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The school staff members were also asked when transition preparation and planning from school to post-school started. The responses given were varied, according to their roles and responsibilities at the school. The majority of the participants said that the transition planning generally started in the third year. This corresponds with the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 which states that the period prior to a child or young person leaving school should be done at least 12 months before the expected leaving date, that is when a young person is 15 years old or earlier than that (HMIe, 2007). For example, one teacher stated:

...it’s based on, it certainly [city’s name] Council policy that they will start from third year. The transition starts from third year, yeah. (PTSFL1 SA)

However, some had different views, including staff from the same school, as to when transition planning should start. Perhaps this is not surprising as they hold different roles in the school. The gap of the period varied from as short as a few months before leaving school to as long as several years. The following two examples illustrate their different views:

I’d certainly say a few months before they left, before they were going. (CA1 SC)

... as I say we start, we had an open evening last night with Primary 7 and so we already started the process with some parents last night. We’ve already identified pupils in Primary 6 and Primary 7 who have Additional Support Needs and they will be coming up to us for more than the two day visit and at that point we’re getting to know the parents, and again, just, you know, just feeding them information and making them aware of these things and aware that they can understand. (PTSFL1 SD)

Six others mentioned that the planning time could vary depending on the young people’s individual needs and ability level. As one teacher commented:

I think for most of them I don’t know if there’s any point thinking about it much earlier than that because of the nature of our children and their learning difficulties. Looking ahead, that’s difficult, that is hard, you know, so um I don’t even know at present S4 whether they have fully taken on board that they’re going to be leaving school and then um, going to college. It’s um that something nature of difficulty and they do tend to be quite immature as well. (PTSFL1 SC)

Two teachers said that it could also vary depending on the performance of the young people and how well they can get on at school. One teacher stated:

It’s probably best during the third year for staff to start identifying those that need it and because by that point in time it would be identifying whether they are likely to achieve Standard Grade, Access 3 or Intermediate 1 Grade and then that would identify whether they are going to be staying on until the fifth year or whether they are likely to be needing to find alternative arrangements at the end of fourth year because school wouldn’t be, you know, the correct place for them. So, round about the third year point. (PTG SF)

In one case, one teacher stressed the importance of planning early, especially for the young people who are in care. She commented:

...the planning time for youngsters who are in care is hugely more important in some ways because youngsters who aren’t in care have the continuity of their parents. They're with them supporting through them, but youngsters who are in care potentially turn sixteen and then, you know, they then have to Social Work Department will help them find their own flat, that’s a massive extra um thing you know ...they also have to look, find a source of living on their own with no support. So I think, potentially, I think it’s more important and that it begins early. (GT SA)

In short, although many of the school staff seem to follow the policy given by the government with regards to planning time, they also seem to consider the ability of the young people regarding whether they have to start the planning either earlier or later.

In terms of the preparation, the school staff members were asked about what they did to prepare the young people for the transition process. The majority reported that having a transition meeting was the main preparation in the transition process. As Carnaby and Lewis (2005) have noted, a transition review meeting is an essential forum for both, interagency and the young people and their families to cooperate and discuss planning for their future. One school staff member stated:

It’s about I mean the most basic mechanism is having the review meeting, having that regularly, that’s where you bring everyone together. That’s the baseline. Without that it wouldn’t happen successfully. ...but the meeting is probably the most important mechanism for bringing everyone together and discussing things. (GT SA)

Other preparations noted by the school staff included suggesting the names of the potential young people that are deemed suitable for college and taking them for a visit to college to familiarise themselves with the college environment. Two other school staff members emphasised the importance of the social and personal skills of the young people as preparation for leaving school so that they will be more confident about facing society.

Also mentioned was having a chat with the young people, gathering as much information as possible and keeping them constantly informed about the planning. In addition, dealing with parents and other professionals who are involved with the young people, planning early and making sure that everything was in place as soon as possible

were other ways stated by the school staff to make sure that the planning and preparation goes smoothly.

In short, there seem to be a lot of planning and preparation done by the school to ensure that the process of transition for the young people could run as seamlessly as possible.