Advocacy and Representation
The Education Law Unit can provide legal representation in education law cases which require to be decided by courts or tribunals, including:
- Education Appeal Committee;
- Children's Hearing;
- Sheriff Court;
- Court of Session; and
- Additional Support Needs Tribunal.
In some cases Legal Aid or Advice & Assistance may be available (and may be assessed on the pupil's income, rather than their parents').
If Legal Aid is not available, we can explore various other options which may allow a case to proceed with a minimum of financial risk.
Examples of our case work
G is a boy whose special educational needs were leading to challenging behaviour in school. The primary school did not feel it was getting adequate support or resources from the education authority, and resorted to frequently excluding the child from school. Following the intervention of the Govan Law Centre, G started at a new school which was more able to meet his needs. A total of seven exclusions from school were overturned by the education appeal committee.
D is a boy with many complex needs. Following an appeal to the Scottish Ministers over the content of Parts 3B & 4 of his Record of Needs, the Council amended Part 5, which is supposed to detail the extra help to be provided. Part 5, in fact, was very brief and did not mention many of the needs outlined in the Record or how they were to be met. Govan Law Centre lodged a petition for judicial review on the basis of this lack of detail. The Council, having taken legal advice, agreed to redraft Part 5 in further detail.
P is a girl with special needs. She attended a special Primary School and, when the time came for her to transfer to Secondary School, her teacher recommended that she go to the associated Secondary School with the rest of her peer group. As this was not her local school, her parents were told to make a placing request, which was granted. However, the Council then refused to provide transport to the new school, because of the placing request. Following Govan Law Centre’s intervention, the girl was assigned a taxi with escort to take her to school.
J is a six year old girl with speech and language difficulties. Her mother wanted her to attend a specialist language unit when she started primary school. The Council were offering a mainstream primary school with 30-45 minutes of outreach support per week. The council argued that there was a presumption of mainstreaming and only “exceptional” children could attend specialist units. J’s mother made a placing request, which was refused. She appealed to the education appeal committee, but was unsuccessful. The only remaining avenue was a further appeal to the sheriff court, but it was very close to the start of term by this stage. Instructed on Thursday, the Govan Law Centre drafted and lodged an appeal to the sheriff the next day. The case was heard by the sheriff on the following Friday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with the decision being delivered the following day. The appeal was successful and J began her place at the language unit at the beginning of term.
Education Law Unit Reported Cases
D. v. Glasgow City Council (Inner House) [2007] CSIH 72
D. v. Glasgow City Council 2007 SLT 881
R.B. v. The Highland Council 2007 SLT 844; 2007 FamLR 115
Gordon, Appellant [2007] FamLR 76
Parent A. v. East Ayrshire Council 2006 FamLR 112
Sim v. Argyll and Bute Council 2006 SLT 970
Smiles v. City of Edinburgh Council 2006 SLT (Sh. Ct.) 6
M.M. v. North Lanarkshire Council 2005 FamLR 2
S. v. Glasgow City Council 2004 SLT (Sh. Ct.) 128
F. v. Glasgow City Council 2004 SLT (Sh. Ct.) 123
Glasgow City Council, Petitioners 2004 SLT 63
Proudfoot v. Glasgow City Council 2003 SLT (Sh. Ct.) 23