SLIDES_Post School Transitions for Students with SEN

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Post School Transitions for
Students with SEN
EVENT
NABMSE Conference 2023,
Hodson Bay, Athlone
DATE
20 October 2023
RESEARCH TEAM
Selina McCoy, Eamonn Carroll &
Keyu Ye

2
Today’s Presentation
• Research focus and questions
• Research design/methodology
• School experience of students with SEN
• Main post-school pathways for students with SEN
• School and post-school experiences of students in
special schools
• Summary

Research Focus and Questions
1. Why do young people end up on particular post-school
pathways? What factors influence their decisions?
2. What are the experiences of young people on different
pathways?
3. What are the views of schools, families, post-school providers
regarding post-school options for young people with special
educational and learning needs?
4. What lessons can be identified from this research to support
planning and service provision for the inclusion of disabled
young people in post-school life?
3

4
Research Design
Setting Spring2022 Autumn 2022
School setting
- Representative of schools
in Ireland
Wave 1 of longitudinal survey with
school leavers with SEN
Interview
10 guidance counsellor/SEN
coordinator
10 parents
10 young people with SEN
Follow-up Wave 2 of longitudinal
survey with young people recruited
in school settings
Interview
Post-school settings
- representative of post-
school settings (e.g. PLC,
NLN, day service centres)
Survey with young people recruited
in post-school settings
Interview
15 post-school pathway personnel
Primary data collection supplemented by detailed secondary analysis of Growing Up in Ireland post-
school outcomes of the child cohort at ages 17/18 and at 20

School experiences of students
with SEN in mainstream schools
- Findings from School Leavers’
Survey in Spring 2022
5

Students’ reflection on their school experiences
6
71.7%
57.6% 56.3%
53.6%
38.4%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
I am encouraged by
teachers to continue
my education or
training when I leave
school
I get all the info I
need to continue my
education after I
finish school
I find schoolwork
hard
I get all the support I
need to learn
I like school

Students’ perceptions of the development
of personal skills
7
15.7%
11.1%
15.7%
33.2%
20.3%
47.8%
49.1%
40.3%
39.2%
40.3%
36.5%
39.8%
44.1%
27.6%
39.5%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Being able to talk to others and make myself understood
Being able to work with others
Helping me make new friends
Being able to perform well under pressure
Helping me develop as a person
Didn't help Helped a little Helped a lot

Students’ perception of the development of self-
determination skills
8
68.9%
83.5%
64.8%
39.3%
64.9%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
School gave me an
interest in learning
I knew how to
learn new skills
School helped me
decide what to do
after leaving
school
School prepared
me for living
independently
Increased my self
confidence

Helpfulness of extra subject supports received
at school
9
76.9%
96.6%
89.5%
67.2%
63.6%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
100.0%
Peer mentoring Individual (one to
one) tuition
In a small group
outside your regular
class
In a large group
outside your regular
class
Something else

Qualitative Survey findings: Extra Supports
• Academic:
• Learning Support, One-to-One Support, Resource
Hours, Small Group Instruction, Specific Subject
Support
• Non-Academic:
• Mental Health Support, Organisational Skills
Support, Social Support, Therapy
• Guidance:
• Wider Guidance, More Information on Post-School
Options
10

Qualitative Survey findings: Extra Supports
• Accommodations:
• Assistive Technology, RACE, Safe Room, Irish
Exemption, SNA
• Access:
• Denied Asked For Help, More Assessment, Easier
Access to DARE/RACE
• Personal:
• Encouragement, Motivation, Recognition of
Needs, Communication, Segregation,
Dignity/Respect
11

Perceived expectations of parents, teachers
and young person themselves
12
85.1%
45.2%
55.7%
31.1%
12.3%
28.4%
25.5%
47.4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
I think I will enjoy what I
am doing next year
(course, work, attendance
at day service) more than
I enjoy school
I feel prepared for life
after school
My parents and I have the
same ideas about what I
will do after I leave school
My teachers and I have
the same ideas about
what I will do after I leave
school
Strongly agree/agree Neutral Strongly disagree/disagree

