Are we stuck with hand-me-down institutions?
A report published earlier this week sets out 'damning' conclusions about the quality of information and guidance (IAG) available to young people and their families when choosing further education.
The report, "How young peoplewith special educational needs and disabilities find out about their post-16 options" published by Natspec, the association for specialist colleges, was based in part on a survey of parents of young children aged 15-25. "The findings were worse than we imagined".
"Two thirds of parents described the overall quality of the IAG they had received in relation to post-16 options as ‘poor’. They told us where they had received support, it had often come too late to be really useful. Despite the requirement for the Year 9 annual review to include discussions on post-16, that had happened in only 10% of cases. Almost a third said that they were never encouraged to think about post-16 options. We gave respondents space to describe the impact of these late decisions and the outpouring of emotion was quite overwhelming. They spoke of exhaustion, exasperation and despair. The delay had caused stress and anxiety for whole families". So says Ruth Perry, senior policy manager for Natspec writing about the report's findings and what should be done to improve the situation for Special Needs Jungle.
I'm reminded of the 1999 Joseph Rowntree Report into the transition to adulthood for young people with complex health and support needs, authored by Jenny Morris, with the self-explanatory and equally 'damning' title "Hurtling Into a Void".
Natspec reports a considerable consensus among parents as to what needs to change.
- lack of genuinely independent, impartial advice; comprehensive information about the full range of post-16 options
- lack of clarity about who should be providing what and when
- lack of aspirations for young people with SEND on the part of local authorities
- local authorities commonly adopting a default position that the local general further education college was the most suitable progression option
- poor quality EHCPs that were not playing the part they should be in the decision-making process.
I began by asking "Are we stuck with hand-me-down institutions?". Do we need different kinds of opportunities from the out-of-date college structures that are the focus of so little satisfaction? Natspec itself alludes to something beyond and better: "Develop skills for work and life". Work and Life. Life. How should we organise ourselves for lifelong learning?
On the day when Paces Sheffield, with great excitement, opens its adult provision in new premises, it seems reasonable to ask what new arrangements we need instead of and beyond further education? Paces' excellent new name for its adult provision "Paces conductive living" challenges us to ask what conductive education might have to say.
