Transition to post-school for students with disability
Contents
1
Introduction 3
Planning and support 4
Early planning – junior secondary 4
Transition planning - Year 10 5
Senior Education and Training (SET) plans 5
Roles, responsibilities and considerations 6
Student participation 6
Parent/carer participation 7
Strengths/abilities/interests 8
Post-school options 10
Employment 11
Job Capacity Assessments 12
Volunteer work 12
Further education and training 13
University 15
Vocational Education and Training 16
Apprenticeships and traineeships 17
Adult Community Education 18
Community participation, sport, leisure and recreation 19
Independent living 21
Health care 21
Money and budgeting 23
Transport 24
Supports 26
Relationships and dating 28
Moving out 29
Legal rights and responsibilities 31
Staying safe 33
Summary 35
Appendix 1 36
Introduction
Successful transitions to further learning and work is a focus in the department’s Strategic Plan 2016 – 2020. Preparing students with the knowledge, skills and confidence to participate successfully in the community and the economy is essential to securing young people’s future and the future of Queensland.
Careful planning and preparation helps to ensure a smooth transition into employment, further education, vocational training and life in the community.
This transition guide is designed to give schools, students and parents/carers an overview of the transition phase including planning and support, post-school options and life in the community.
Planning and support
Transition planning is the process of helping to prepare students with the knowledge, skills and confidence to participate effectively in the community and the economy.
The transition planning process can provide students with direction and purpose and help to shape the decisions they make about their future.
Early planning helps students consider their options, work towards achieving their goals and enhance their post-school outcomes. Transition planning discussions begin early in junior secondary and no later than Year 10.
Students with disability may have more complex transition requirements resulting in the need for more focused or intensive planning and support to ensure they are empowered and on a pathway towards successful post-school options.
Effective transition planning is a process that brings together comprehensive information about the student, capturing their goals, hopes and aspirations. This process includes:
· determining the student's interests and abilities
· developing positive social skills
· determining the skills, knowledge and understanding required to access preferred pathways
· developing independent living skills
· identifying leisure and recreational activities
· identifying possible university, higher education, vocational training and community access programs available
· accessing financial supports
· identifying transport and mobility requirements.
Early planning – junior secondary
Transitioning into secondary school brings with it new expectations, new peers and new subjects in often a larger and more complex environment. It is also a significant step towards deciding on pathways through senior secondary schooling and what students want to do in the future.
This can also be a time when students are at the greatest risk of disengagement from schooling. Effective transitions between primary and secondary schools are an important aspect of ensuring student engagement through to senior secondary years. Focusing on engaging individual students to promote learning can have a significant impact on student outcomes.
Embedded throughout the content of the learning areas within the Australian Curriculum are seven general capabilities. These are designed to equip young Australians with the skills to live and work successfully in the twenty first century. Highlighting these capabilities assists young people to make the link between what they are learning in junior secondary and their goals for the future.
Trying out a range of subjects also helps students get to know what they are good at and where their interest areas lie. Junior secondary provides an opportunity for students to try new things and consider their interests, abilities and aspirations. Schools can begin career education programs early in the junior secondary years.
Getting involved in extra curricula activities, volunteering and thinking about what careers might be available in areas of interest is a good way to start engaging in early transition planning. It is during this time that planning and preparation for life after school should begin for students in collaboration with parents and school personnel.
Consideration should be given to:
· occupations and career pathways
· the education and training requirements needed to achieve selected goals, such as subject prerequisites
· the full range of learning opportunities available
· tertiary entrance procedures.
The junior secondary phase of learning is also a good time for students to start developing skills for independent living. This includes learning how to use public transport, managing money and budgeting, cooking and self-care.
Transition planning - Year 10
Senior Education and Training (SET) plans
As part of planning for the transition to post school options, Queensland students complete a Senior Education and Training (SET) plan. SET Plans are completed with all students during Year 10.
Through the SET planning process, young people have an opportunity to plan their education and training pathways through the senior phase of learning. The process supports young people to set goals, and to work towards those goals in a broad range of settings, including school, work, vocational and community settings.
The SET plan is designed to:
· work as a "road map" to help students achieve learning goals during the senior phase of learning
· include flexible and coordinated pathway options
· assist students to examine further options across education, training and employment sectors
· help students communicate with parents/carers or personnel from their school/learning provider.
Schools may choose to individualise SET plans to provide a more focused or intensive approach to meet the needs of their student population.
Schools use the functionality in OneSchool to record the SET plans for all students. Schools that choose to develop an individualised SET plan to document the more targeted and intensive transition strategies and support that are in place for students with disability, save these documents as attachments in OneSchool under Support Provisions.
Schools can access the OneSchool Education Plan (SET P) Guide via the help tab for the most up-to-date information.
My Future: My Life is an initiative designed to help students with disability achieve the goals they have set for themselves in their SET plans. This early intervention strategy has been developed to provide practical assistance to young people with disability in their final years of school to begin their transition from school.
If eligibility criteria are met, young people have the opportunity to apply for up to $1000 in year 11 and up to $2000 in year 12. The resources requested must have a direct and tangible link to the goals identified in the young person's SET plan.
Roles, responsibilities and considerations
Preparing for transition requires a team approach that includes the student, the parent/carer, relevant school personnel and other training, employment and community agencies as appropriate.
It is important to remain focused on the individual student. Every transition plan will reflect the unique needs of the individual and capture their current and future goals and aspirations.
