Pathways to Adulthood is an innovative study programme from NOCN that has been designed specifically for young people who have learning difficulties or disabilities (LDD).
The programme provides a useful framework for training providers to build individual courses that will enable young people with a wide range of LDD issues to develop skills in preparation for adulthood.
"Disabled young people want the same things as everyone else – paid work, a place to call their own, good health, friends and relationships, and to be part of the society they live in." - Government pathway conclusion
This programme aims to allow young people with LDD to realise these goals using a practical and tailored approach.
There are four strands to the programme:
Pathways to Adulthood is designed to meet the needs of individual learners through practical activities that will enable them to increase their independence.
The programme is expected to be ran over a 3 year period and centres can claim for achievement of learners at the end of each year to provide to their learners.
The programme can also incorporate individual learning objectives, and English and maths, as appropriate to each student’s ability and aspirations. Activity can contribute to a young person’s preparation for adult life, such as travel training, organisational skills and learning how to use public services.
Each programme will be challenging and designed to enable students to make progress from where they are at the beginning of their programme towards identified, meaningful and realistic long term goals.
NOCN has developed a Pathways to Adulthood Programme Resource Pack for providers to use to deliver the programme. The pack is available digitally and provides a handy resource to record progression.
It is intended that each young person should have a transition plan for their education, health and care needs, developed from a single multi-agency assessment. The NOCN Resource Pack can be used to bring together the elements of the plan, which avoids the need for multiple assessments and provides a co-ordinated and coherent approach to the development of an effective learning programme.
The transition plan includes elements of the four strands which are tailored to each person and progress is assessed and monitored against agreed earning objectives. For some young people, progress is measured in more holistic terms to better suit their abilities and needs, representing a broadening, generalising or consolidation of existing skills which add to their overall quality of life and independence.
If a learner has a statement of special educational needs, a Learning Difficulty Assessment, or an EHC plan then funding is available through EFA up to the age of 24.
For any queries related to funding, we encourage centres to contact the Department for Education Customer Portal via the following link: https://customerhelpportal.education.gov.uk/access-the-enquiry-portal/
To support centres in the delivery of the programme, following approval, NOCN will arrange for a specialist EQA to provide training to the Centre to introduce them to the programme and to train them on the use of RARPA.
Centres approved to deliver the programme are entitled to one EQA visit per academic year to support and review Centre delivery.
If you are not yet a Centre with NOCN, please contact business-enquiries@nocn.org.uk to discuss becoming an approved Assured Course Centre to deliver the Pathways to Adulthood Study Programme.
A fee of £27 is charged for the registration and certification for each learner upon the point of registration.
When a Centre purchases Pathways to Adulthood from NOCN they will receive staff training and expert guidance to deliver the programme. This training will take place over a half day and will be charged in line with the NOCN Fees and Charges.