Given its significantly increased investment in funding for staff development in special educational needs, the Scottish Executive should evaluate its impact in terms of numbers and qualifications of staff and its influence on school and service practice. The Committee considers that authorities should ensure a systematic approach to professional development linked to national and local priorities, while the National SEN Training Co-ordination Project should maintain and develop its function to assist with evaluations. The Scottish Executive and local authorities should review the effectiveness of in-service training arrangements for the professional development of all staff working with children with severe low incidence disabilities. The Committee recognises the valuable role which special needs auxiliaries play in supporting children with special educational needs. This role includes reinforcing the work of teaching staff in assisting pupils' learning and implementing terms of Records of Needs.
Care has to be taken, however, to ensure that such support involves a genuinely inclusive approach.
Pupils should remain within the educational responsibility of their teachers and engage with teachers and their peer pupils as much as possible, and should not be either wholly dependent on, or unintentionally isolated by the presence of, support staff. Good quality staff development and training is essential and the Committee welcomes the work being done by the National SEN Training Co-ordination Project to develop training modules for SEN auxiliaries. Some authorities are considering a common set of terms and conditions for SEN auxiliaries and classroom assistants. The Committee believes that this is an issue which requires monitoring. Although not part of its remit, the Committee considers it important that its report should reflect the considerable anxieties that parents of children with severe disabilities have about the future of their children post school and emphasise that the needs of this group of young people not be overlooked.