On 6 November 2023 I updated Parliament that it is anticipated the Centre for Teaching Excellence will be hosted by a university, learning from the successful model of the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection better known as CELCIS.

The Scottish Government is committed to co-designing the Centre with teachers and practitioners, professional associations, local government, universities and Scotland’s national education bodies, to ensure it meets the needs of its users and stakeholders. The role and remit of the Centre, how it operates, its interaction with teachers, practitioners and stakeholders, performance measures, and associated costs and timescales will be considered as part of that design process.

The Scottish Government has had useful engagement with the Scottish Council of Deans of Education to discuss the overall approach to co-producing the Centre and, in due course, an appropriate process will be taken forward to establish it.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23878 on‎ 8 January 2024. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Occupational health therapy services are provided by NHS Boards in Scotland, therefore there is no school staffing impact in respect of these services.

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 places NHS Boards under a duty to support the identification, provision of support and review of additional support for learning. The arrangements for the provision of support to education authorities in undertaking their duties is set out within the Additional support for learning: statutory guidance 2017 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Last month concluded a series of summits I held with a wide range of stakeholders on behaviour in schools. The Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research was also published and considered as part of the final summit, which set out that while the majority of pupils are well behaved there has been an increase in disruptive behaviours.

I was clear in my statement to Parliament on 29 November that I encourage local authorities and schools to consider their policies in the light of the findings of BISSR.

To support local authorities and schools, we published guidance in June 2017 - ‘ Included, Engaged and Involved – Part 2 – preventing and managing school exclusions’ . This guidance gives a stronger focus on supporting positive behaviour and approaches that can be used to prevent the need for exclusion. The guidance sets out an expectation that education authorities and schools will use the guidance to revise and review existing policies and procedures on exclusion, taking account of local circumstances and involving all partners in the development of the new policy.

Education Scotland has also published a resource to support schools or local authorities who are refreshing or reviewing their relationships and behaviour policies. This guidance on developing a local relationships and behaviour policy is available at Guidance for developing a local relationships and behaviour policy (education.gov.scot) .

Finally, we are currently working with the Scottish Advisory Group for Relationships and Behaviour in Schools to develop a national action plan on relationships and behaviour which we expect to be published early in the new year. We will update parliament on the action plan in due course.

Last month concluded a series of summits I held with a wide range of stakeholders on behaviour in schools. Members are aware that September’s summit on relationships and behaviour in schools focused on recording and monitoring incidents. My aim from the summit process was to identify practical actions we need to make progress, including to create a culture where staff are empowered to record incidents. Local data must then be used to ensure schools both have an oversight of issues and are responding effectively.

I was clear in my statement to Parliament on 29 November that I encourage, in the strongest possible terms, more accurate recording of all incidents of inappropriate, abusive or violent behaviour in our schools.

Our national guidance on recording and monitoring bullying incidents makes clear that all schools and local authorities are expected to record all incidents of violent behaviour. Recording and monitoring plays an essential role in helping schools identify recurring patterns of behaviour and ensure early intervention and appropriate support. It is up to schools to decide how children and young people can report incidents based on local needs and circumstances, which may include anonymised reporting.

The Scottish Government is currently working with the Scottish Advisory Group for Relationships and Behaviour in Schools to develop a national action plan which we expect to be published early in the new year. I will update parliament on the action plan in due course.

The Scottish Government is committed to protecting learning hours in Scottish schools. We are carefully considering the responses to the consultation on learning hours that closed earlier this year. We will publish our analysis of the consultation and engage further with stakeholders, including COSLA, on next steps in due course.

I was invited to attend the November meeting of the Anti-Racism in Education Programme Board. I did attend, and met with Programme Board members, commending the work they have undertaken to date and reiterating that there is no place for discrimination or prejudice in our schools.

The 2021 Programme for Government included a commitment to review Allied Health Professions (AHP) Education in 2022. To deliver on this, the Scottish Government worked in collaboration with a wide range of partners including the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, the professional body for Speech and Language Therapists in the UK. The Review has now been completed and recommendations were published reporting a number of short, medium and long terms actions needed to address workforce and education challenges, including the development of ‘earn and learn’ routes to become an AHP in Scotland.

An advisory group has been established to oversee the effective implementation of the recommendations and the first meeting was held on 9 October 2023. The group will be chaired by Carolyn McDonald, Chief Allied Health Professions Officer who will report progress towards the implementation of the recommendations to the Chief Nursing Officer and Scottish Ministers as required.

We are currently in discussions with COSLA regarding the distribution of this funding. We will write out to local authorities in due course to set out our expectations regarding the use of the funding.

The Scottish Government recognises the impact which the Covid-19 pandemic has had on children and young people in Scotland, particularly the closing of schools and learning lost as a result. This is in common with children and young people across the world and the pandemic continues to impact on educational outcomes for children and young people, here and elsewhere.

The Scottish Government and Education Scotland published the Equity Audit in January 2021 which involved an evidence review of local, national and international literature, along with a representative sample of 54 schools in Scotland. This helped our understanding of the impact that COVID-19 and school building closures had on children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and set clear areas of focus for accelerating recovery, including the refresh of the Scottish Attainment Challenge programme.

Plans to help Scotland’s education system recover from the COVID-19 pandemic were published by the Scottish Government in October 2021. The Education Recovery Strategy set out the significant additional investment of almost £500 million being provided, as part of education recovery . This additional investment supported the recruitment of additional teachers and support staff across Local Authorities to provide enhanced support for children and young people and £25m was provided to local authorities for the purchase of 72,000 digital devices and 14,000 internet connections - helping support children, young people and staff across the country.

The pandemic and current cost of living crisis has undoubtedly deepened inequity; but this further necessitates our relentless focus on closing the poverty related attainment gap. That’s why we continue to empower schools and local authorities to improve the attainment and wellbeing of children and young people through our £1billion investment in the Scottish Attainment Challenge. This is alongside a range of other investments to mitigate the impact of poverty on our young people’s education, such as the school clothing grant, and the most comprehensive free school meal offer in the UK, saving families taking those meals around £400 per child, each year. We are also working with Local Authorities to extend our current offer of free school meals to those in P6 and P7 who are in receipt of Scottish Child Payment, which will benefit around 26,000 children.