ANGUS, Dundee, Fife and Perth and Kinross councils are all sending more than the national average quota of pupils with special education needs to mainstream schools, writes Andrew Argo, education reporter.

However, one in three local authorities does not check how special needs children are coping once they reach conventional primaries and secondaries.

These are among the findings of an evaluation published yesterday by the Scottish Executive.

The law in Scotland was changed to make it easier for children with special needs and behavioural difficulties to attend mainstream schools, with the Executive wanting youngsters to be treated as equals and social barriers to be broken down.

The report revealed that throughout Scotland 77% of pupils with special needs are being taught in mainstream schools but in Angus the proportion is 92%, in Dundee 93%, in Fife 91% and in Perth and Kinross it is 94%.

The proportion varies depending on location, availability of special schools and other circumstances, and the report also shows that there are more secondary-age pupils in special schools than primary-age pupils.

This may be because of the length of time it takes to decide on the best placement for special needs pupils.

As a result, mainstream primaries are taking in more children with moderate learning difficulties; hearing or visual impairment; social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, and autism.

Mainstream education can help children with physical impairments, but the report indicates that the rise in challenging behaviour in schools is linked to the increase in pupils with autism.

Some special schools are short of therapists because these professionals have so much work in the mainstream sector.

Contrary to claims from elsewhere, the report’s authors found no evidence that the presence of pupils with special needs in mainstream schools had any effect— positive or negative—on pupils’ attainment.

The evaluation found, however, that one in three local authorities did not check how special needs pupils were performing after transferring to mainstream schools, and the others relied on an annual review.

The report recommends greater collaboration between education, health, social service and therapy providers to achieve better workforce planning for inclusion and better service delivery.

The report also suggests that the Executive may need to adopt a strategic planning role to ensure youngsters with special needs receive more effective support.

When Scottish local government was reorganised in 1996, some small local authorities including Angus were left without any special school. Others including Perth and Kinross had a reduced range of specialist facilities.

Dundee, however, was left with Kingspark School, a specialist centre which had had a Tayside-wide remit.

Dundee City Council intends to replace Kingspark but cannot finalise its plans until it knows if Angus Council, which has now developed some specialist provision, will be sending any special needs pupils to it.

In reaction to the report, Capability Scotland which represents the disabled, called for more research to find out if special needs pupils were doing less well in mainstream schools than they were doing before.

SNP education spokeswoman Fiona Hyslop MSP said, “In one in three local authorities there are insufficient measures in place to keep tabs on the progress of children moving from special schools to ordinary schools.”

She added, “Children must not lose out as a result of ministers’ steadfast refusal to acknowledge that there are problems.”

Scottish deputy education minister Robert Brown said the main message from the report was that the right balance was being struck.

He accepted there would be variation between parts of the country, and legislation as well as government action was intended to bring areas which lag behind up to the standard of the best.