HM Inspectors of Education wish to acknowledge the support provided by the Beattie Implementation Team in enabling this document to be produced and the information contained in it disseminated to a wide audience.
This report has the main purpose of disseminating and promoting good practice in an area that is of paramount importance to many young people. It focuses on school leavers with additional support needs as they plan their next steps, and particularly as they move to the different environment of a further education college. There has been considerable recognition that the transition can be difficult for parents and young people. It involves both making important decisions about the future and ensuring that the right kind of assistance is available to support continued learning. HMI evidence, and evidence provided to the Beattie Committee, suggested that the quality of the support was not always good enough.
The report illustrates good practice where schools and colleges work closely together, and with other agencies, to enable young people to make decisions about their future and move into college with the support that they need. In some areas, HMI found very good collaborative approaches involving the many relevant agencies. They had effective procedures for working together, and for finding the best pathways for individual young people.
However, more action is needed by schools and colleges nationally to develop effective ways of working together and with others, to make sure that the very specific needs of individual young people are addressed in a way which allows them to develop their potential.
The report recommends that schools and colleges should build on their self-evaluation systems to identify ways in which their transitions practice can become more effective. It also provides practical advice on how they might do this.
Douglas A Osler
HM Senior Chief Inspector