Qualitative Survey findings: Excitement
• Growing Up:
• Independence, Money, Maturing
• Improvements from School:
• Shorter Days, Less Intense, Better Learning Environment,
Novelty, Leaving School
• New Contexts:
• University, PLC, Apprenticeship, Work, Specific Subject
• Social Life
• Friends, Fresh Start, Hobbies
13

Qualitative Survey findings: Worry
• Financial:
• Immediate, Longer Term
• Course/Setting
• Getting Into Course, Choosing Course, Managing Course, Possible
Future Regret, Specific Concerns About Setting/Course
• Growing Up:
• Self-Direction, Change, Leaving Home, Starting From Scratch, Dealing
with Uncertainty, Homesickness, Future Job Choice, Loss of School
Supports, Responsibility, Stress, Immaturity
• Social Life
• Friends, Confidence
• Access to Supports
• Disability Supports, Mental Health Supports
14

Main post-school pathways for
students with SEN
15

Findings from Growing Up in Ireland
• At age 20, 61% of young people were currently
in or had completed a HE degree, with wide
differences by type of SEN and disability:
• 66% of those without SEN
• 62% with physical or sensory disabilities
• 49% with specific learning difficulties
• 46% of those in the ‘other disability’ category
• 40% with social-emotional SEN
• 28% with intellectual disabilities.
16

Key Characteristics by SEN/Disability Status
17
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0
Fewer than 9 honours at Junior Certificate
Drumcondra test bottom quantile at 13
More than 10 days absent at 9
No degree expected by parents
Negative engagement with school
Positive engagement with school
Teacher identified academic issues at 9
Experienced economic vulnerability at either wave
Attending a DEIS school
SEN/Disability No SEN/Disability

Higher Education Pathway Gaps
18
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0 100.0
No SEN at 9
SEN at 9
Non-DEIS school
DEIS school
No economic vulnerability
Economic vulnerability
3rd level expectation
No 3rd level expectation
University Level 8 IT Level 8 IT Level 6/7 FET DNF No Post-school Education

Key Themes from Interviews with
Young People
• School Experiences
• In-school Supports
• Spectrum of Engagement with Guidance
• Family Influence
• Medium to Long term plans
19

School Experiences
• While students generally enjoyed school, some felt that the
type of learning required was not suited to them.
• Particularly the case where the young person described themselves
as more practical than academic
• Leaving Cert Applied was a positive experience for some, others
spoke of not being able to do it even though they would have
preferred to.
• Overall students felt school had prepared them well for
next step academically
• Most students felt able to self-direct their own learning after school,
but some remarked on lack of preparation for autonomous learning
20

In-School Supports
• “Good” Supports:
• Proactive rather than reactive
• Student-centred rather than prescriptive
• In particular, responsive to specific needs
• “Bad” Supports:
• Reliant on formal diagnosis, which in some cases
was not available or very late in coming
• Emphasised or even created difference from
peers rather than fostering inclusion
• Could not be accessed without “a fight”
21

Range of Engagement with Guidance
• Students want different things around guidance and advice
for post-school planning, and some don’t know what they
want:
• Some barely wanted or needed input from school at all
• Many knew what they wanted and how to get there but welcomed
support with specific dates and steps in the process
• Others knew the general area they wanted to go into and appreciated
support in turning this into a specific pathway
• For those who had no idea what to do, guidance was not very useful
as there was nothing for it to work with
22

Range of Engagement with Guidance
• A lack of career guidance was mentioned only twice –
generally the young people felt they were being given
support, just not always the support they wanted
• The most common issue raised was around career
guidance not aligning with young person’s own plans
• Two separate forms of this misalignment:
• Excessive focus on HE, to the detriment of other options
• Excessive encouragement away from HE, towards other options
23

Family Influence
• Most interviewees described their parents as
supportive of their decisions, whatever they
decided
• Despite not feeling pressure from parents,
many young people described following in their
general footsteps, especially when unsure what
to do
• Children of parents with a degree defaulted to
higher education, children of parents without a
degree to FE, apprenticeships or work
24

