The next Scottish Government must take ‘urgent action’ to address the ‘important gap’ of sleep in the education curriculum, experts have said.
A record number of children in Scotland now have a recorded additional support need (ASN), with Scottish charity Sleep Action warning the rising levels cannot be addressed unless sleep is embedded into the education system.
Sleep experts, pupils and charity leaders will meet MSPs in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday to call for change following May’s Holyrood election.
Research shows a direct link between poor sleep and lower academic performance, while also heightening the risk of anxiety and depression.
Sleep deprivation is also thought to disproportionately impact children living in poverty or from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Under the charity’s plans, teachers would be equipped with high quality, evidence-based tools to recognise when a child may need additional support.
Up to 89% of children with an additional support need (ASN) experience sleep issues compared with around 25% of their peers without ASN.
Figures published in December showed that 43% of students were categorised as having an additional need, up 2.5 percentage points from 2023-24.
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That is a total of 299,445 pupils across the country, while official data also showed that almost a third – 28.5% - of school children regularly missed lessons last year.
Alyson O’Brien, head of Sleep Action, said: “There is no health and wellbeing without sleep – and embedding sleep in the Scottish curriculum is a crucial step to improving the health and wellbeing of our young people.
“This week’s event will bring that evidence directly to MSPs of all political parties, making the case for this long overdue action with input from academics and education partners.
“The potential to transform the next generation’s sleep habits lies in the hands of our politicians – and the next Scottish Government must act with urgency following May’s election.”
The calls are backed by academics from universities in Edinburgh, St Andrews and Glasgow, as well as clinical scientist Dr Lizzie Hill, who specialises in supporting children and adults with sleep disorders.
Last year, a public attitudes survey conducted by St Andrews University’s Dr Emma Gale found that 96.8% of the 5,039 Scots questioned believed that sleep should be a public health pillar, while 92% wanted to see the issue incorporated into education, particularly for children aged eight to 14.
Dr Gale said Scotland faced a “widespread sleep disruption” and condemned the lack of a national strategy.
“Scotland risks falling further behind without decisive intervention,” she said.
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