Transitions Community Compass series - February 2023

For this session Kate Evans will be in conversation with her brother Dave Evans, about how young people experience the transitions from ‘SEND student’ to being ready for adulthood and the world of work. Kate is a PhD student in Education at the University of Dundee with a particular interest in young people’s transitions.

Dave is the Work Experience and Supported Internship coordinator for Supported Learning at an F.E. college in Warwickshire (WCG). He supports young people from 16 to 25 with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND students), undertaking work placements and supported internships with local employers. Students involved all have Education and Health Care Plans (EHCPs) and typically join the college from both mainstream and Special Educational Needs schools.

The ‘Preparation for Adulthood’ course at the college is designed to offer students a rounded education, equipping them with the life-skills, workplace competences, confidence and resilience to apply for employment and to work towards independent adulthood. Dave, along with his team of job coaches, supports individuals to find and successfully navigate work placements. Mentoring support is flexibly offered, both at the placement and back in college.

Many aspects of this work fall into the category of becoming invisible if they are done well, but the role is essentially one of viewing transition as a process of growth, and noticing and responding to the challenges experienced by the students, working alongside them to facilitate their own solution-finding skills.

Dave’s own background is multi-faceted, starting as a 16-year-old apprentice car mechanic, then becoming a Chartered Engineer, working in design, research and management roles at Jaguar Landrover, and also in an eleven-year stint as a research journalist for Which? Consumer magazine. Many diverse aspects of his personal career experience have become assets in his current role.