'Every child and young person is entitled to personal support to enable them to gain as much as possible from the opportunities which Curriculum for Excellence can provide.'
Supporting children and young people in their learning involves a range of people - parents and carers, nursery teachers and nurses, primary teachers, secondary teachers, support staff, college staff, psychological services, Skills Development Scotland, volunteers and workers from voluntary organisations and local authority youth work provision. It is important to work in partnership to ‘get it right for every child’.
Children and young people are entitled to personal support to enable them to:
- review their learning and plan for next steps
- gain access to learning activities which will meet their needs
- plan for opportunities for personal achievement
- prepare for changes and choices and be supported through changes and choices.
All children and young people should have frequent and regular opportunities to discuss their learning with an adult who knows them well and can act as a mentor, helping them to set appropriate goals for the next stages in learning. This provides opportunities to challenge young people's choices, which may be based on stereotypes. Young people themselves should be at the centre of this planning, as active participants in their learning and development.
To ensure that Curriculum for Excellence is a curriculum for all children and young people, it is essential that support is provided to remove barriers that might restrict their access to the curriculum because of their circumstances or short- or longer-term needs.
For children who need additional support for their learning, this may involve interpretation of the curriculum in ways which address their particular needs and enable them to achieve to the highest levels of which they are capable.
This may include planning for enrichment of learning within a particular level, rather than applying pressure to progress to a new level of cognitive development where this is inappropriate. Enrichment of learning through exploration of different contexts may, in some circumstances, also be an effective way of meeting very able pupils' needs at some points.
All children and young people should experience personalisation and choice within their curriculum, including identifying and planning for opportunities for personal achievement in a range of different contexts. This implies taking an interest in learners as individuals, with their own talents and interests.
All establishments will work with a range of partners to address the needs of all children and young people and provide motivating and challenging opportunities, particularly for those who may require more choices and more chances. Action to address the needs of learners requires an integrated approach across children's and young people's services with strong links to community learning and development and community regeneration.
Wherever a child or young person of compulsory school age may be undertaking learning activities, the school retains the responsibilty for planning, with its partners, the most appropriate educational provision for that child or young person and for ensuring that their development and progress are regularly reviewed. Partner organisations will need to share an understanding of the experiences and outcomes to which they are contributing.
All staff share a responsibility for identifying the needs, including care and welfare needs, of children and young people, and working in partnership to put support in place to meet those needs.
With this in mind, the health and wellbeing framework identifies experiences and outcomes which are the responsibility of all practitioners.
Happy, Safe and Achieving their Potential described standards of support for children and young people in Scottish schools. These standards continue to be important and establishments will need to plan to ensure that all children and young people receive the personal support which they require to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.
For more information, visit our Personal Support in Schools website.
Reflective questions
How might you develop your existing structures to provide the personal support that will help young people plan their learning in the most appropriate way?
What additional support might vulnerable young people, including looked after children and young people and care leavers, need? How could you involve other learning partners in supporting your young people?
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