| Summary: | This research evaluates the process of change at school and local authority level, as a result of the implementation of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. Five research questions investigate the perceptions of those school staff taking part in the process of change, in that they query: the properties staff attach to the process of change; the conditions they believe may foster or inhibit the process of change; the skills they feel are important to facilitating a process of change; what changes there may be for children with Additional Support Needs; and, importantly, what meaning they infer from taking part in the process of change. This research pursues a flexible qualitative design, marrying Grounded Theory and a Constructivist philosophical perspective. The method utilised to address these questions involved administering initial Quality Indicator Schedules, followed by twelve semi-structured interviews in three phases (A, B & C) with staff in two schools. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the transcribed interviews took place at the end of phases A, B and C. The research findings suggested that those staff taking part attached the following properties to the process of change: change in school practice; good understanding; and an understanding and attitudinal shift. In addition, staff were able to depict the conditions, from their own perspective, that either fostered or inhibited the process of change, to the extent that, during phase C, they had conceptualised their thinking into a framework: the Bottom-Up Model/Approach which offered them a preferred framework to help support future processes of change. The meaning inferred, from the perspective of those staff taking part in the process of change, focused on self and school improvement better to support children with Additional Support Needs.
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