HM Inspectorate of Education takes a broad view of inclusion and diversity, and relates them to the wider issues of equity in education. This view has been developed and explored through a number of national reports, starting with Count us in and including Missing out and the five parts of The Journey to Excellence1.
Staff in schools, partner agencies and voluntary organisations have been aware for some time now of widespread concerns about the numbers of young people – currently around 32,000 – who, for various reasons, have not entered education, training or employment by the time they are 19. More Choices More Chances and Skills for Scotland: A Skills Strategy for a Competitive Scotland set out national strategies for addressing the needs of young people: skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work. The Additional Support for Learning Act (ASL Act) Code of Practice provided guidance on planning for transitions for young people with additional support needs. Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) stressed the need for assessment and planning to consider the context which young people inhabit, both risks and opportunities. It pointed to the importance of them developing qualities such as resilience, sociability and problem-solving skills and of professionals consulting effectively, sharing information and taking joint action.
Over the last decade or so, the pattern of schooling which young people experience has changed significantly. The traditional linear progression from school to college, university, training or directly into employment is developing into more complex pathways. Increasing numbers of young people experience flexible forms of educational provision while still at school. Such provision may include part-time placements at colleges, pre-vocational placements run by agencies and voluntary organisations and broad enrichment activities of the ‘outward bound’ type.
Some young people, however, who may be disaffected and disengaged from school, perhaps with patterns of long-term absences, or who demonstrate challenging behaviour or have other additional support needs may need particular help to smooth the transition into their post-school lives. Others may draw little attention themselves at school and their longer-term needs may remain unrecognised. Young people may have significant responsibilities as carers for their own young children or for parents and siblings, which make it difficult for them to take up and sustain the opportunities available. A few, for example, looked after and accommodated young people, may lack the social, emotional and practical support provided by family and peers which help to ease transition into adult society. Teachers and other council staff have responsibilities as corporate parents to provide such support. Not all young people who find post-school transitions difficult have low attainment. Groups of S4 pupils at all levels of attainment may find difficulty in moving on after school. For example, one authority found that almost half of its S4 leavers who had no positive post-school destination had tariff scores of 76 or above, which equates to three or four general awards or better. Some had considerably higher attainment levels.
The statistics themselves may hide a range of different personal stories. Young people sometimes leave school and undertake a range of short-term jobs, voluntary activities or placements before achieving positive destinations at a later date, when they are ready. Some may enter the statistics as apparent ‘success stories’ but a year or two later may ‘drop out’ of university or college. They may have made inappropriate career choices at an earlier stage or find the transition from the structured environment of school or from the social context of their own locality too challenging. Some may have been successful in entering employment, but in industries and services which provide few opportunities for them to develop and build on their skills. So the situation is more complex than may appear at first sight.
The outcomes of Curriculum for Excellence apply to all young people. Most will develop these capacities at school but others may need support from partner agencies or flexible placements to fulfil their potential. Young people need to experience coordinated, coherent programmes of learning as what was previously offered in ‘alternative’ provision is brought into the mainstream. The Skills Strategy emphasises the importance of smoothing learning transitions from school to college or employment, providing a continuum of support, and putting more effort and resources into helping those who need most help. Young people aged 14-19 with additional support needs may need to experience ‘supported’ transition pathways which require joint working by education staff in schools and colleges, community workers, Careers Scotland, health and social work services and voluntary providers. In turn, this requires schools to identify such pupils as early as possible and accept greater ownership of the whole transition process post-school.
We do know the key factors which enable smooth transitions to sustained positive destinations. They include features such as:
Many of these features are already evident to some degree in schools and services across Scotland. Some aspects, however, may require transformational change in the way some of our schools currently operate, in the services they provide to young people and in the quality of the relationships between school staff and the young people and families they serve.
The rest of this guide describes examples of promising practice in enabling smooth post-school transitions, which have been gathered during visits to schools, colleges and provisions managed by agencies and voluntary organisations in Scotland. In many cases, the long-term impact of these initiatives has not yet been formally evaluated by the establishments and services involved, although there is evidence of positive effects on the experiences of individual young people. The examples chosen are just a small number of the varied and interesting developments across the country. Each section of the guide explores this practice in the context of the dimensions of excellence from The Journey to Excellence. It also notes the quality indicators from How good is our school? which schools and others may use to evaluate their own provision. Digital movies exemplifying the themes highlighted in this publication will be included in the online digital resource The Journey to Excellence (www.journeytoexcellence.org.uk ).
Who is this guide for?
This guide is for all school leaders, and pastoral care, support and teaching staff who work with young people who are preparing to move on from secondary schooling to the next stage in their lives.
It is also for people who work in partnership with the school to support young people who are going into employment or continuing their learning, for example, parents, residential care staff, college staff, and staff from agencies and services such as social work services, Careers Scotland, post-school psychological services, youth work services, voluntary providers, training providers, community groups, other educational establishments and employers.
What does this guide do?
This guide provides examples of some of the things which school leaders, teachers and their partners do to support young people at transition. Successful transitions result in young people who are confident and resilient, and who are able to enter the world of work with the skills they need and contribute to society as a whole.
The signposts to excellence are based on real practice in Scottish schools, further education colleges, community groups and other agencies, as observed by HMIE. They supplement and contextualise the advice given in Parts 1 and 2 of How good is our school? The Journey to Excellence and within the revised quality indicators which make up Part 3. Schools may refer to the signposts to help them in their planning, using the approaches presented in Part 4, Planning for Excellence. The signposts are supplemented by examples of actual practice and the voices of staff and young people as they reflect on the key issues in transition for them. Also included are some questions to stimulate reflection on what is currently going on in schools.
How is this guide organised?
The guide is in five parts, based on the five broad areas identified in the Missing out report as typifying schools which were successful in addressing the needs of all their pupils.
These five areas are also organisers for The Journey to Excellence, and each is associated with two of the dimensions of excellence.