Amended Motion 32
Poverty in Education
‘‘That this Congress re-affirms that poverty has a lasting, damaging impact on the future life chances of children. Congress supports the Scottish Government’s national priority to reduce the poverty-related achievement and attainment gap, and the associated use of targeted funding.
‘‘Congress notes, that sadly, statistically, little progress has been made to close the poverty-related attainment gap in Scotland.
‘‘Congress notes that education transforms peoples lives and provides improved opportunities, but schools alone cannot mitigate all the effects of child poverty.
‘‘Congress notes the high correlation of incidence of additional learning support needs with incidence of poverty, that ASN pupils are eight times more likely to be excluded from school than others and that pupils with ASN particularly benefit from being taught in smaller classes.
‘‘Pupils need more educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, counsellors, and other professionals to support them.
‘’Congress asserts that children’s external support services are currently stretched too thin, with excessively long waiting times, meaning that every child is not getting the right support.
‘‘Congress believes that the provision of universal free school meals would assist in reducing the poverty-related attainment gap, and calls on the Scottish Government to immediately honour its commitment to roll out free school meals to all Primary pupils and universally extend provision to all Secondary pupils.
Congress further believes that all post school education needs to be properly funded, including ensuring the cost of teaching and student support in universities is covered by public funding to meet fair access targets based on SIMD indicators
‘‘Congress calls on the Scottish Government to review and increase the resources allocated to reducing child poverty and closing the poverty-related attainment gap.
‘‘Congress demands:
- more investment in education and professional services that support pupils and students to overcome poverty-related barriers and make meaningful progress in their learning;
- additional investment in early-years education to support our youngest children, with every child having minimum guaranteed access to a qualified teacher; and
- more investment to fund more teachers, pupil support assistants and allied professionals to give every child a quality, equitable education.
- investing in post-school education to deliver fair access.
Mover: Educational Institute of Scotland
Seconder: University and College Union
RSS