Further education door shut in Wales

Welsh children with special educational needs are missing out on further education because provision is lacking, an assembly inquiry has found.

At one Cardiff school for severely disabled children two-thirds of students in the past three years have not gone on to further education, according to the assembly’s social justice and regeneration committee.

There are no further education colleges in south Wales for severely disabled children, and Cardiff’s Craig y Parc school told the committee that English colleges would only take students who could drive and have good communication. Only 12 per cent of its students moved on to colleges in Wales.

James Crowe, director of Learning Disability Wales, questioned the quality of provision in special schools for over-14s.

He said: “From age 16 the only curriculum requirements for a special school are religious education and careers guidance. At ages 14-16, schools are rarely resourced to work on skill development or vocational training.”

 

More from Community Care

Comments are closed.