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National Review of Assessment: Identification of the Learning and Support Needs of Young People

Summary of Recommendations

Chapter 2: National Survey of Further Education Colleges

1. Consideration should be given to developing an FNA or case conference approach for those school leavers entering FE whose needs have been recognised but not recorded. Further development of transition documents which take account of both pre-entry and pre-exit assessment information might be helpful. (Link)
2. There should be greater clarity and consistency about whether a Record of Need remains open when a young person goes to college, and if not, how the assessment information and recommendations strategies should be used subsequently. (Link)
3. Potential ways of linking Progress File and PLSP documents and procedures should be examined in order to provide evidence of learning and support needs that might help ex-students describe and explain their needs and their progress to organisations providing education, training and employment to them in the future. (Link)
4. There is the need for staff development in FE focused on the practice of assessing learning and support needs, particularly in the development of "soft" skills. Colleges should consider whether commercially produced tools to assist the assessment and development of "soft" skills might play a part in this process. Funding available for Access Centres following the Beattie report may assist. (Link)
5. FE colleges need to consider the extent to which assessment of "hard" and "soft" skills should ideally be applied across the student cohort, and the practicalities of this. (Link)
6. Students need to be more centrally involved in building a personal profile of achievement in both "hard" and "soft" skills. (Link)
7. Like other professional groups involved in this research, FE staff sought greater opportunities for exchange of assessment good practice with colleagues in other colleges and in other sectors than were currently possible. Opportunities for exchange of good practice should be encouraged and supported. (Link)
8. In collaboration with other organisations and agencies in a locality, FE colleges should review the gaps in assessment information and strategies for particular client groups or categories of need. This should be based on broader agreement and protocols on information flow. (Link)

Chapter 3: National Telephone Survey of Careers Service Companies (CSCs)

1. Careers Scotland should work with others to examine and improve systems for the identification of young people in residential schools outwith their home area, and for the internal transfer of assessment information on their needs. (Link)
2. Careers Scotland should examine the issue of transfer of assessment information within its own organisation as clients move around the country, bearing in mind the need for immediate response to the needs of particular client groups. (Link)
3. Strategies for early recognition and assessment of needs should recognise the potential contribution of all relevant practitioners, and where employability assessments or decisions about future choices in education, training and work are to be made, should as a minimum identify individual young people to Careers Scotland staff and ensure transfer of information on their needs. (Link)
4. There would be value in raising the awareness of CSC staff of the range of commercially produced tools and of strategies and approaches that could enhance the interview as a method of assessment. Both training and ongoing support would encourage their use. (Link)
5. Within Careers Scotland and/or within the network of inclusiveness projects there should be a central forum for the exchange and sharing of good practice and experience. Such a group could also contribute to the development and review of policy, to the identification of the training needs of staff and to the sharing of training costs. (Link)
6. Definitions of "employability" need to be talked through and agreed. There should be more use of school evidence from Education for Work provision and from core skill achievement in the assessment of employability. Given that Careers Scotland will include both the careers services and education business partnerships, this would seem a possible role for the new organisation, in co-operation with local authorities. (Link)
7. There is a need for staff to be clearer about the difference between a vocational guidance interview and a diagnostic interview (i.e. which assesses needs other than career development ones). Both pre-service and in-service provision might assist this. (Link)
8. Careers Service Companies have already begun the process of internal restructuring to ensure integration of support services within each company (to a considerable degree as a result of the requirements for delivery of inclusiveness projects). Careers Scotland also has taken account of the need to ensure an appropriate balance between specialist and generic delivery. This process needs to continue, in the interests of coherent delivery of services to clients. (Link)
9. CSCs and Careers Scotland staff should seek to find a common philosophy on assessment and identification of needs, given its importance in prioritising work for the client group as a whole. (Link)
10. Support for Careers Scotland staff negotiating Service Level Agreements with school colleagues should be provided. (Link)

Chapter 4: Aspects of Good Practice and Development

1. Local partnerships should consider reviewing assessment practice in their area using the seven characteristics of good practice listed below:

• Multi-disciplinary approaches
• Documentation guidelines, recording systems and support booklets
• Transfer of assessment information
• Provision of assessment
• Client-centred guidance and ownership
• Early identification
• Continuity of contact (Link)

2. There is a need for the establishment of national and local good practice groups and for national events for the dissemination of good practice in the identification of learning and support needs. (Link)

