With another school year over, Rebecca Scarlett from Lead Scotland shares what opportunities might be available for young people with additional support needs who have left, or will be leaving, their school education.

Planning what to do after high school can be tricky for anyone. For young people with additional support needs and their families, it can feel even more challenging. 

The law says schools need to start the planning process at least a year before the young person is due to leave, but we know the reality can often be quite different. If your child is still at school, do check out the Talking About Tomorrow online resource for more guidance and resources on transition planning.  

If your child is leaving or has just left school, we would first suggest reading our free online guides and factsheets related to disability and post-school learning. One in particular, Post School Learning Choices in Scotland, may be particularly useful as it provides an overview of what’s available nationally. The guide is available in Easy Read to help make it more accessible too. 

So, what are the options for young disabled people after school? We’ve broken it down into a set of broad categories: 

Specialist college

In Scotland there are two colleges that could be considered ‘specialist’ post school formal learning settings: Coresford College and Cantraybridge College.  

Coresford College in Johnstone, just outside Glasgow, is run by Capability Scotland and receives some public funding from the Scottish Government. Offering day learning opportunities, it is aimed at school leavers with complex and profound needs and is the first of its kind in Scotland. They provide formal accredited learning, therapeutic support, work experience, support to develop independence, wellbeing facilities and lots more. In the future they hope to open up more sites across Scotland. 

Cantraybridge College is based in Inverness and offer both day and residential places to learners with additional support needs. They have a wide and varied programme of activities and learning. 

Aside from these two options, Scottish students looking to attend specialist colleges would need to make a trip over the border to England, where there are a lot more specialist colleges meeting a wide range of needs. However, fees at these colleges are extremely high and there is currently no public funding available for Scottish students to attend.  

Supported learning at mainstream college

These courses are available at almost every college in Scotland. They’re specifically aimed at students with additional support needs, and tend to be smaller classes with classroom assistants on hand to support learners. Subjects vary from life skills and personal development to employability and the world of work. Courses are generally delivered at SCQF levels 3 and 4. Some colleges will set entry criteria like being able to travel independently or capable of articulating why you want to do the course, but this varies, and many courses don’t set any entry criteria.

Mainstream learning

Open to everyone, young people with additional support needs can access further education courses if they are the right fit for their interests and learning level. In general, students attending these courses are expected to be independent learners (not requiring in-class support) however this really depends on the young person and what their needs are. It can be difficult to arrange classroom support through the college for mainstream courses, but it may be possible to arrange via your local social services department, based within the council.  

Have a look at our Supporting you at College guide and our Post School Learning Choices in Scotland guide to find out more about going to college in Scotland. 

Community Based learning and Day Centres

Community Based learning can be informal or formal and can cover a really wide variety of topics, from literacy and numeracy to cooking, painting, learning a language and a lot more. Learning tends to take place in a community setting, like a library or community centre. There may be some classes or learning support available specifically aimed at disabled people, but generally these classes are designed to be inclusive for everyone. At Lead Scotland, we provide learning and classes specifically for disabled people and carers in some areas across Scotland, and we can even deliver learning support to people in their own homes.  

Read more about Community Based Adult Learning for disabled people in our guide and learn more about our local services here. 

Learning can also take place at more traditional ‘day centres’ or within residential social support services. In these settings, the learning might be informal and more personalised. There are likely to be more activities available than formal learning, but some services may have arrangements in place to support service users to gain qualifications. If this feels right for you or your learner, speak to a social worker at your local council to ask about getting an assessment for adult services and to discuss what the options are. 

Employability

Some young people may feel they don’t want to continue on with formal learning and would prefer to get started with work. There are lots of programmes and services for young people to support them to prepare to enter the workforce, and some are specifically aimed at young disabled people. These services might offer work experience, vocational certificates, training, help with writing CV’s and applying for jobs and support to prepare for interviews. Specialist services also provide support to disabled people to help them engage with employers and ask for the right support and reasonable adjustments. Have a look through our Post School Learning Choices Guide for more information. 

Rebecca Scarlett is Senior Policy and Information Officer with Lead Scotland

Lead Scotland is a national charity and specialists in linking disability and education. They have a range of free, downloadable guides and factsheets and operate Scotland’s only national disabled students helpline. They can be contacted on Freephone 0800 999 2568. 

Further reading

You can find more information on our Support after 16 and leaving school pages. In this section we highlight children’s rights to support in school before and after turning 16, as well as discuss transition planning.