FOI21/22 098 Additional Support Needs

Please provide the following: Years 2017, 2018, 2019 Pupils with ASN who achieved 5 Nat 5?s and those that achieved 5 highers in the Scottish Borders Council region. If possible broken down by high school. Also this figure for Scotland as a whole. Please also provide these figures for those that do not have an ASN. If it is possible to separate the reason for ASN then please also provide the above information for those who are dyslexic.

We are unable to provide the information requested as it is not held by the SQA. We do not hold Additional Support Needs (ASN) data for learners.

However, we do hold some data relating to Assessment Arrangements (AA). These are for candidates with a disability or additional support needs, although in some cases these will be for a temporary disability, for example a broken arm. AAs are needs-led and in many cases learners don’t require or decide not to request an AA for some or all of their subjects, or may request it but then in reality do not use the provisions. As such, we wouldn’t know if all ASN learners required/registered for the AA service. If requested, we could provide the relevant analysis based on the AA data we have for 2019, inferences from this data would be limited given the caveats mentioned above. NB We can only provide 2019 as we don’t retain the data for more than 2 years as per our Records Retention Schedule.

Section 25 of FOISA provides that where an authority does not hold information requested it should notify the requester to that effect. As stated, we don’t hold the information for the ASN. However, we believe that the Scottish Government may hold the information relevant to your requests and you should direct your requests to that organisation.

You can submit your requests via the Scottish Government’s FOI Department at the following link; ceu@gov.scot

Or the specific department (Education Analysis) can be reached at: school.stats@gov.scot