Minister for Education Norma Foley and Minister for Special Education Josepha Madigan today announced a pilot programme to support the transition for young people with disabilities to improve access to, and opportunities for, post-school options. This project will help young people with disabilities to plan for their future options when leaving school.

The pilot will involve clusters of schools in Galway and Dublin working collaboratively with a project coordinator over the next 2 school years. A total of 20 schools will be involved in the project.

The young person’s post-school choices may include decisions on further education, higher education, accessing day services, accepting a placement in apprenticeships, employment, and other personal life choices they may wish to plan for.

Minister Foley said:

“As Minister for Education I want every young person to have every available avenue to reach their full potential. I am pleased to announce this project, which provides an opportunity for my department and other key stakeholders to work together to provide wraparound support and joined-up thinking for young people with the greatest level of need in our schools. This pilot will ensure that participants can avail of a continuum of learning and skill development, enabling them to explore the full range of options available to them when completing their post-primary school journey.”

Minister Madigan said:

“As Minister of State for Special Education, I am focused on how students can be supported best to achieve their full potential, at every stage of their education journey. This is a really important project plan which takes a holistic approach to enabling young people with particular needs to make informed life choices to achieve their goals.

“The project will align with what is already available to students in schools and target students’ skills for life to support planning for them across each continuum of education.

“The project will build capacity in our schools to meet the transition needs of young people with intellectual disabilities and other complex educational needs and support them to achieve greater independence and participation in society after post-primary education.”

This pilot fulfills the department’s commitment to implementing Action 1.5 of the government’s Comprehensive Employment Strategy for persons with disabilities, to: ‘Develop and demonstrate an approach to transitions for young people with disabilities to improve access to, and opportunities for, post-school options.

The pilot project will be overseen by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE). The target group is young people with intellectual disabilities and other complex educational needs in post-primary and special schools. Their progress will be tracked over two and a half to three years, starting initially with students who are aged 16 in special school settings and those in fifth year in post-primary schools.

Schools will be supported to complete skills audits with students and their families to support the transition process. This process will support students to identify skill gaps and supports that they require, enabling schools to develop an individual transition plan for each student.

Schools will then work with the student to support them to acquire specific key skills that they might need to ensure a positive transition from school.

The department will monitor the progress of the pilot programme with a view to examining its potential for application to other schools.

Source: gov.ie

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