Welcome to the website for supporting post-school transition for students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This page has been created as a support to students, parents, schools and employers to develop more inclusive and equitable post-school transition practices for students with SEND in Ireland.

Developed based on research with Irish special schools, the page aims to be a repository of resources, key contacts and ideas on ways schools and employers can begin to develop new practices to support transition.

Post-School Transition

Preparation for post-school transition should be an equal experience for all students, including students with SEND. However, Irish and international research demonstrates that post-school outcomes for students leaving special schools are often limited to health -funded day services. Students in special schools do not have access to guidance counsellors and other preparation activities such as Transition Year Programme.

As the Transition Year Programme is not available in special schools, many students do not have access to Work Experience, unless they access it through the higher level senior cycle curricula such as Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) or QQI. This precludes many students from this essential transition preparation activity.

The research which underpins this website demonstrated that students in special schools have a rich vision for life post-school. They want access to employment, further and higher education and to access society. They are excited to explore the world of work and those that had engaged in Work Experience through Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) or QQI modules in their school, shared how transformative it was.