In addition, I was keen to ascertain the way the young people responded to the topic and the questions asked in order to reflect on the suitability of the developing interview schedule in eliciting a richness of participant views. Reflections Out of the six participants originally identified there were only four who were keen to take part in a focus group, one of which dropped out before I arrived and no young people were interested in taking part in a 1:1 interview. This highlighted the importance of identifying a large number of potential participants that could be contacted to take part in the main research project. In addition, the invitation to take part had been passed on through a number of individuals; it would have been more beneficial for me to have spoken to the young people (with consent) directly, to explain what the activity would involve. On reflection, I realised that in my approach as an interviewer, I stuck quite rigidly to the predefined interview questions and using more prompts may have facilitated the young people to share their experiences further. In addition some of the terms and language used in my questions needed to be explained and checked out with the participants as their understanding didn’t always match my intentions, for example I asked about talking to a careers advisor but this was interpreted as a careers talk. Participants A sample of three participants took part in this research project. The individuals were selected based on the following purposive sampling criteria: Currently in year 11. Attending a mainstream secondary school in a particular Northern Local Authority Region. Planning on attending the same FE college in the following September.
to have included young people who were supported at the level of ‘SEN support’; however at this stage there was not a fully established approach to identifying this level of support in the area I was completing my research. Young people who had an EHCP (Spring 2015) would have arguably received a similar level of input from their schools and the Local Authority in developing a personalised plan to continue to support them in their next steps (as identified by the SEN Code of Practice). To establish a further level of homogeneity I decided to include young people who were currently attending a mainstream secondary school and were planning to transition to the same FE college. This would suggest that there would be similarities in the approaches of both schools and the college in supporting young people in making their transition. Although it is understandable that there would be differences between schools it was felt that these differences would not be as distinct as those between mainstream and specialist provisions. The structure of the interview Within the context of the interview I considered the following decisions: the use of written materials, inclusion of visual aids or icebreaking activities and whether to use an unstructured or semi-structured approach. Firstly, I reflected on the use of written materials as both an aid and a means through which the young people might convey their experiences of the transition process. I considered designing a diary entry chart where the young people could have detailed any relevant events and experiences. I decided against this as I felt that it would both have been hard to control and would have acted as another responsibility for the young people at an arguably highly pressured time, during their final exam period.
“They, they support me in a way where I felt really comfortable and they sort of didn’t force me into doing it sort of gave me a bit of space to think about it and what I wanted to do and things like that so” (Sam 1, 3, 83-86). In the second interview Sam described how important family are to him through his enjoyment of spending time with his father who works from home on the day Sam is off college, “I like being with me dad and things” (Sam 2, 5, 135-136). Sam also recognises his role in the family in supporting when things got hectic at the end of the summer holidays, “got a puppy, I had that to look after” (Sam 2, 1, 8). Sam feels that the level of support he received from his parents meant he didn’t need to rely on the other supportive mechanisms that were available to him, “obviously cause my parents had it so straight forward I didn’t really need the school to help me out with anything” (Sam 1, 3, 90-91). He does however identify that he benefitted from personalised support in school, “Beth West is the one who helps me out a lot” (Sam 1, 4, 124-125). This value is further highlighted in the second interview where Sam expresses sadness on leaving the SEN staff behind, “I was a bit sad to say goodbye to the staff cause they’ve helped me for a long time, since I was year 7” (Sam 2, 9, 264-265). In the second interview Sam also identifies a new source of personal support from friends, I: “What do you think helped you settle?” R: “Well it’s er, that it’s, I’ve had help from new friends and things I’ve been talking with new people and made loads of good friends and it’s helped me really settle down, a lot better than I did at school, so” (Sam 2, 2, 36-40). Bill
do it at School” (Bill 2, 6, 179-180). It can be argued that this may have contributed to Bill’s fears about school. “I was scared that I would get kicked out or summit from school cause of my behaviour and that” (Bill 2, 11, 340-341). It can be seen that Bill now has an emerging sense of safety at college as he believes his needs can be met, he no longer perceives the fear and risk that he felt at school. Rebecca Rebecca presents a negative view of her experiences of school as a supportive system. “We did have a few lessons in school but it didn’t really help” (Rebecca 1, 3, 69), referring to sessions at school to help the young people explore their post-16 options. Rebecca explained that the environment at school made it both difficult for her to learn and a difficult place to be. “cause sometimes you wanna listen to your teacher but they’re there shouting in the background and that’s very annoying” (Rebecca 1, 10, 345-346). “sometimes annoy or teased me and I found that annoying” (Rebecca 1, 10, 325-326). “sometimes you’ve got teachers who just don’t know what to do” (Rebecca 1, 10, 336). This experience of school acted as a barrier for Rebecca that she tried to push against. It can be viewed that the journey of moving to a different setting is enabling her to escape from this difficult environment. In reference to how College will be different Rebecca says, “you do have to make your way through life don’t ya” (Rebecca 1, 10, 358-359).
