Back in December of last year, after running major special reports on both the college and university sectors, The Herald education team (with help from one of our excellent politics reporters) decided to shine a light on the state of Additional Support Needs (ASN) provision in Scotland.

What we found was extraordinary and, in the worst cases, horrifying.

There has been a huge rise in the number of pupils recorded as having some sort of additional support need, which the figure now above 40%, and almost all of those young people are being education in mainstream classrooms.

The amount of funding per pupil with ASN has, however, dropped dramatically, as has the number of specialist ASN teachers. The number of dedicated schools for pupils with ASN (still formally known as ‘special schools’) has fallen enormously in the last fifteen years.

There is a clear correlation between deprivation levels and additional support needs, with those from the poorest backgrounds being much more likely to need some kind of ASN provision.

Pupils with ASN have lower attendance rates, far higher exclusion rates, and a significantly smaller chance of leaving school with at least one National 5 or Higher qualification.

The largest percentage increases for ASN reasons between 2013 and 2023 applied to bereavement ( 509%), mental health problems ( 601%) and young carers ( 680%).

You can see all of the stats that we........

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