Highland Council agrees overhaul to additional support needs funding
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Highland Council’s education committee has agreed to make “huge changes” to how the local authority funds schools to deliver additional support for learning (ASL).
Under the plan, ASL funding will be decided by an algorithm.
Education bosses say this is the fairest way of simplifying the system and getting the money to the schools who need it most.
It’s part of a long-running review of ASL funding.
Councillors described the changes as “incredibly important” and a “massive undertaking”. With that in mind, opposition councillors asked for more detail and worked examples of how the algorithm would impact Highland schools.
However, they lost a vote to defer the decision.
Highland Council says it has one of the highest ASL funding rates in Scotland. As such, it says resource isn’t really a problem when it comes to ASL. The real problem, is making sure the money is divided fairly across the region.
Currently, teachers spend large portions of time writing complex and lengthy ‘child plans’ which set out the exact support each pupil requires. With 43 per cent of Highland children having some kind of ASL need, that’s a lot of paperwork. But this paperwork is key to unlocking ASL funding.
Under the new system, child’s plans will be shorter and simpler. Instead, funding will be allocated according to an algorithm developed with head teachers.
The algorithm looks at the size of the school roll, the number of pupils who are eligible for clothing and shoes grants, the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, and rurality.
This will automatically calculate funding levels, but head teachers can also move some money around between local schools.
Education boss Nicky Grant told councillors: “This puts the power back into head teachers’ hands.”
Committee chairman John Finlayson said it would greatly reduce bureaucracy too. “Teachers need to be doing their day job, not spending hours and hours justifying why they’re there,” he said.
However, the exact weighting of each factor in the algorithm was not revealed to councillors until a verbal presentation at the start of the meeting. This caused alarm among some members.
“I have to red flag this paper,” said Conservative councillor Helen Crawford. Highlighting that these proposals were four years in the making, Ms Crawford said there was a lack of clarity and detail.
Liberal Democrat members agreed, calling the report “disappointing”. Councillor Alasdair Christie cautioned: “Algorithms create winners and losers.”
The changes to ASL funding reflect a wider shift in how schools educate their most vulnerable pupils.
The Scottish Government favours a “presumption of mainstreaming”, meaning that wherever possible, ASL pupils should be supported within mainstream schools.
Highland has three special schools, clustered around the Inner Moray Firth, and enhanced provision units scattered across the region.
Like other local authorities, Highland Council will now start to review the admissions procedures for these schools. This makes it more important than ever that the money and staff are where they need to be across the region.
Councillors recognised that these are major and unsettling proposals for pupils, parents and schools. Education bosses sought to emphasise that overall staffing levels will not change, and funding adjustments will be phased in over three years.
SNP councillor Liz Kraft added: “This is change but not for change’s sake. This is progress.”
