
• Funding directed towards Champions’ Boards to support the ‘voice’ of care-experienced children and young people
• Targeting and improving attendance for young people in S1 and S2 through relationships between home-school workers and parents
• A wide range of summer holiday programmes which involved CLD, Active Schools and Third Sector organisations
2.5 Other factors reported to still be affecting some children and young people’s wellbeing include:
• Parents not yet being able to fully access school buildings and therefore meet in-person to discuss their child’s progress. Many schools and nurseries continue to use other ways in which to connect and maintain a relationship with parents from outdoor meetings through to virtual meetings and phone-calls but have noted the difference which in-person contact can make.
• Staff and children/young people’s absence due to covid or self-isolating causes some disruption/change to routines and delivery of targeted programmes.
• The impact in particular on those children and young people with social and emotional needs who were in transition from nursery to P1/P2 and from primary to S1/S2. These cohorts of children missed out on a full transition programme and in some cases are still taking time to adapt to learning and socialising with others.
• Young people’s mental health requiring continued flexible learning arrangements and in some cases an increase in home education requests
3. Learning and Teaching
3.1 It is anticipated that unfortunately, CfE attainment levels (ACEL) nationally are likely to have dropped as a result of the unforeseen pressures of the pandemic, lockdown and remote learning causing unprecedented disruption to our education system in Scotland. This is likely to apply to all sectors though the details may look different in each local authority area.
3.2 In recognition of the financial and other resource implications of maintaining critical provision for children and families at this time, guidance on Attainment Scotland Funding, including PEF, was relaxed in order that local authorities and Headteachers could support the education, support and care for children and young people during the response to the coronavirus pandemic. In financial terms, local authorities received a range of Scottish Government grants to support areas of expenditure as a result of COVID-19. ADES members make strategic decisions in where best to direct funding to and enable/empower schools to do their best for all our children and young people. Decisions made by schools, however, were to remain consistent with the principle of equity in education.
3.3 It should be noted that head teachers, school staff and staff in local authorities responded extremely well in very challenging conditions. The following are just a few examples of the types of responses and activities undertaken across the country:
• Schools using a range of targeted literacy and numeracy interventions to support children’s learning. In literacy specific programmes such as Hornet, Toe-by-toe, Word Aware, Talk Boost, POLAAR and Synthetic Phonics and in numeracy Power of One and Power of Two, Maths Circles and Numicon were implemented.
• A range of evidence-based interventions such as Wave Three, High Five and Precision Teaching are becoming well embedded in practice and schools have upskilled support staff to take forward planned interventions with the support of the Educational Psychology Team through regular on-line training opportunities.
• A number of schools have focused on the universal provision for all children within the classroom and ensuring that any barriers to learning have been reduced. This includes purchasing specific equipment and considering the learning environment and sensory needs of children and young people. They have invested in universal approaches including developing sensory rooms, outdoor learning resources, digital tools, literacy and numeracy curricular materials and play-based learning resources
• the step change in digital access has been retained with schools using Teams to keep in touch with pupils during covid related absences. Teams is also much more used for homework and supporting pupils with assignments for example.
• Where additional staff had been allocated to a school, these teachers and Pupil Support Assistants mainly carried out targeted work with small groups or individual pupils.
• This work addressed the emotional wellbeing of pupils, eg to support re-engagement with school for those who were most anxious about doing so
• Another focus for the work of these staff was reinforcing and revisiting key learning in literacy and numeracy with identified pupils. Work was carried out with targeted groups and with whole classes.
• Additional staff either worked directly with identified groups or released permanent school staff to provide this targeted support.
• Additional staff also provided support in ensuring that schools were able to comply with all COVID-19 health and safety measures
Without such a response, it is very likely that the progress and life and learning experiences of our children and young people would have been significantly poorer.
4. Support for teachers and the wider workforce.
4.1 To support staff there are a range of professional learning opportunities and resources available including resources hosted by Education Scotland Positive mental wellbeing - resources to support children and young people | Learning resources | National Improvement Hub (education.gov.scot). NHS and Scottish Government also host the Mental health and wellbeing: whole school approach: framework - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
4.2 Sustained staff professional learning and development requires a clear Knowledge and Skills Framework similar to the NES which assists local authorities in determining the staffing profile required to meet the diverse range of needs in education settings nationaltraumatrainingframework.pdf (transformingpsychologicaltrauma.scot) Other forms of support to education staff include coaching and mentoring for Head Techers and senior leaders.
4.3 The recommendations from the ASL/Morgan Review related to Pupil Support Assistants should also be given priority at national and local authority levels in order to ensure that the professional development and deployment of PSAs leads to the intended impact and improvement on children and young people’s experiences and achievement. In doing so, research on the extent to which implementation factors, such as those identified by the EEF, are in place would help sustain the anticipated recommendations of the Classroom Support Staff working group.
5. Support to parents and families.
5.1 In addition to the impact referred to in section 1 for parents and families, other areas of support and challenge which have been gathered are of significance. During and beyond the pandemic/lockdown periods, schools and nurseries have connected with children and families through both in-person and virtual contact, with a high level of attendance of vulnerable children and young people at schools and nurseries throughout this time, e.g. example from a secondary school here (Annexe A)
This has served as a protective factor for many children and families in relation to mental health and wellbeing. However, the themes emerging from the first 6 months of counselling services indicate that children and young people who are less resilient have felt more lonely and anxious, and require greater support for their wellbeing as outlined in section 1.