Course centred opportunity Perhaps unsurprisingly the courses that the young people have chosen are particularly important to them, for these three young people their courses have provided the opportunity for growth that they desired. Sam Sam expressed that he feels really positive about his college course, “it’s a brilliant course” (Sam 2, 9, 282), highlighting that it is providing him with not only the knowledge and experience to become a professional but equally a chance to develop skills in a subject which he is passionate about. “It’s all the production I’ve really enjoyed, it’s learning the knife skills I’d say I have learnt so much with the knife skills already” (Sam 2, 3, 93-95). Bill Across both interviews Bill expresses that the Life skills course is helping him to achieve his personal goal of becoming more independent. “it will give me a chance to be more… more independent” (Bill 1, 9, 225… -230). “this course will help me a lot” (Bill 2, 4, 117). Bill reflects on the options that he can pursue both as part of the course “they’ve got all of it” (Bill 1, 2, 48), as well as looking to the future, however Bill indicates that this is a hard decision to make in the second interview because there are so many options, “I don’t know what to pick for my future” (Bill 2, 9, 277-278). Bill explains that he finds the flexible nature of the course, for example when breaks are set, as contributing to the supportive environment he is experiencing. It can be seen that Bill is
“yeah it’s sad to say goodbye to a lot of the staff actually” (Sam 1, 13, 411-412). Bill Bill reflects on the steps he feels he needs to take to ensure he will be ready for college which includes: becoming more independent in executing his morning routine, “I don’t want my dad to come in while I am still in my pyjamas” (Bill 1, 7, 172-173) and visiting college again, “I might pop in, in the summer holidays” (Bill 1, 11, 286-287). Bill frames the transition as a positive opportunity, “upgrade my life” (Bill 1, 4, 83) this can be seen to represent a defined move for Bill, an ‘upgrade’ in the sense of a new environment providing new opportunities and a move closer to becoming the adult that he hopes to be. Even with the possibility that a taxi may not be organised, Bill remains positive. “We are hoping that that will be all sorted in September” (Bill 1, 6, 164). Rebecca Rebecca portrays her experience of being prepared for college as something she experienced as a matter of fact. There is a sense that by the time she had decided that she was going to college she was as prepared as she could be, when asked if there were any questions she had about college before she arrives she said, R: Not really like they did make me ask all the questions and told us mostly what we’re gonna do and they said that sometimes they do… they get trips on so to museums and stuff like that so that’d be good and … yeah... they just basically said what you need, there would be some time for trips and sometimes we’d be helping out in this and then you get maths and English and yeah… so no not really” (Rebecca 1, 12-13, 428-436). “I thought it would be like, what I thought it would be” (Rebecca 2, 6, 160).
Equally Rebecca expresses a feeling of having the necessary skills that prepare her for being able to achieve at college. “Well I’ve been practising drawing things and erm if they ask me to design something I could just say here you are I’ve just done this already (giggle) like erm… I’ve got tons of art stuff” (Rebecca 1, 5, 140-142). Managing change There is a positive sense of how the young people approached making their transitions to college which at the time of the second interviews were revealed as successful. Sam In the first interview Sam describes how different he thinks college will be however as part of this dialogue he reassures himself that it won’t actually be that different and reflects on how he managed to cope when he came to secondary school. “It’ll be a lot different because obviously it’s bigger and you don’t have a set routine you don’t you know come in for Maths, then Science or whatever your just for one thing. You’ve got that one thing every day, that ongoing thing so, it will be big and it’s obviously got all these different people” (Sam 1, 9, 269-273) “I think it won’t be that much different from school” (Sam 1, 9, 279-280). “To me it seems huge, this school seemed huge to me when I first came up” (Sam 1, 9, In the second interview Sam explains that although he was nervous when he first arrived at college in September after time he felt more settled and confident. “come in and out every day you just get used to it” (Sam 2, 5, 161-162).
Conclusion A summary of the findings that emerged which relate to each research question can be seen in Figure 8. Figure Research question 1 Research question 2 How do young people who have an EHCP experience their preparation for a post-16 transition from secondary school to FE college? How is this transition experienced by the young people and what does it mean to them? Ownership in decision making. Exploring the options available (R and S). Applying self-understanding. Recognising what is important to meet own goals (S). Demonstrating self-belief by overcoming difficulties. Opportunity to achieve personal goals. Parental support as part of decision making. Friends supporting career exploration (R). Developing a course interest through school curriculum options. A mixed experience of school based support: careers advice (R) and annual reviews (B) were ineffective, having someone to talk to in school was helpful (S). Continued parental support. Dynamics of family relationships. Developing new and supportive relationships (peers and college Tutors). Reflection on a sense of belonging. Confidence that the decision made will facilitate personal goals and enable course enjoyment. Expectations being met. Environment facilitating individual goals, including: a shared approach to learning (R), course enjoyment, developing competence, independence (B), experience of a safe environment, developing friendships (S and B) and a sense of belonging. Engaging in activities such as: researching chosen course, visiting college, parental support and annual reviews (S). Considering personal next steps and taking action to be prepared. Active coping strategies applied to overcome potential difficulties. Overall experience of transition as positive S= Sam, B= Bill and R= Rebecca are used where this was elicited for these participants only Theme 1 Theme 2 Theme 3 Theme 4