Membership Spotlight highlights the work of our member organisations and outline how other individuals and NGOs can support them. During #NationalStorytellingWeek, we are shining the light on Enquire for their 25 years celebration and their story of growth.

Enquire is the Scottish national advice service for additional support for learning. Our role is to help raise awareness of child’s rights around additional needs, education and support in school, and support those working with children and families to help deliver best practice. We also provide information and advice for children and young people themselves on our website, Reach.

Enquire are pleased to be members of Together. We have a lot of similar values and share the vision that children and young people should be supported, included and listened to when it comes to decisions that directly affect them. We have worked together formally and informally in a number of ways over the years and always find Together’s knowledge, expertise and support to be invaluable.

We are partners in the My Rights My Say service which supports young people aged 12-15 with an additional support need to contribute to discussions and decisions around their education, and co-manage the Inclusion Ambassadors alongside Children in Scotland.

Rising need

Scottish Government figures published in December 2024 identify that more than 40% of Scottish school pupils had a recognised additional support need – a figure that is continually rising. Alongside this, we know waiting lists for assessment remain unmanageably high.

At national level, there has been a shift towards more recognition of additional support needs and how well the education system meets the needs of these pupils. A series of national reviews over the last few years, from the Independent Review of Additional Support for Learning (ASL Review) to the most recent ASL Inquiry conducted by the Scottish Parliament’s Children, Young People and Education Committee, have all revealed there is much to do in a system that doesn’t always have the resources, knowledge or understanding to support children and young people in their settings.

So, as we celebrate 25 years of our service, there has never been more need for what we offer.

Amplifying the voices of young people

The experiences and views of children and young people with additional support needs has always been central to our vision and values. In recent years we have actively shifted our approach to be more aware of meaningfully embedding their voices across everything we do. This conscious shift is recognition that – no matter the audience – our advice and information needs to place children and young people at the centre.  

We include the voices of children, young people and families with first-hand experience and knowledge into our outreach and information sessions, as well as our responses to government policy and consultations and are threading pupil voice through all our advice and information on the Enquire website. Reach, our website tailored for young people, is also now more closely connected to the main Enquire website providing a stronger link between the two. Parents, carers and professionals are encouraged to utilise Reach as a tool to help the young people in their lives understand what support in school could, or should, look like.

This shift in focus can also be seen across other areas of work. As partners in the management of the Inclusion Ambassadors project, a role we have held since 2018, we have become better placed to make connections between areas of additional support for learning that are consistently highlighted as challenging.  We are also feeding what the Inclusion Ambassadors have told us into Enquire planning. Alongside this, we are pleased to also be supporting the development of the new My Rights My Say Young Advisers group who are actively engaging with professionals to facilitate change in education for children with additional support needs.

Working with professionals and policymakers

Enquire have a range of resources to aid teachers and educational professionals who need to plan support around learners with additional needs.  Our pages for professionals cover; understanding the right to support (including support without a diagnosis), planning and delivering support and working together with children and their families. It also hosts a series of short, free eModules around key topics relating to supporting learners with additional needs as well as practical classroom and school resources created by the Inclusion Ambassadors. 

All these resources have been designed to help teachers and other professionals support learners with additional needs, and their families, in a practical way.

We also work to share our evidence and data with policymakers, feeding into a range of working groups and project boards working directly in the field of additional support for learning, as well as responding to relevant consultations and calls for evidence using what families and young people have told us about their experiences.

Supporting and informing parents

We support parents and carers to better understand the policy landscape, sharing more about children’s rights around education and support in a range of ways.

When parents and carers make contact with us they are often at a point of crisis. They don’t know where to turn or what their next steps can be. For many, it is also about having a compassionate listening ear, to be heard and to feel seen.

Our website is a wealth of information, sharing advice, information and guidance on policy and practice for children and young people with additional support needs ranging from preschool and into young adulthood. Some key areas we cover are; understanding rights, support in the early years and throughout school, working with school and attendance and exclusion. In addition, our trained helpline staff can offer more tailored advice to specific or complex circumstances.

We also host regular information sessions for parents, carers and families. Held online, these free sessions offer advice, guidance and resources around specific support needs such as autism, ADHD or mental health. All our past events can be viewed on the Enquire You Tube channel.

In 25 years, the Enquire service has grown, expanded and adapted from primarily being seen as an information and helpline service for parents – which is still an integral part of our work – to be recognised for all the services we provide.

We know the additional support for learning landscape needs to see some significant changes. In the meantime, we will continue to help parent, carers and young people understand their rights, advocate for improvements to support for learning, more support for professionals and elevate the voices of young people who have first-hand experience of the education system and learning support services in Scotland.  Together, we hope we can be a part of the change that so many need to see.

Find out more about Enquire at www.enquire.org.uk

Visit Reach, Enquire’s website for children and young people at reach.scot

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Are you a Together organisational member and would like to collaborate for a Membership Spotlight? Email: caitlin@togetherscotland.org.uk

State of Children’s Rights Report 2024

• Read our recently published report which 220 babies, children and young people share their stories, click here.

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