5.2 Children and Families with English as an Additional Language
Analysis of responses from the Scottish EAL (English as an Additional Language) Coordinating Council indicates that there are concerns about the impact on the disruption to their attendance and learning:
• Remote teaching/learning was harder to access on digital devices for learning where there was no internet at home or not enough English to understand how to access Teams
• This was particularly the case for new arrivals, beginners and early stage learners, especially asylum seekers and refugees
• This had led to a substantial language learning loss in addition to learning loss which will have widened the achievement gap
• Many families are now taking long-awaited trips to see relatives at a time when their children are preparing for prelims/exams
A wider coordinated response across partners in local authorities will be required to address the impact for these children and families
5.3 It has been important to look ahead and focus on those young people and their families who will be transitioning post school in August 2022. Examples of work include:
• Online workshops for parents with colleges presenting possible curriculum options and progression pathways
• Working with groups of parents to support them with some of the challenges they have been facing including some work with BAME parents with children who have additional support needs
• Collaborative work with Arc Scotland to evaluate outcomes for transition planning for young people who have additional support needs and those who are care experienced
• HSCPs worked in partnership with Leisure and Culture services to provide Enrichment Programmes between March and October 2021. Activities included sports and other physical activities, movie nights, music, drama and a family fun day. The programme also allowed more formal opportunities for social workers and other professionals to check in with care experienced children and young people.
6. Digital infrastructure and connectivity.
6.1 Firstly, it is important to say that ADES believes firmly in the primacy of the physical school in terms of the opportunities it provides for the social and emotional development of children and young people (a view also shared in the report by the ICEA published in December 2020). This cannot be replaced entirely by technology or through virtual means. However, we have now increased our ability to offer learners’ access to high quality digital learning and resources in order to enhance learners’ experiences and support the equity and excellence agenda. One positive development arising from the pandemic has been the rapid acceleration of the adoption of new digital learning platforms and online learning approaches. This required a considerable degree of mastery learning on the part of teachers and learners. Technology is not a replacement for in-person learning but more progress can and should be made in this area.
6.2 Local authorities retained oversight and quality assurance of remote learning from August 2020 national-overview-of-practice-in-remote-learning-7-local-authority-approaches-to-assuring-the-quality-of-remote-learning.pdf (education.gov.scot) Following the closure of school buildings in January 2021, staff across establishments and stages undertook a variety of activities National overview of practice in remote learning 4 (education.gov.scot)
• A variety of digital platforms were used by schools and practitioners to communicate and engage children and young people.
• Across Early Years Centres and some Primary schools, Seesaw was used to share tasks and videos.
• Microsoft Teams within GLOW was also used extensively across primary and secondary schools.
• Primary teachers had live sessions with their classes.
• Some secondary schools followed timetabled classes and provided young people with live and recorded content, supported by other resources.
• The family learning team adapted delivery of Peep sessions both remotely and face to face.
• Staff from Sensory Support Services provided colleagues across mainstream settings with resources to make sure that those children and young people with sight and hearing loss were able to access their learning online
• Remote learning for children with additional support needs who did not attend school or nursery during lockdown periods was, as far as possible, matched to their needs as evidenced in the examples gathered in Education Scotland’s thematic review:
National overview of practice in remote learning 10 (education.gov.scot) for complex needs
Conclusion
There are some limitations to the methodology used in gathering and analysing the evidence from ADES members. It has not been possible within the scope of this report to undertake large surveys or analysis of every local authority’s data or recovery plans. The findings are based on sampling from a range of demographic areas.
However, our analysis indicates that the impact of the pandemic upon children and young people with additional support needs, care-experienced young people and those from a background of socio-economic disadvantage has caused some disruption to learning and affected their wellbeing. For some this will be short term and the impact mitigated by the interventions and support outlined in this report. For others it will be longer term due to inequalities which were present in children’s lives before the pandemic.
Therefore, the main focus must be to continue to build on attendance and engagement so that children and young people are in school; rebuilding and strengthening our relationships with them and their families; and addressing their wellbeing alongside learning.
ADES has for some years advocated for a more inclusive assessment and outcome measurement framework which reflects the diversity of achievements which children and young people with inequalities and complex needs make but which are invisible within the current NIF. Changes which would address this include:
• Increasing the pace of implementation of the Morgan Review recommendations in relation to outcome measurement by including a far wider and more inclusive range of outcome measures in the NIF. The current consultation on Education Reform provides an opportunity for this to happen.
• Insight and the CfE Benchmarking tool being inclusive of special schools and therefore reflecting their attainment and achievement. It should be noted that virtual comparators would have to be treated with some caution due to the diverse and sometimes ‘spikey’ profile of children with complex needs
• With 33% of children and young people recorded as having additional support needs, schools and nurseries will need to continue to become more inclusive and accessible with regard to the physical/sensory environment; communication (see above); and the curriculum
• Expanding the use of digital technology for children and young people with complex needs to ensure that they have even greater accessibility and appropriate independence in their skills for learning, life and work. Expanding the role of Education Assisted Technology specialists such as CALL Scotland across RICs would enable this to happen
In order to build on the good work already taking place, local partnerships will require sufficient, sustainable, resources to ensure that they can meet the increased diversity and complexity of children and young people’s needs. At the national level it is critical that the needs of children and young people facing inequalities including those with additional support needs is central to the reform of curriculum, assessment and qualifications and include explicit reference to their individual voices.
In order to know what the impact has and will continue to be more specific research questions need to be asked using an enquiry-based approach which seeks to understand what makes a difference or improves children and young people’s wellbeing and learning when they have experienced interrupted learning and disconnection from relationships. It should ask ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘which’ questions drawing from multiple data sources which have relationships between them (Robson, 2000).
Over the remainder of this school session ADES members, and all 32 authorities will engage in collaborative improvement activities to enquire of themselves and each other what is making a difference and what needs to change or improve for children and young people.
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