Report – Not Included, Not Engaged, Not Involved

Date: 19th October 2018
Category: Education, including vocational education, Additional support for learning
Author: Children in Scotland

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Children in Scotland, Scottish Autism and the National Autistic Society Scotland have launched a new report on autistic children’s experiences of missing school.

This report builds upon existing evidence which highlighted that some autistic children are not having their right to an education fulfilled and are missing a significant and concerning amount of school.

Children in Scotland, Scottish Autism and the National Autistic Society Scotland carried out research to explore the experiences of these pupils and their families with the aim of understanding:

·         the amount of time some autistic pupils are missing from school

·         the reasons why this has happened

·         whether alternative arrangements for their education have been put in place

·         what support has been offered to return to school

·         what the impact on the children and young people and their families has been

A total of 1,417 responses were received, with responses from every local authority in Scotland.

The report explores children’s experiences of formal exclusions, unlawful exclusions, part-time timetables and time out of school for reasons other than common childhood illnesses. Half of parents (50%) stated that their child had experienced more than one of these types of absence with 7% of parents stating that their child had experienced all four of these kinds of absence outlined in the report.

The report concludes with nine calls to actions, including a reduction in the number of formal exclusions of children with additional support needs, improved availability of specialist teachers and greater awareness of children’s rights to additional support for learning with children, young people and families.

Download the executive summary and full report here.