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4 Disabled young people and transitions
Background policy and statistical evidence
4.1 In this chapter we pull together the policy issues and the evidence of progress in helping young people make transitions within or out of education, as reported in the disability equality schemes, action plans and annual reports of the 32 Scottish education authorities, the 7 grant-aided special schools and the Scottish Government. We also note actions taken by the colleges and universities to smooth the transitions of young people who are considering continuing their education there. Some material from the schemes and reports of organisations in the portfolio of the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth (which includes the work of Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and Careers Scotland) has been included in Chapter 5, under the subheading Employability. We also note here the availability of programmes and supported employment opportunities to which disabled young people may progress. These initiatives are clearly relevant to consideration of arrangements for transitions, but since they are generally designed to help a broader population of disabled adults, not only young people in transition, they will be discussed more appropriately in Chapter 5.
Wider policy context
4.2 Over recent years, greater attention has been focused on the transitional experiences of disabled young people as they move from school into the early adult phase of life. The Beattie Committee (Scottish Executive, 1999) focused on the transitional experiences of young people with additional support needs, which includes disabled young people. The report argued strongly for an approach based on inclusiveness, with much more joined-up working across agencies. It was suggested that every young person with additional support needs should have access to a key worker to co-ordinate services and advise on future directions. As described earlier, seventeen multi-agency inclusiveness projects were set up, which were managed by Careers Scotland after 2002. Not all include disabled young people, since the definition of additional support needs embraces such a wide spectrum, including young care-leavers and people with addictions. The evaluation of these pilot projects ( SQW Ltd, 2005) reported that "in spite of the clear strides taken, moving into and sustaining positive outcomes continued to elude many clients" (p.3). It recommended the preservation of several effective characteristics of the projects, including recruitment and training of key workers so that they had or acquired familiarity with the services, procedures and people of the service providers dealing with the wide range of problems of vulnerable young people.
4.3 Disabled young people who wished to access training used to be directed onto the Special Skillseekers programme, run by the Local Enterprise Companies. In April 2002, this was replaced by a programme called Get Ready for Work, operated and managed by the Enterprise Networks with Careers Scotland, providing the Personal Advisory and Referral Service. Other relevant programmes and policy initiatives which have been designed to improve the opportunities for disabled young people at the point of transition from school to the workplace or further education include Workforce Plus; More Choices, More Chances; Determined to Succeed; and the Education Maintenance Allowance. In addition, the Scottish Government is funding a National Development Officer post to coordinate local and national partnership approaches to effective implementation of the Additional Support for Learning Act, with a specific focus on transitions for young people at risk of missing out on education and training opportunities, including disabled learners (Learning and Teaching Scotland, 2008). And the Scottish Government has commissioned 2 development officers, one from education and one from the allied health professions, to develop guidelines to promote and support more effective partnership working between local authorities and allied health professionals.
Research and statistical evidence
4.4 As noted by Stalker (2002) in a review commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, about 12% of the adult population of Scotland is aged 16-24, and of these about 9% have a long-standing illness, health problem or disability (Scottish Executive 2001). Data on the number of young disabled people entering FE was collected for the first time in 2002. About 5% of students in higher education in Scotland have reported a disability. Figures are not available on the destinations of disabled young people leaving mainstream schools in Scotland, a gap which needs to be remedied. Stalker (2002) reported that, in 2000-01, out of 700 pupils leaving special schools in Scotland, 45% entered full-time further education, 14% training, 8% employment, less than 1% university, 26% went to 'other' destinations and 7% were unknown. 'Other' destinations include day centres and, in some cases, no formal provision.
4.5 Research on the experiences of young people with learning disabilities in transition (Riddell et al., 2001) found that they were often excluded from mainstream pathways, and this is also a finding of the Scottish Parliament Disability Inquiry (2006). In terms of progress, colleges have expanded their provision for people with severe learning difficulties and disabilities. However, there is still very little further education based post-school provision for young people with profound and complex disabilities and the ability to travel independently is often used as one of the criteria governing admissions. Parent campaigners are trying to remedy this deficit, arguing that however severe the person's impairment, they should still be encouraged to access post-school educational provision like other young people. The Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council recently commissioned the BRITE Initiative to undertake a mapping exercise of further education provision for students with complex needs. The results of this mapping study are available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Funding-Support-Grants/FFL/ComplexNeeds
4.6 In further education, students on 'extension' courses may have few points of contact with the other college students, often using different classrooms and taking breaks at different times. Since responsible bodies are now required to make reasonable adjustments, FE colleges might be encouraged to report on access to transport in the next round of disability equality schemes and annual reports. It should be noted that access to transport is not just the responsibility of colleges, Students with additional support needs, particularly those with complex needs may have their transport paid for and arranged by social work departments. Guidance on transport arrangements is available in Partnership Matters (2007).
