Early intervention is essential with young people who are labelled as having special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) if they are to have a life of work rather than a life in services. We know that a life of work leads to better outcomes for young people, stronger relationships as part of their community, and it saves money for public services. A major obstacle is the low aspirations of many services around what it is possible for young people to achieve.
NDTi lead the Department for Education funded Preparing for Adulthood (PfA) programme which is very much about supporting young people with SEND into paid work. (This is part of a wider contract in partnership with Mott MacDonald and the Council for Disabled Children). For more information about the PfA work on employment and a wealth of resources including on supported internships, go to https://www.preparingforadulthood.org.uk/downloads/employment
Supporting young people into work needs a partnership between local authorities, employers and colleges. NDTi recently completed a DfE funded project on this called Employment is Everyones Business. More information, including the resources to support LAs, employers and colleges achieve better outcomes, is available here.
NDTi can take a specific SEND focus to our reviews of local employment services.
Our work with young people has resulted in the development of an employment pathway for children and young people. [Office1] We can support local areas to develop this – and also apply it to wider groups of people such as café leavers and young offenders.
For a conversation, please contact Carol Robinson at Carol.Robinson@ndti.org.uk or on 01225 255 268.
Bath (Registered Office)
National Development Team for Inclusion
4 Queen Street
Bath
BA1 1HE
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