Chapter 5: Key issues

1. A common definition of assessment is needed and this should be discussed and fleshed out by local partnerships. In particular, increased understanding of the importance of organisational and individual context within assessment is required, so that the (sometimes inevitable) limitations of assessment conducted within one context are acknowledged and understood. (Link)
2. Agencies and organisations require advice and support in relation to the assessment of "soft" skills. A clear common definition of what is meant by "soft" skills would be helpful. (Link)
3. High professional standards, an ethical approach and careful management are essential to assessment, particularly when there is a close relationship between the provision of evidence of client progress and continuing or new funding. (Link)
4. There are positive reasons for considering the use of appropriate assessment tools as part of a 1:1 interview. These may be commercially-produced measures, or locally designed techniques or approaches which are tried and tested and are respected by colleagues in other agencies. Benefits might include greater objectivity, increased credibility for the assessment process by funders and more client ownership of the process (if used appropriately). (Link)
5. There are particular reasons why those conducting assessments in small communities might find value in incorporating commercially-produced or well-respected tools into a guidance-based assessment. (Link)
6. There is the need to develop a simple approach to synthesising assessment information for individual clients. (Link)
7. From the perspective of young people, being consulted, involved and able to contribute to assessment was critical. A relationship with an assessor which was based on this, and which ensured maximum understanding of the processes and purposes of assessment, was key to a young client's positive view of assessment. Professional practice, organisational development and continuous professional development should be directed towards this. (Link)
8. There needs to be common agreement about the young person's ownership of any transition document. (Link)
9. Steps should be taken to increase the involvement of staff of the Employment Service in local multi-agency case work and in policy-making at local and Scottish level. (Link)
10. Local inclusiveness projects should consider the development of case-conferencing approaches for the assessment of the needs of a broader range of clients than at present. The client's central involvement in this process must be recognised. (Link)
11. A common protocol on approaches to assessment and to the transfer of assessment information is required in the interests of clients. (Link)
12. Staff must be fully trained in all aspects of administering assessment tools and how findings should be recorded, in order to comply with legislation and still serve the best interests of clients. This point also applies to the transfer of information between agencies. (Link)
13. Organisations should look seriously at the possibility of adopting a common assessment tool (or tools) for the identification of learning and support needs in a locality. (Link)
14. Staff should examine ways in which parents and families may be more involved in the early identification and assessment of need, particularly for those young people whose needs are not recorded. (Link)
15. Identification and assessment of need requires improvement for clients in specific situations. These include:

• Those in residential schools outwith their home area
• Looked-after children who leave their home area when leaving care
• Young people with a record of need who move to an FE college outwith their home area
• Those who are already in the labour market
• Academically able young people with dyslexia entering Modern Apprenticeships
• Young people who are autistic and/or with dyspraxia
• Young people with health issues. (Link)

16. Definitions of "employability" need to be discussed and agreed. There needs to be more use of school evidence from Education for Work provision and from core skill achievement in the assessment of employability. Given that Careers Scotland will include both the careers services and education business partnerships, this would seem a possible role for the new organisation, in co-operation with local authorities. (Link)
17. A co-ordinated approach to the use of Progress File is required. This document could well be the basis for a profile of employability skills and needs. Schools, further and higher education, relevant statutory and voluntary agencies and employers must be involved in developing a plan for encouraging widespread use of Progress File and effective marketing of its purpose and value. (Link)
18. There are major resource issues that may inhibit some developments in the identification of the learning and support needs of young people. While these are likely to be experienced to a certain extent in most organisations involved, they were particularly serious with respect to Social Work and Psychological Services. This was not just a question of money, but also of the availability of trained staff. This needs to be addressed. (Link)
19. Organisations were developing strategies for early identification of young people who might have learning and support needs: these strategies should be encouraged. The timing of actual assessments of need will require to take account of both externally and personally prompted transitions. (Link)
20. For organisations such as CSCs and FE colleges, assessment of need across the cohort is likely to be an area needing development. The planned extension of the Disability Discrimination Act to education providers is likely to encourage an examination of this issue in the FE sector. (Link)
21. There is need for specific action to develop procedures and protocols for accessing appropriate medical information on young people's needs. Careers Scotland and the Scottish Executive should initiate discussions with Health Boards and with the Scottish Executive Health Department to seek ways of standardising access to medical assessments relating to likely support needs in education, training and work. (Link)
22. Structures need to be in place in Careers Scotland to ensure independent assessment processes for the identification of learning and support needs. (Link)
23. Local partnerships need to have structures in place which ensure effective identification of learning and support needs and encourage advocacy for provision to meet these needs both within and outwith the partnership. (Link)
24. A central mechanism for disseminating good practice, responding to policy documents and developing training in the identification of the learning and support needs of young people should be established. (Link)
25. Locally-focused awareness-raising and training is important to ensure that there is a common understanding of, and respect for, the best assessment practices and approaches of other organisations and colleagues in the area network. (Link)

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