4.7 Further possibilities for independent living through the process of transition to adulthood may be provided through the use of direct payments, now referred to as self-directed support. Direct payments were extended to 16 and 17 year olds through the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001. Under the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002, every authority will have to make direct payments available to 16 and 17 year olds by 2003. These funds could be used to pay for transport to or support at college, place of work or training. Direct payments are discussed more fully in the Health and Wellbeing portfolio report.
Disabled students and graduates
4.8 Whilst many disabled young people experience great difficulty in accessing the labour market, disabled students and graduates provide a counter-example of a group who have managed to access the most selective part of the education system. Riddell et al. (2005b) reported on a project which investigated disabled students' rates of participation, institutional policies and social and educational experiences.
4.9 As noted in Chapter 2 on further and higher education, universities have changed greatly over the past two decades, with much greater student numbers, a more diverse student population and greater accountability. In spite of this demanding and changing environment, provision for disabled students has greatly improved. All institutions now have a disabled students' advisory service, a designated disability officer and a senior manager with responsibility for disability issues. The needs of disabled students, including those at the start of their university careers, have been written into policies on admissions, assessments, estates and buildings and into some university strategic plans. All institutions have definite written plans for further development. The development of the Quality Indicator Toolkit pilot should also be acknowledged. This pilot allows colleges and universities to be validated and therefore accepted by SAAS as being able to undertake the needs assessment of students claiming the Disabled Students' Allowance. The pilot is currently being reviewed by Equality Forward. The purpose of the Toolkit is to reduce the time that students have to wait for their DSA needs assessment and to help institutions to become more inclusive.
4.10 While all of these signs of progress are encouraging, there are many areas that still need much further development. Areas needing particular attention appear to be teaching and learning, monitoring and evaluation of student progress using the available statistics and staff development. Teaching and learning remains an area of particular concern, since it is the case that the kind of cultural change required to make a difference in this area will take a long time. The Teachability project, a framework for reviewing the accessibility of teaching materials and approaches, is being rolled out in Scottish universities. If taken up by lecturers, it should ease the transition into the academic aspect of university life.
4.11 Social, as well as educational, aspects of transition also require further attention. Weedon and Riddell's (2008) analysis of disabled university students' experiences of transition indicated that many were isolated and lacked the social networks in which much informal learning takes place. Some students had difficulty accepting the label 'disabled', which students must adopt to qualify for the Disabled Students Allowance and the protection of the DDA, but this did not sit easily with their self concept and desire for autonomy.
4.12 The Higher Education Funding Council for England ( HEFCE) funded a project (Evans and Farrar, 2003) which explored the outcomes for disabled graduates in the labour market using HESA first destination survey data. The findings of the destination survey in 2002, looking at outcomes six months after graduation, found that 48.4 % of disabled graduates with a first degree and 53.4% of non-disabled graduates were in full-time employment. Disabled graduates were more likely to be employed in clerical and secretarial, craft, personal services and sales jobs, as well as in part-time and unpaid work. They were less likely to be embarking on careers in health and education. AGCAS (2007; 2008) have also reported on the first destinations of disabled graduates, but further work appears necessary to explore the fortunes of disabled graduates as their careers develop. The evidence from Evans and Farrar (2003) suggests that significant differences between disabled and non-disabled graduates exist, but nonetheless this group is performing markedly better than disabled non-graduates.
Reporting on progress
4.13 In the sections which follow, we shall present first the areas in which progress towards equality is evident from the disability equality schemes, action plans and annual reports, followed by discussion of the areas in which progress is not evident. The report will end with
- discussion of the use of categories of impairment in the schemes;
- the evidence of the involvement of and consultation with, disabled people and their families; and
- a summary and conclusions.
Reporting on progress: areas where progress is evident
4.14 The Scottish Government's own disability equality action plan includes actions relevant to helping disabled young people through transitions. The Children, Young People and Social Care Directorate action plan describes moves to increase numbers of grants to families with disabled children, to give greater parental empowerment and control over services to disabled children and continued support for families affected by disability; improving the capacity of the social care sector to support vulnerable groups, including those affected by disability; developing approaches to working with children and their families that prevent, manage and deal with risks; and ensuring that the rights of all children, including those affected by disability, are respected.
4.15 The Lifelong Learning Directorate action plan includes reviews of guidance on the Disability Students' Allowance, and of Partnership Matters, the strategic guidance for supporting transition from school to further or higher education for young people with additional support needs. They also report reviewing funding practices and provision of further education opportunities available to people with complex needs and of information, advice and guidance on funding for learners.. and list programmes designed to improve the opportunities for disabled workers and learners - Workforce Plus; More Choices, More Chances; Get Ready for Work; Determined to Succeed; and the Education Maintenance Allowance.
4.16 By no means all of the Education Authority disability equality schemes and action plans make reference to supporting transitions, but - as discussed throughout this report - this omission may simply be because the work is seen as established good practice, or as part of the Additional Support Needs agenda, rather than the disability equality duty agenda. One authority gives examples of involving parents in transitions of disabled children from nursery to primary school, and from primary to secondary by encouraging school visits.
