LATEST figures show how Additional Support Needs (ASN) specialist teachers in Scotland dropped to an all time low.
Following the Pupil Census last year, latest figures show that in 2020 the number of ASN specialist teachers in Scotland dropped to 2,811, its lowest level.
While the number of pupils who require additional support has grown to almost quarter of a million.
While the number of pupils has risen to 226,838. This makes for a ratio of just one ASN teacher for every eighty one pupils with diagnosed additional needs.
A decade ago, there were 3,524 specialist teachers supporting just 69,587 pupils with ASN, a ratio of one to twenty.
Commenting, Scottish Greens education spokesperson Ross Greer said:
“Some of the worst human rights abuses in Scotland are inflicted on children with complex additional needs, who are left unsupported at school and often traumatised as a result.
“The fault doesn’t lie with their teachers, who put in herculean efforts despite their overwhelming workloads. It is the fault of those who have cut ASN budgets at the same time as demand has skyrocketed.
“Our schools need more staff. They need more learning assistants, more classroom teachers, more counsellors and they urgently need more specialist additional support needs teachers. Scotland’s most vulnerable children deserve nothing less.”
