Transitions are challenging for any child and parent – but more so for many children with special educational needs and disabilities. Every major educational transition must be based on an in-depth knowledge of each individual child, as seen in the setting and as experienced by parents at home. Regardless of the format used to capture the essence of each child, this must be the foundation for the way the transition is planned to ensure it meets the need of each child effectively.
As part of our mission to drive early years inclusion across the country, Dingley's Promise has delivered a programme with the Early Years SEND Partnership that has focused solely on the best transitions for children with SEND, from the early years to school. Working with 22 local authority areas in a Department for Education-funded project, we have learnt about the two key groups of barriers that affect the success of transitions. This article will focus on both the barriers and solutions.
BARRIER ONE: LINKS WITH SCHOOLS
The biggest barrier was the relationship between early years settings and schools, and the lack of real understanding and partnership between the two. From the settings’ point of view, there was a clear feeling that schools do not respect the early years and in many cases had told settings they did not need handover information for children because their own assessment processes were better. Schools, however, reported receiving children from settings who had undiagnosed SEND needs, and they felt had not had the right support at the right time. A lack of trust and understanding between these two stages of the education system has a clear impact on high-quality transitions, as information is not being transferred effectively.
Our work, which included a survey of practitioners, found a variety of best practice ways for improving this relationship (see box overleaf). It is vital that this relationship-building has the effect of raising the profile of the early years in the eyes of schools and the local authority. Countless studies have shown that the first five years of life have the greatest effect on life outcomes, and yet we seem to invest in and value this stage less than any other stage of education.
Over the last few years we have seen an increase in the focus from local authorities on early intervention in the early years as a way to ensure better outcomes for children with SEND. This needs to filter down to schools and settings so that they feel the importance of the early years and value it as such. It is also critical that schools understand that while the term ‘school ready’ has become popular, this does not mean that it is about moulding a child in early years to be what a school needs them to be – rather the early years gives them the right foundations to be as ready for school as possible, but the school then needs to adapt to ensure each child has the best chance to succeed. All too often the early years is seen as a process of getting children ready to attend school, when in fact it is a critical development stage of its own that is necessarily different to the way of educating children in schools.
BARRIER TWO: PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
Parents of children with SEND have to make a key decision that parents of non-SEND children do not – do they want their child to attend mainstream or specialist provision? This is a huge and stressful decision for many, making it all the more important that they are included in all discussions about their child, and are considered experts by professionals. Yet parents still are not actively included. Their most common complaint is they did not feel listened to by professionals. Sometimes they felt unsure about what was going to happen. Parents stated directly that while it is their decision where to send their child, they appreciated healthy discussion and challenge from professionals – something that many settings still find difficult. As part of the project we produced some training resources (see box 2 and Further information) and one of the most common responses was that practitioners realised there was much more they could be doing.
We have four dedicated specialist early years Children's Centres around the south west of the country and one of the greatest improvements in transitions we have seen came about because of our ‘Entry Exit Pathway’. This is a long-term transition tool that is shared with families the first time we meet them. It has helped to show them that there is no predetermined outcome for their child, and that in fact there are many pathways and options for them. Parents report feeling much better informed about transitions, and better able to make decisions about the future for their child. Not only does the tool allow us to monitor the child, the family and the next setting to plan when they will transition at the best time for them, but it also has a section to review the quality of the transition one term after they have settled in to school. We struggled to find other tools to evaluate the success of transitions, and so this is a useful resource for local authorities to monitor the success of transitions.
Top tips for improving relationships with schools
- Mutually agreed handover formats – ideally the same format for the whole local area. This ensures both settings and schools have the same expectations about the information that will be handed over with each child.
- Create space for staff to build relationships – great examples of this are transition cluster meetings where key staff can get to know each other, ‘speed dating’ events, and SENCO meetings across early years and school stages.
- The most popular action desired by the practitioners we surveyed was for the local authority to lead a process of creating a one-page agreement on transitions so that both schools and settings know what is expected of them and are held to account.
- Early years setting leads should try to represent the sector on schools forum and other strategic groups in the local authority. This builds the recognition of and value placed on the early years as school heads learn to see them as education professionals.
Top tips for involving parents
- Start discussions about transitions as early as possible in recognition that for parents of children with SEND, it is more complicated to decide where they should go.
- Give ideas for activities to prepare their child for transition that they can use at home – both in the term before they leave and also throughout the summer break. Ideally this should also be available on social media, so parents have a place to go for new ideas and support even when the setting may be closed.
- Share positive stories about outcomes for children with SEND who take various pathways in education. Bear in mind that negative stories are often repeated more than positive ones, so actively build examples of positive outcomes in the mainstream.
- Support parents to apply for an EHCP if that is what is needed. This can have a huge effect on transition by allowing the school to get resources and support in advance of the child arriving.
- Have open and honest discussions with parents, and keep them regularly updated even if there is no progress on applications or processes. It is a highly stressful time and they need to know you are there with them – even if you don't have positive news.
- Link families to local SEND parent voice groups so that they can meet others in the same situation as them. Many families say that the supportive friendships they make at this time can last them for life, because their peers understand and will stay with them long after the early years professionals have gone.
FURTHER INFORMATION
- If you would like to know more about this project, or to access transitions training for your setting, please contact catherine.mcleod@dingley.org.uk. Alternatively, you can find out more about the training (cost £50) at www.dingley.org.uk/dingleys-promise-training/ and more about the transitions project and the Entry Exit Pathway at https://bit.ly/3DhOBVn