Our response to the McManus review of Additional Support for Learning provision in Scotland

In March, Janie McManus, the Scottish Government’s Professional Advisor for Education, published her ‘rapid review’ of Additional Support for Learning (ASL) provision in Scotland. We welcomed the findings, which, at their most basic level, are an acknowledgement of the clear and pressing need for system-level transformations in how schools and educators support (and are supported) pupils with Additional Support Needs (ASN).

Additional Support for Learning: A Review of System Delivery for Learners has been positioned as the successor to Support for Learning: All Our Children And All Their Potential – a 2020 review, commonly referred to as the ‘Morgan Report’.

While Morgan, and the action plan that followed it, was an important step towards greater access to inclusive education for neurodivergent learners, it is clear that the lack of quality data, under-investment, and a lack of sustained and quality engagement with learners and educators have all played a role in frustrating the progress we all want to see.

Neurodivergent people and advocacy charities, including The Donaldson Trust, have been clear on the need for significant action across the board – including in these three areas. These are sentiments shared by Audit Scotland and covered within their 2025 review of ASL provision, which we welcomed at the time.

We are pleased that the ASL Review has directly tackled the need for structural change in education in a similar fashion. A long-term, strategic approach to ASN provision in Scotland is needed if the Scottish Government is to ensure the promise of inclusive education matches the reality. As the review recognises, a significant increase in the demand for support, local variation in provision and in ‘thresholds’ for support, pressures on workforce, and multi-agency co-ordination (a lack of) have all played a role in bringing us to a place where real change is absolutely necessary.

McManus identifies six requirements for a ‘reliable delivery’ of ASL:

• A shared national approach to planning and decision-making
  • Reduce avoidable local variation through clearer national expectations
  • Align local staged intervention models to a shared approach
    • Expectations on application of thresholds, planning processes
      
      
• A workforce model aligned to the scale and complexity of need
  • Embed ASL in Initial Teacher Education, professional learning, leadership development
  • ASL imbedded as a core consideration in curriculum design
    
    
• Capacity to deliver early and sustained support
  • Protect and plan capacity across education, health, and care so intervention happens early
    
    
• Clear and consistent multi-agency coordination
  • Establish clearer pathways and thresholds so services work together more reliably and specialist support is accessed sooner.
    
    
• Clear visibility of children and young people’s needs, support, and progress
  • Improve how information is gathered and used, focusing on outcomes that matter to learners, not just attainment
    • Moving away from the ‘what is measured is done’ thinking
      
      
• Delivery model aligned to current system demand
  • Create a clearer national model showing how universal, targeted, specialist, and statutory support interact
    

The Scottish Government has accepted all of the McManus recommendations. The Donaldson Trust, as a provider of specialist education and neurodivergence advocacy organisation, is looking forward to playing our role in ensuring meaningful change.