KIT 1: Individual plans in support of young person's transition from school to work
Kit 1 is designed to facilitate the transition of young individuals with learning disabilities and difficulties from the educational environment to the workplace. It focuses on creating tailored individual transition plans that support each learner’s unique journey toward independence and employment. This toolkit serves as a guide for educators and mentors to assess, track, and develop the necessary skills and competencies of young people, with the ultimate goal of fostering their inclusion in the workforce.
The core component of this kit is its structured approach to identifying a learner's strengths and challenges in the areas of employability, life skills, and interpersonal relationships. By using an integrated system of assessments, planning, and tracking forms, the kit ensures that the learner’s progress is carefully monitored and supported throughout the transition process.
Kit 1 is composed of several key documents, each playing an essential role in supporting educators, mentors, and learners. These documents are linked in a way that creates a clear, actionable pathway for both tracking and advancing the transition process.
Online Assessment Tool
The Online Assessment Tool serves as the starting point for understanding the learner’s current skills and abilities. This tool helps educators identify employability skills, life skills, and interpersonal competencies through a comprehensive set of questions. It offers a three-point scale and Likert scale responses to assess the learner’s readiness for work. Importantly, the tool can be used by both the educator and the learner, allowing for a more collaborative approach to the transition process.
The tool’s results are displayed in schematic profiles for employability, life skills, and interpersonal skills, offering educators a clear overview of the learner's capabilities and areas for improvement. These profiles will directly inform the next steps in the individual plan, ensuring that the learner receives the most relevant support.
Individual Plan
Once the assessment is completed, the Individual Plan provides a structured way to set specific goals and outline strategies for development. The plan is divided into different sections, each focusing on key areas such as self-perception, emotions, interpersonal relationships, independence, and work skills.
The Self-Perception section asks the learner to reflect on their personal strengths and challenges, which is instrumental in building a sense of ownership over their own learning and development. The Work section helps identify existing skills and areas for improvement, and it guides the learner in setting realistic career goals. These individual plans ensure that the transition is personalised, helping to navigate obstacles and capitalise on strengths.
The SAMPLE Individual Plan provides a clear, illustrative example of how to complete the form. By reviewing this sample, both learners and mentors can understand how to approach their own plans, ensuring consistency and clarity in goal setting.
Mentor’s Form to Track Progress
To ensure that progress is regularly monitored, the Mentor’s Form to Track Progress is an essential tool for mentors. This form allows mentors to assess the mentee's work habits, skills, and emotional development over time.
The mentor tracks progress against set goals, using both qualitative assessments and quantitative ratings on specific areas, such as time management, focus, and communication skills. The structured approach enables mentors to identify areas for improvement and adjust the individual plan as necessary. The mentor’s ongoing feedback plays a critical role in adapting the transition plan to better suit the learner's evolving needs.
The Mentor’s Form to Track Progress provides a structured approach to assess the mentee’s development, focusing on key areas such as time management, task completion, and communication skills, ensuring that progress is consistently monitored and goals are adjusted as needed.
Learner’s Self-Assessment of Progress
In conjunction with the mentor’s form, the Learner’s Self-Assessment of Progress allows the learner to reflect on their achievements and challenges. This self-assessment encourages learners to take an active role in their transition by evaluating their own development in areas such as work habits, understanding tasks, and communication.
The self-assessment form includes scales for evaluating the learner’s satisfaction with their work, their ability to manage emotions, and their communication skills. These reflections complement the mentor's feedback, offering a holistic view of the learner's progress.
The Learner’s Self-Assessment of Progress encourages the learner to reflect on their personal achievements and challenges, allowing them to evaluate their work habits, emotional responses, and communication skills, fostering self-awareness and active participation in their own development.