This presentation will consider the disjunction between Scottish education policy’s view of Additional Support Needs as a means of recognising and meeting needs and day-to-day school practice (Scottish Government, 2017). Drawing on examples of practice and key policy statements, it will consider how teachers mediate the tensions between policy and practice. Issues that will be drawn out include the mismatch between policy that is informed by a socio-ecological model of difference and the medicalised model that is used to level resources in school, and the fixed nature of assigned labels in contrast to the changing presentations of ‘disabilities’ through a child’s time in school (Essex and MacAskill, 2020). Responses to diversity in capacity will be analysed in terms of how they impact on a child’s experience of schooling and considers the multiple mechanisms whereby identifying a support need often acts as a key determinant of future failure. Finally, the presentation will set out the new version of the Framework for Inclusion which is intended to help teachers negotiate the gaps between policy in, and practice of, educational inclusion (Scottish Universities Inclusion Group, 2022).

Essex, J. and Macaskill, M. (2020). Modern Foreign Language Education for learners with Additional Support Needs in Scotland, Support for Learning, 35 (4), 440-453. Scottish Government. (2017). Code of Practice for Additional support for learning: statutory guidance. Available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/supporting-childrens-learning-statutory-guidance-education-additional-support-learning-scotland Scottish Universities Inclusion Group (2022). National Framework for Inclusion (3rd edition) Available at: https://www.gtcs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/National-Framework-3rd-Edition-2022.docx