The gap in attainment associated with socio-economic status is an internationally recognised problem [1-5]. Significant attention has been devoted to it but much of this focus resides within a discourse and culture of performativity in which international league tables drive global policy [6, 7]. Within the United Kingdom, the London Challenge (and the associated City and National Challenges) was hailed as a potential solution to the problem with many positive outcomes deriving from it [8-12]. The Scottish Government based its policy upon this, investing an initial £100 million in the Scottish Attainment Challenge supported by the National Improvement Framework to support implementation. This paper argues that insufficient attention has been devoted to understanding the nature of the problem with children in poverty tending to be seen as one homogenous group to whom the same solutions can be applied.

An examination of data derived from the Scottish Government [13, 14] indicates that the disparity in attainment and exclusion statistics is stark for those who are identified as having Additional Support Needs (ASN); those falling within the lowest Scottish Indices of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD); and for Looked After and Accommodated Children (LAAC) in comparison to children who do not fall within these categories. Whilst there is data that focuses upon the relationship between attainment and ASN and between attainment and poverty, there is little publicly available data which examines the relationship between attainment, ASN, poverty and children’s mental health and wellbeing. Given the significant correlation between ASN and attainment; that social and emotional behavioural needs (SEBN) account for the highest proportion of children with ASN (and is a growing trend)[15]; and that six times as many children from the most deprived families were recorded as having social, emotional and behavioural needs (SEBN) than other children [16], it is fair to assume that the attainment gap is likely to be greatest at the intersection of these categories. This data tells us very little about the nature of mental health and social and emotional behavioural needs experienced by pupils in Scotland.

There is a general consensus within the international literature upon the importance of high quality leadership in effecting systems change and driving improvement [1, 17-20] and, in the light of the above and with the objective of casting light on the above problem, this paper focuses upon addressing the following questions:

1. drawing from the literature and current data, what is the relationship between attainment, poverty and children’s mental health and wellbeing as far as it can be established?
2. Where are the gaps in the data?
3. How might the findings from this paper inform how the Scottish Government should direct its resources towards ‘closing the gap’?
4. What are implications of the above for leadership at all levels of the system and for educational systems more broadly?

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