Medium to Long term plans
• Young people were generally optimistic about where
they would be in five years’ time
• Those in higher education were confident about
getting through it and continuing on to postgraduate
study or the world of work
• Those in further education felt they knew what they
had to do to enter the world of work or continue into
higher education
• Those in work or NEET were planning to return to
study in the future, though not all were sure of how to
do so
25

School and post-school
experiences of students in
Special Schools
26

27
Case Study Research in Special Schools
• Census of all special schools to find those with young
people of school leaving age (over 16).
• Theoretical sample of 8 schools (from 23 schools)
• Mix of schools in terms of geographic location and nature
of disability/need
• Interviews with principals, teachers with responsibility for
transition planning, parents and young adults (at two
timepoints)
• Number of leavers ranged from a few to nearly 30 per
school

Key Themes
• End of school:
• Curricular Provision & Certification
• Transition Preparation
• Impact of COVID
• Post-School Setting:
• Suitable Setting Availability
• Initial Transition Experiences
• Communication Between School & New Setting
• Key Challenges
28

29
Reflections on School Experiences
Curricular provision and Certification
• Varied within and across schools, with many schools
reporting a ‘mixed profile of need in their school’, tailoring
provision and programmes accordingly
• Included JC Level 1/2, JC Level 3, LCA, select LC subjects, QQI
programmes & programmes devised by individual schools
• JC L1/2: Valuable life skills developed. But at that time there
was no certification:
‘they don’t really leave with any certification. That really upsets me because
they spend so much time and effort, and the teachers have as well creating
hugely differentiated resources…they left with no paperwork basically. They
still get a certificate, but it’s a school certificate. That’s why we are fighting
nationally to get the QQI [award]’ (Principal)

30
Curricular provision and Certification
• Criticism of JC reforms
‘The junior cert has been appalling, because most of our kids would have
managed…foundation maths and now it is a common paper. For some
subjects like home economics…the common paper does not work. You
can’t have them all set at the one level…there should have been a
different level in terms of papers given’ (Principal)
• Lack of follow-on at senior cycle (and lack of focus on
special schools in senior cycle review):
‘It's in the absence of a programme [is the challenge] – there is no
suitable curricular programme for these young people – the LCA
wouldn’t be appropriate’ (Teacher)

31
LCA: provided in a few schools – very positive views
• ‘PDST support is super, we would be lost without them’
• Certification very important
• Providing real world skills: ‘it’s a fantastic preparation’
• BUT:
• Work experience is difficult – school staff support, employer
resources, insurance
• Shorter school day creates challenges
• School buildings ‘aren’t fit for purpose’
• Challenge of running multiple programmes in one classroom
• ‘Special schools don’t have enough specialist teachers to do the
Leaving Cert Applied’

32
Transition Preparation
• Each school had developed a transition programme, often
overseen by a teacher with particular responsibility
• To promote independence & life skills
• To support decision-making
‘From the Department’s point of view, they have no real
programme to prepare students for transition. So it is
really up to each school and I know special schools have
different needs but there is no real framework there for
schools to work within’ (Principal)

33
HSE Profiling: Generally positive views from schools &
parents
‘The HSE staff would use a profiling tool to assess the needs and establish
the level of care the child would need. Through profiling, I was able to
explore what our options were in the area we lived (e.g. name of
centres/services) … The HSE officer brought us through the process over 7
months in total, from the first contact with the guidance officer’ (Parent)
‘I did find that process quite good because I was listened to, this is what I
said I wanted and its what we got. He got his extra year [at school], he got his
transition programme….They talked about all his needs, they went through
everything…We got all the information we needed’ (Parent)

34
HSE Profiling: Resource constrained
‘often the young person will not get the number of hours [in the post-school
setting] that the parent was hoping they would get’ (Transition Teacher)
Disconnect
‘There still isn’t the partnership between schools and the HSE when it comes
to the transfer [of students], they are running parallel. They go off and do
their profiling and they link with the service providers as to where they
go…..but a lot of the time the parents are still waiting in May or June to find
out what course their child will be on or what support has gone with that
child’ (Principal)
Requirement for diagnostic assessment (required for the first time
last year)

