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Findings and recommendations

Young people with learning difficulties, disabilities and/or special educational needs agreed with staff that it was important to have flexibility in determining curriculum content.

Both the young people we spoke to and the adults felt very strongly that what teachers and tutors teach is crucial. They told us that different young people might need to learn different things.

Some young people at schools and colleges did well learning ‘mainstream’ subjects (like mathematics, literacy or science). But other young people needed to learn things to help them get more out of life. They needed to learn practical things that would be useful in their future lives – like life skills. Or they wanted to do activities they were really interested in – like horse riding. Some schools and colleges had life skills courses and some even had life skills units, where all their subjects were taught in ways that meant everyone could join in and learn. Some of these courses had opportunities to get qualifications too.

We heard about lots of other interesting opportunities in schools and colleges. Instead of the usual subjects, some young people had chances to try out some very different activities – like carpentry, car maintenance or bricklaying. Some schools and colleges worked together to let young people from school try out these things. Young people told us this was really worthwhile and it helped them to decide what they wanted to do next.

Some of the adults told us that there was not enough choice in the timetable for young people with learning difficulties, disabilities and/or special educational needs. They thought that the subjects or courses usually offered were not always the best options. Towards the end of pupils’ time at school, a lot of teachers were worried that young people could only do GCSE courses. For many of these young people, these courses and qualifications were not the most relevant or appropriate and did not help to meet their individual needs. Many schools did not offer other opportunities. But staff in inclusive schools and colleges wanted to be able to devote time to developing and implementing schemes of work and courses focused explicitly on helping young people to prepare for their adult lives and the new options, opportunities, challenges and choices that adulthood brings.

We suggest:

  • Schools and colleges making provision for students with learning difficulties, disabilities and/or special educational needs should have the flexibility to develop and implement alternative curricula and schemes of work, focusing on life skills and the curriculum for resilience, for example
  • Young people with learning difficulties, disabilities and/or special educational needs should be involved in determining the content of the curriculum.
  1. University of Cambridge
  2. Big Lottery Fund
  3. Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities
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