PA MediaThe number of pupils in Scottish schools with additional support needs (ASN) is likely to rise again when figures are published later this year, the country’s Education Secretary has said.
Statistics released last year showed 40.5% of children had an identified additional need in 2024, up from 36.7% the previous year.
Speaking at a fringe meeting hosted by the NASUWT teaching union at the SNP conference in Aberdeen, Jenny Gilruth said that figure is likely to continue to increase.
“We have a really broad measurement in terms of additional support – that’s a good thing,” she said.
“At the moment, additional support needs in schools sit at around about 40%, the next data update I think is December and we can expect that figure to rise again within that measurement.”
The Education Secretary also told the meeting children were being impacted by poverty “before they even cross the school gates”, adding that she was “astonished” by the number of schools which have facilities such as food banks or clothing banks.
“The normalisation of poverty in our schools horrifies me,” she said.
“Food banks, clothing banks are normal features in everyday schools in Scotland in 2025 – an energy rich Scotland, that is completely unacceptable.
“Our schools are having to respond to this call in terms of poverty in our communities, but they shouldn’t have to be doing that.
“They’re doing that because that’s what schools have always done – they’re meeting the needs of children in ways, historically, I don’t think we would have thought was the role of schools.”
Ms Gilruth appeared at the fringe less than 24 hours on from the announcement that teachers in the EIS union were to be balloted on strike action as a result of their workload.
She said she was “very supportive” of moves to reduce class contact time for teachers, adding that the Government was “doing a lot of heavy lifting just now because I’m trying to get this over the line”.
Ms Gilruth added that while it is not a Government responsibility to handle the workloads of teachers, there was “more we can do” at a local level.
Mike Corbett, the national official for the NASUWT in Scotland, laid out his union’s asks of the next Scottish government elected in May.
Among the asks was an increase in pay for teachers and a system to ensure there are “sufficient numbers”.
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