35
Transition Preparation: Parent and Young Adult Views
• Hugely positive reflections on preparedness/efforts of
school leaders and teachers
‘He had an amazing teacher last year and she was brilliant at working on
[name of YP] strengths and building on everything up. His independence was
a big thing, trying to get him to be more independent …and they worked on
him leaving this cosy little environment’ (Parent)
‘She came on in leaps and bounds here, she loved it…if she could have got
another year she would have stayed’ (Parent)
‘For years I was dreading adult services…I was terrified. But as the time went
on, and especially in the last year, we were ready, [name of son] was ready,
we were ready to leave the school which I never thought I would have been’
(Parent)

36
Young Adults’ Views
• All of the school leavers reflected positively on their school
days and enjoyed meeting the researchers at their ‘old
school’
[School] was my favourite place
I loved school
I liked to learn everything
• They displayed wonderful connections with staff at the
school and were looking forward to touring the school to
catch up

37
Transition Preparation: Parent and YP Views
• But parents were less positive in relation to specialised supports
‘The supports were non-existent. We were lucky that we were comfortable
enough financially and we would have over the years paid…OT, speech and
language. Non-existent, it really was, it’s a joke really…you’d have somebody
seeing [name of YP] once every 6 weeks, there was no continuation of the
person giving the service…if a new person came in you had to start from
scratch. The therapies were intermittent, they weren’t of a high standard at
all’ (Parent)
• Perceived regional variation
‘[specialised supports are] not standardised across the country, it does
depend on what county you are in…it depends on your address and the
demands on the system. So there needs to be some overlook over
everything to see how this could be spread out better’ (Parent)
• Variation by need/impairment + Lasting impact of COVID-19

38
Reflections on Choice and Options
• The cohort of young adults leaving the 8 special school settings varied widely
in their post-school pathways, but many transitioned into a range of adult
services, rather than mainstream settings.
• School personnel noted that for the young adults and parents, transition to an
adult service was often seen as more reassuring, particularly where the adult
services were located in close proximity to their special school and/or home.
• Some school personnel and parents spoke positively about the pathways
available for the school leavers and the success of the transition, at least
during the initial weeks when the research was carried out.
• Others felt that not all placements were ideal and funding was seen to impact
on the suitability of the pathways on offer: ‘If there was more funding they
could offer a better range of services’ which could better meet all needs
(Transition teacher)

39
Reflections on Choice and Options
• Some less satisfied with diversity of provision
‘I would think that the pupils with a moderate learning disability are catered
for, mild to moderate yes, but the children with severe to profound, I don’t
feel there is an awful lot out there for them. ’ (Principal)
‘For the pupils that might have serious behavioural issues, what are the
options for them?...There are a couple of pupils in my class that will be
finishing up in a couple of years and the parents are starting to go “what’s
going to happen?”…They struggle with communication, there is behavioural
issues. A lot of places won’t want to take pupils with behavioural issues’
(Teacher)
• Particular difficulties were noted for young adults
leaving care environments

40
Initial Transition Experiences
• Parents conveyed broad satisfaction with the
initial transition experiences
‘He [son] is all excited. The first day they said what do you like…this is all
about you and his face lit up. So it is about him and they don’t ask me
permission for anything, its [name of son’s] permission, if he wants to do
something or go somewhere. [Name of son] is an adult and he gives
consent and he is capable of giving consent’ (Parent)
‘She [daughter] is in the national learning network in [name of area]. So
far so good, she has settled in very well…she seems to be very
comfortable there, she is full of chat about it.’ (Parent)
‘…we are all happy…She is happy going, she is happy coming home, she
has got her bit of independence, we are sending her on the bus…she has
made lots of friends and getting through the work’ (Parent)

41
• BUT Insufficient pre-transition contact (particularly for parents)
‘I would like the parents to also be there on some of the sampling days…I
would like if some of the profiling was done with myself, the parent, the
young person and a staff member from the new facility together,
because we are trying to hold a holistic approach but… it is fragmented’
(Teacher)
• Impact of COVID-19 (on sampling and visits)
• Frequent challenges around transport
‘So if they have to get to a centre, its [transport facilities are] going to be
a huge factor and a lot of the time there isn’t enough of a budget to put
transport in place’ (Transition teacher)
• Cut-off in specialised supports
‘All of that is gone [specialised supports], everything is gone…the minute
you hit 18 it’s meant to be a miracle that everything is meant to be right,
and to be honest it’s when they are older you need more medical
support’ (Parent)

