The Transition to FE: LEA support for students with special needs

The move to a college of further education is now a well-established option for many school leavers who have special educational needs. Whether individuals are actually able to take up this option has, however, depended to a large extent on where they live. While FE provision designed for an ever-wider range of client groups has grown apace, the availability of particular kinds of opportunity has tended to rely on an unpredictable mix of local factors. The commitment of individual colleges to responding to all identified local needs is one such factor. Another is the support offered by the local education authority both to its colleges and to the young people who wish to make the move to FE. It is this latter factor which forms the basis of this report.