Post-16 Transitions: a Longitudinal Study of Young People with ...

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of work-related training schemes. In turn, this has meant finding ways of ensuring that these expanded forms of provision could be funded and that young people had the financial means and incentives to pursue them. The current attempt to enable half of all young people to go to university (DfES, 2003c), therefore, can be seen as part of an ongoing programme for expanding the education and training pathways that can be traced back at least as far as the Youth Training Schemes of the 1980s. Second, governments have sought to make this expanded range of opportunities both coherent and progressive. This has involved, for instance, developing programmes and credentials (such as GNVQs) which straddle the educationtraining boundary and lowering the barriers between institutions in terms of the kinds of qualifications they can offer and the extent to which qualifications are transferable between them. It has also involved ensuring that this more coherent system opens up pathways for young people which propel them towards higher levels of skills development and accreditation so that they are ultimately able to enter the labour market with a good prospect of finding employment. The clearest markers of these trends were, perhaps, the establishment of first the Further Education Funding Council in 1992 and then the Learning and Skills Council in 2000. Between them, these councils not only progressively brought the post-16 sector under a single umbrella, but also ensured that funded provision in that sector was oriented towards accreditation and progression into the labour market. This agenda continues to be taken forward by the government’s 14- 19 strategy (DfES, 2003a). Of particular significance from the point of view of young people with special educational needs was the establishment by the Learning and Skills Act 2000 of the Connexions Service. Within the context of a commitment to all young people, this new service is intended to have a clear focus on supporting the transition of those young people most at risk of ‘fractured’ transitions and, moreover, of sustaining that support to a point in their lives where progression through education and training and into the labour market is likely to be a reality, for the majority at least. For most young people, this means that they will have access to Connexions between the ages of 13 and 19, but for young people with learning difficulties and disabilities, support can be provided up to the age of 25. For individual young people (and particularly those with the greatest difficulties) Connexions is potentially an important element in ensuring that the new range of education and training opportunities cohere into genuinely progressive routes through the transition process. This study explores the Post-16 Transitions of Young People with SEN: Wave 2 11
degree to which Connexions is becoming present in the lives of the young people with SEN. However, it is important to remember that the young people taking part in the survey and the case studies were beginning the transition process in school before Connexions was launched. The new service also got off to a staggered start which meant that it was fully operational in only a minority of areas as these young people reached the end of Year 11. 2.2.1 Transitions and young people with special educational needs In many ways, the issues facing young people with SEN as they make the transition at 16 plus are the same as for all other young people. However, there are some special factors that need to be recognised. For instance, the four pathways described above have historically been configured somewhat differently for at least some young people with SEN. They are, in particular, likely to have access to specialist forms of provision ie special school sixth forms, specialist FE colleges, special courses in mainstream colleges, specialist training providers. The corollary of this is that they may find it more difficult to gain access to some mainstream forms of provision and their actual choices at age 16 may be severely constrained (Heslop et al, 2001; Morris, 2002; Routledge, 2000). Moreover, for those with the most severe and complex disabilities, mainstream qualifications and open employment opportunities are out of reach. The notion of progression towards these goals is, therefore, highly problematic and at some point such young people have tended to fall into a particular form of the ‘NEET’ pathway which effectively takes the form of care in the home and in highly sheltered settings. A further difference is that, for some young people with special educational needs, there are more formal procedures to support transition than for the rest of their peers. Those young people who have a statement of special educational needs (usually, those with more significant levels of SEN) are entitled to annual reviews of their provision and progress. Since 1994 (DFEE, 1994; DfES, 2001), there has been a requirement that these reviews should be explicitly focused on transition planning as the young person nears the end of statutory schooling. In principle, the young person, parents and carers, the school and all relevant professionals (including, latterly, Connexions advisers) draw up a plan for the young person’s next step and ensure that appropriate support and provision are in place. However, in practice the transition planning procedures have not operated as smoothly as might have been hoped (Heslop et al, 2001; Morris, 2002; Polat et al., 2001). Recent studies continue to suggest that, 12 Post-16 Transitions of Young People with SEN: Wave 2
Page 1 and 2: RESEARCH Post-16 Transitions: a Lon
Page 3 and 4: Acknowledgements The authors would
Page 5 and 6: Contents Executive Summary viii 1.
