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The ‘Included, Engaged and Involved Part 2: Preventing and Managing School Exclusions’ guidance was published in 2017.

In June last year, I convened the first meeting of a Headteacher taskforce which focused on school exclusions. The topic of school exclusions was also discussed by a wide range of stakeholders, including local authorities, at the series of behaviour summits held between September and November last year.

In November, the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BISSR) was also published, which provides the accurate national picture in relation to behaviour in Scotland’s schools. Local authority staff were interviewed as part of BISSR.

We are currently working with the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools , which includes COSLA, to establish what actions are required to be included in the national action plan to respond to the findings of the summit process and BISSR. The national action plan will be published as soon as possible.

Updated guidance on the use of mobile phone technologies in schools is expected to be published in Spring 2024. The current guidance to education authorities and schools on this issue remains available from Guidance on Developing Policies to Promote the Safe and Responsible Use of Mobile Technology in Schools (www.gov.scot).

The Scottish Government has provided £367,177 of grant funding per year to CALL Scotland in the last five years. This grant is for services which deliver a positive and enabling impact on the provision of support to children and young people, who can benefit from assistive technology or augmentative and alternative communication.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The assignment of probationer teachers to individual schools is a matter for each local authority.

As I set out in my statement, we have a record number of additional support assistants in our schools, and this has been supported by the £830m spent on additional support for learning in 2021-22. This level of spend on additional support for learning is a record high.

We have maintained our record level of investment in pupil support assistants by providing authorities with a further £15m per year since 2019-20 to specifically support schools and authorities to respond to the individual needs of children and young people. As a direct result of our continued investment, we now have the highest recorded level of pupil support assistants. In 2022, 307 additional pupil support assistants were recruited. This builds on the increase of 1,036 from the previous year (2021) and brings the total number of pupil support staff in Scotland to 16,606.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23878 on‎ 8 January 2024. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23878 on 8 January 2024. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The assignment of probationer teachers to individual schools is a matter for each local authority.

Occupational health therapy services are provided by NHS Boards in Scotland, therefore there is no school staffing impact in respect of these services.

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 places NHS Boards under a duty to support the identification, provision of support and review of additional support for learning. The arrangements for the provision of support to education authorities in undertaking their duties is set out within the Additional support for learning: statutory guidance 2017 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We published guidance in June 2017 - ‘Included, Engaged and Involved – Part 2 – preventing and managing school exclusions’ - for teachers. The guidance gives a stronger focus on supporting positive behaviour and approaches that can be used to prevent the need for exclusion.

The series of summits I held with a wide range of stakeholders on behaviour in schools concluded in November. The summit process culminated in the publication of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BISSR), which provides the accurate national picture in relation to behaviour in Scotland’s schools.

In my statement to Parliament on 29 November, I confirmed that a multi-year plan is in development to tackle instances of challenging behaviour, working with local authorities, trade unions and others.

We are currently working with the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools to establish what actions are required to respond to the findings of the summit process and BISSR. The national action plan will be published as soon as possible.