4.17 Most references, however, are to transitions at the end of schooling. Some of the schemes which mention this topic do so in the context of describing continuity rather than change; for example, one states that "transitional workers have and will continue to support children and young people making transitions from school to independent living"; another reports that its Transitions Group continues to oversee provision of Pathfinder Plans to support post-school transition arrangements for young people." In local authority disability equality schemes, as opposed to the education authority schemes, we have also found action points for social work teams relating to their role in transitions.
4.18 A third Education Authority reports that, in order to support disabled young people and their families through the transition to adulthood, all schools have been trained in the transition requirements of the Additional Support for Learning Act; a Children's Services Strategy sub-group is developing good practice guidance for transitions; all young people have access to a careers adviser; and young people with a disability who left school in the summer have been supported to access individualised support which facilitates inclusive opportunities which are based on existing interests as well as introducing new experiences.
4.19 In the annual report of a fourth scheme, we learn that staff met with and responded to queries about accessibility from a group of parents of children with complex needs facing transition from school, and also attended more than 200 transition planning meetings for young people aged 14-18 in special schools and 15 in mainstream schools. This fourth Authority also notes plans for future development, having consulted with disability groups about future direction, and NHS professionals about potential gaps in service delivery. In other Authorities, plans for future action include identification of ways of targeting young people with additional support needs who are not in employment, education or training to ensure that those with a disability can access services, and exploring the development of "Passports" for disabled school leavers.
4.20 Finally, since some of these young people will be continuing their education after they leave school, we note here the activity which was reported in the disability equality schemes and action plans of further and higher education institutions, as described in Chapter 2 of this report. Many colleges and universities are working on improving communication, in terms of providing more and better information for disabled students (and potential students), before they arrive, by developing links with schools and ensuring that their recruitment material is available in accessible formats. Some are also training their staff to provide more transitional support during the enrolment and induction processes.
4.21 To sum up, there is evidence at Scottish Government, education authority and school level, of awareness of the need to support transitions through collaboration across sectors of education and with health, social work, careers and other professionals who can help young people move on to the next stage of their lives. When it is mentioned in action plans and annual reports, good practice in schools appears to be driven not only by the disability equality duty, but by the requirements of the Additional Support for Learning Act; for social work teams, the goal of meeting the disability equality duty may also be reinforced by the drive to provide more focused and personalised services, as outlined in Changing lives implementation plan (Scottish Executive, 2006). The Scottish Government's funding for a National Development Officer post with a specific focus on transitions for young people at risk of missing out on education and training opportunities, is also an important development.
Reporting on progress: areas where progress is less evident
4.22 As noted above, it is impossible to know whether the lack of reference to supporting transitions in many of the plans indicates lack of progress, or simply results from a decision not to include details in the disability equality scheme of all the issues being dealt with in the authority's Accessibility Strategy. Similarly, we cannot know whether those local authorities which do not mention action points for social work teams on transition issues have existing good practice in this area, or not.
4.23 Assessing progress is also complicated by the overlapping categories of 'pupils with disabilities' and 'pupils with additional support needs'. Some authorities present statistics of participation in programmes of support in transition, as, for example, in South Lanarkshire Council's annual report:
"Council supports young people with additional support needs in the transition from school to employment. This year 33 young people participated, with four moving onto employment, 12 remaining at school, nine moving into further education and eight into training. There is a programme of aftercare for all who have not moved into employment as yet."
Yet what is not clear is how many of these 33 young people with additional support needs would be seen as having a disability under the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act.
4.24 To sum-up, we cannot be sure that the lack of reference to transitions in action plans and annual reports indicates a lack of activity to support transitions for disabled pupils, or difficulties in separating out arrangements to support transitions for disabled pupils from arrangements to support transitions for all pupils with additional support needs.
Categories of impairment employed
4.25Discussion of transition arrangements in the local authority plans are not sufficiently detailed to make any distinctions between pupils with different categories of disability. Support is offered to individuals, rather than to groups of pupils with similar disabilities.
Consultation and involvement
4.26 As noted above, we found a few examples of meeting with groups of parents and young people about transitions, but otherwise consultation about transitions would appear to be included in the institutional arrangements for consultation about general services to disabled children and their families, in the school, college or university.
Summary and conclusions
4.27 The evidence suggests that education authorities are now taking steps to improve the experience of disabled young people as they make the transition from school to school, and then from school to work or to further or higher education. Effective transition planning, however, depends on the quality of collaboration with other agencies and on the quality of work of the partners who will be supporting the young person after leaving school. Progress cannot therefore be assessed by considering the inputs from education authorities alone, nor indeed from social work alone: the quality of the experience of the young person in transition is paramount. Feedback from the Complex Needs mapping study shows that there continues to be a need to improve the transition not just into post school education or employment but also the transition from different departments in social work and health. Further research with young people looking back on their transition one or two years after leaving school may in future allow us to assess whether these actions have indeed helped them to progress towards equality of opportunity.
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