Page 7 and 8: Executive Summary Introduction This
Page 9 and 10: help or information from the young
Page 11 and 12: profound difficulties and those whi
Page 14 and 15: 1. Introduction This report present
Page 16 and 17: Main-stage fieldwork The aim in the
Page 18 and 19: Table 1.2: Estimates of the number
Page 20 and 21: • Chapter ten draws together the
Page 22 and 23: when educational options have a str
Page 26 and 27: without very considerable effort on
Page 28 and 29: introduction of a Children’s Bill
Page 30 and 31: 3. Characteristics of Young People
Page 32 and 33: difficulties. The less common forms
Page 34 and 35: Table 3.6: Statement of special edu
Page 36 and 37: Table 3.10: Change in SEN status N
Page 38 and 39: severe learning difficulties/profou
Page 40 and 41: 4. School and Outcomes A primary ai
Page 42 and 43: Table 4.2: Young person’s recall
Page 44 and 45: Table 4.5: Reasons why transition p
Page 46 and 47: Table 4.7: People involved in the t
Page 48 and 49: Table 4.9: Coverage of transition p
Page 50 and 51: Table 4.10: Coverage of transition
Page 52 and 53: Figure 4:3: Reasons why Year 11 dis
Page 54 and 55: Table 4.13: Provider of help to pre
Page 56 and 57: Table 4.15: Most helpful person whe
Page 58 and 59: Table 4.18: Extent to which school
Page 60 and 61: In cases such as these, transition
Page 62 and 63: were choices but young person and f
Page 64 and 65: Figure 4:6: Young People’s views
Page 66 and 67: “In school he had quite a lot of
Page 68 and 69: Figure 4.7: Whether gained qualific
Page 70 and 71: Figure 4.11: Level of qualification
Page 72 and 73: • Over three-quarters of all youn
Page 74 and 75:
Table 5.1: Current main activity Al
Page 76 and 77:
Table 5.4: Current main activity, b
Page 78 and 79:
Table 5.6: Current main activity, b
Page 80 and 81:
college for people with LDD, and we
Page 82 and 83:
transition plan to have sought advi
Page 84 and 85:
5.2.3 Ease of transition The majori
Page 86 and 87:
Table 5.14: Occupation/training typ
Page 88 and 89:
5.3.3 Method of jobsearch and advic
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• help to progress into work/trai
Page 92 and 93:
Table 5.21: Reasons for current ina
Page 94 and 95:
Table 5.24: Advice received when lo
Page 96 and 97:
However, he was finding this new co
Page 98 and 99:
years, often in quite productive ac
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Table 5.25: Parent/carer view on ex
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employment or a training placement
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Figure 6:2: Benefit receipt, by SEN
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had not had any subsequent contact
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Table 6.3: Type of support lost sin
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Table 6.5: Additional support recei
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met by his special school sixth for
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education since their child left Ye
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• colleges (33 per cent of parent
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published information against just
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who had a statement of SEN and/or h
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Table 6.12: Parent/carer knowledge
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Figure 7:1: Qualifications gained (
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Parents were also asked to reflect
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“(He is) a bit more independent;
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immaturity and the fact that she is
Page 132 and 133:
8. Leisure Activities and Social Li
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Figure 8:2: Weekday evenings spent
Page 136 and 137:
For some young people, the involvem
Page 138 and 139:
For Li, who has found his own way o
Page 140 and 141:
Figure 9:2: Parental views on young
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Table 9.1: Views on the future, all
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Table 9.5: View (4) on the future,
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9.3 Next activity Almost three-quar
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plans for their futures but for var
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10. Conclusions 10.1 Introduction T
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Transition planning is purposely fo
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needs in both the academic and the
Page 156 and 157:
and most reported that they had mor
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the most severe and complex difficu
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Appendix One: Wave 2 survey Summary
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Table A.1: Profile of participating
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10.5.2 Weighting Table A.3 reports
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• Economic factors • Structural
Page 168 and 169:
gave their consent and who lived in
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Gareth is a young man with learning
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she does not succeed, her Connexion
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examples here are Maria who wants t
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time to themselves. The problem for
Page 178 and 179:
here. He is one of the nicest peopl
Page 180 and 181:
Appendix Four: References Bignall T
Page 182:
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