Student participation
It is vital for students to participate as fully as possible in all aspects of their transition planning process. In order to empower students to take more control over their transition, they should be explicitly taught the skills required to participate. This may include teaching students to advocate for themselves, to voice their opinions and to participate in decision-making about their future.
Student-focused planning is an approach that gives students with disability control over their planning for life after school. This approach brings together family, friends and others who support the student with disability to assist in creating a vision for the future. This type of planning supports the development of self-determination skills.
Supporting students to develop goals based on their skills and abilities, planning to achieve those goals and evaluating outcomes assists young people to develop self-determination skills. For students to develop the skills to set, meet and evaluate their progress towards goals, they require the ability to navigate the challenges they will face along the way. This includes the ability to seek support from others when required.
Parent/carer participation
Parental involvement is vital, and has one of the most significant impacts on successful post-school outcomes for students with disability. Empowering students and their families to participate in decision-making and transition planning processes is a key component of post-school success.
In the early transition planning phase, the student and parent should work together to identify likes/dislikes, interests, hopes and dreams. It is important to note that the transition phase for parents/carers may be a stressful one, as the challenges brought by planning to transition from school can have a big impact on family life.
Opportunities provided by schools for families to become more informed about the transition process include:
· school or cluster information sessions on a range of transition issues, e.g. employment supports, disability funding options, Vocational Education and Training, parent advocacy and self-determination training, Centrelink and other agency information
· visits to training and employment providers, universities and other post-school agencies
· meetings with the guidance officer or school transition officer to explore career awareness and assessment
· attendance at career and post-school options EXPOs.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will provide young people and their families/carers with greater choice on the types and ways support is provided. Families/carers will require support and information during this important transition as they begin to engage with new processes for accessing support. The NDIS website has resources and information for young people with disability and their families about access requirements, and the processes for planning and managing supports.
Strengths/abilities/interests
Strengths, abilities and interests play an important role when students are looking at future experiences, including jobs and careers. It is equally important to identify the student’s difficulties and weaknesses and to plan how these can be overcome.
Identifying and matching the student’s ability and interest areas can assist in determining their strengths.
The Australian Blueprint for Career Development is a framework that identifies the skills, attitudes and knowledge that individuals need to make sound choices and to effectively manage their careers. The Blueprint will help the student capture their abilities and interests.
Helping students to gain an understanding of their abilities, whilst acknowledging their limitations or restrictions, can help ensure students are not defined by their disability, but instead encouraged to embrace and celebrate their strengths leading to a more positive and successful post-school outcome.
Encouraging students to record their strengths, barriers, goals, dreams and aspirations helps the student and school staff to see a clear picture of what the student is capable of and where their interests are.
Developing a template (such as Appendix 1) to use with students to capture this information may assist the student to reflect on a range of elements they may not have previously considered.
This template works to capture the bigger picture of the student's goals and aspirations. It is designed to assist students to develop a greater awareness of their abilities and interests and to make appropriate, well-informed and realistic career decisions.
Post-school options
There are a range of post-school options available that students may choose to follow. Exploring all options available during the planning phase and linking these to the goals, abilities and strengths of the student can assist in identifying post-school pathways.
A smartphone app is available to assist young people plan career paths and find job opportunities. The CareerMe app provides industry profiles, current job vacancies, skill shortages in each industry area, job descriptions and training requirements as well as organisations that provide the training.
Employment options may include:
· Volunteer work
· Open and supported employment.
Further Education and Training options may include:
· University
· Vocational Education and Training
· Apprenticeships and Traineeships
· Adult Community Education.
Equally important in the post-school transition phase is community participation and engagement.
Employment
There are many supports available to help students find and keep a job.
Disability Employment Services are located across Australia and specialise in finding employment for people with disability.
These agencies provide a range of services and can be accessed through Centrelink. Services include:
· helping to prepare for work, including training in specific job skills
· job search support, such as résumé development, training in interview skills, and help with looking for suitable jobs
· support when initially placed in a job, including on-the-job training
· ongoing support on the job if needed
· the purchase of vocational training and other employment-related assistance
· access to support services, and Auslan interpreting in the workplace.
These agencies work together with employers and employees to locate and shape jobs to fit the interests, skills and abilities of the person with disability. They can also work with the employer and co-workers to develop awareness and identify workplace modifications.
Centrelink can help students register with a Disability Employment Service or provide them with further information about employment assistance. The Australian Government also provides JobAccess which offers help and workplace solutions to people with disability looking for work.
Australian Disability Enterprises provide a wide range of supported employment opportunities for people with disability who are able to work at least 8 hours per week.
They are located across Australia and employ people with disability and other diverse support needs. Work opportunities may be available in a variety of industries, including:
· packaging
· assembly
· recycling
· screen printing
· horticulture
· garden maintenance and landscaping
· cleaning, laundry and food services
Job Capacity Assessments
If a student with disability is seeking support to gain employment, they may be asked to take a job capacity assessment.
A Job Capacity Assessment will determine the impact of a medical condition or disability on a young person’s ability to work and whether they would benefit from employment assistance. It will also identify barriers preventing the young person from working or participating in programs and recommends what can be done to help.
A Job Capacity Assessment is also used to help determine medical eligibility for the Disability Support Pension (DSP).
A person may be referred for a Job Capacity Assessment if they:
· are claiming DSP
· are undergoing a review of their medical eligibility for DSP, or
· have asked the department to determine their entitlement for indefinite portability of your DSP.
Further information about Job Capacity Assessment can be found on the Department of Human Services website.