42
• Widespread implications of staffing difficulties
Challenges around recruitment and staff turnover in the day
services impacted on the readiness of service providers to enrol
young adults as planned or in the intensity of the service provided
‘Now one of the boys in my class did go out and look at two settings and he
preferred the setting that he ended up with. However, he still hasn’t started
there…they cannot find staff’ (Principal)
‘So what we hear a lot is houses are full, they have to set up a new one, it
could be November before they start…so there is always a huge delay’
(Principal)
‘… that was a worry for me that she could end up being that handful where
they don’t have a setting. They had the funding; they just don’t have the
people and the resources. It turned out that we were not in that situation,
but we were halfway there in that they could only offer 3 days a week’
(Parent)

43
Other challenges
• Changing profile of need in special schools
• Adequacy of resources
• Designation as primary school (consequences for
curricular provision, guidance, school day etc.)
‘We fight for everything we get, teachers are so motivated for children with
special needs and for young adults with special needs, to make them
independent, to push them ahead and I would hate to see that stopping
[when they leave school] and that’s sometimes what we really grapple with
… we want to see them being wonderful citizens, giving something back and
that’s our aim…our children have loads to give and that’s what I’d like to see,
the next step where they live wholesome lives where they are giving and not
taking and they have loads to give’ (Principal)

44
Summary: Mainstream Schools
• Most young people were engaged at school
• Positive about the supports they received (particularly individual or
small group support)
• Distinctions between good supports (proactive rather than reactive;
student-centred rather than prescriptive, responsive to specific needs)
and bad supports (reliant on formal diagnosis, often not available/late
in coming; emphasised or even created difference from peers rather
than fostering inclusion; could not be accessed without “a fight”)
• Reflect positively on their skills development (but less so in terms of
independence skills and autonomous learning)
• High expectations for future (but less consensus with teacher ideas)
• Guidance - being given support, just not always the support they
wanted (guidance not aligning with young person’s own plans)
• Feel well informed about choices available, but less likely to feel
prepared for life after school

45
Summary: Experience in Special Schools
• Concerns over curricular provision (esp. @ senior cycle)
• Hugely positive about LCA (where provided): but challenges re.
work experience: school staff support, employer resources,
insurance; shorter school day creates challenges; school buildings
‘aren’t fit for purpose’; challenge of running multiple
programmes in one classroom; lack of specialist teachers
• Each school had developed transition programmes centred on
promoting independence/social skills and supporting decision-
making (lack of DE programme)
• Hugely positive reflections on preparedness/efforts of school
leaders and teachers

46
Summary: Post-School Transitions
 Positive reflections on HSE profiling, but resource constraints,
perceived variation in provision (impairment/geography)
 Disconnect from parents (once profiling done); insufficient pre-
transition contact for parents
 Timeliness & adequacy of HSE funding (esp. re. transport)
 Readiness of service providers – staffing and expertise to meet
the diversity of needs (and growing complexity)
 Disjunction in specialised supports like S&L, OT, psychology etc.
 Lack of link-back with schools and their expertise
 Need for Joined up services: that enables YP to move easily
between HSE services and the services provided by other
government agencies

Higher Education Access Gaps
47
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Male
Over 30 books in house
Over 10 days missed at 9
Positive school engagement at 13
Economic vulnerability
Parental education: 3rd level degree
Attending a DEIS school
Parental expectation: 3rd level degree
Academic difficulty at 9
9 or more Junior Certificate honours
No Yes

Post-school pathways
48
92.3%
2.5%
82.3%
12.4%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
100.0%
Continue education Get a job
GUI School leaver survey
Note: The number of students who decided to ‘travel/take time out’, or ‘other’ is too small to report.

DARE, HEAR, CAO applications
49
80
218
247
273
132
101
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
CAO DARE HEAR
Not applied Applied

SLIDES_Post School Transitions for Students with SEN

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