Staff Roles and Responsibilities

Practitioners are required to give special attention to children and young people with additional needs or those who may be facing challenging life transitions to ensure dignity, promote self-reliance, and facilitate their active participation in their community. Transitions should be inclusive and accommodating for children and young people with additional support needs, providing necessary support and reasonable adjustments to ensure their equal participation and access to educational opportunities.

Practical Implications for Practitioners

Plan transitions early and collaboratively with colleagues, families, and support services.
Use transition profiles or passports to share key information about each child.
Create opportunities for visits, familiarisation, and relationship-building with new settings or staff.
Identify and provide emotional support and reassurance, especially for those children who may be anxious or vulnerable.
Reflect on your own practice and seek professional learning to strengthen transition support.

For almost all children and young people a 12-month (a minimum expectation as identified by Scottish Government) transition planning cycle is appropriate. However, for children and young people with ASN an 15 to18-month transition planning cycle is recommended, as outlined in this guidance.

Roles and Responsibilities of Practitioners and Managers

Positive transitions for children and young people with Additional Support Needs (ASN) require a collaborative, informed, and inclusive approach. All practitioners, irrespective of educational setting, share responsibility for ensuring that transitions are planned, personalised, and supportive, with the child’s rights and needs at the centre.

The receiving school should always take the lead in final transition arrangements, working in partnership with the current setting or arrangement and the child’s parent/ carers. The current setting must take responsibility for the identification of those children and young people requiring support with their transition, and engaging with parent/carers to initiate early destination planning. When young people are leaving the school setting it is a shared responsibility between the school and the receiving partner(s) in collaboration with the young person and their family.

Key Responsibilities for all staff involved in transition planning and delivery

Facilitate safe, pupil-led discussions
Create inclusive spaces where children and young people with ASN can express their thoughts, feelings, and questions about transition. Use accessible communication methods and tools where appropriate.
Prioritise multi-agency collaboration
Engage in meaningful dialogue with families, colleagues, and relevant professionals (e.g. Educational Psychologists, ASN staff, Health, Social Work) to gather a full picture of the child’s learning profile, strengths, and support needs.
Ensure timely and comprehensive information sharing
Transfer all relevant information – such as medical needs, Child Protection chronologies, ASN documentation including Child’s Plans, Individualised Education Programmes (IEPs), Coordinated Support Plans (CSPs) and agency involvement – securely and in line with data protection legislation. This ensures continuity of support and avoids duplication or gaps.
Respect confidentiality and dignity
Handle sensitive information with care, ensuring that the child’s privacy and dignity are upheld throughout the transition process.
Recognise and build on prior learning
Use Pupil Profiles, attainment data, and support plans to ensure that transitions build on existing progress and skills.
Implement and review support plans
All practitioners are responsible for contributing to and delivering on the outcomes outlined in Child’s Plans, Individualised Education Programmes (IEPs), Co-ordinated Support Plans (CSPs). These should be reviewed and updated as part of the transition process. (see timelines)
Foster a nurturing, inclusive ethos
Ensure that the school environment is welcoming, predictable, and responsive to the emotional and sensory needs of learners with ASN. Relationships and routines should promote trust and security.
Adapt the learning environment
Develop appropriate learning spaces and experiences that are flexible, accessible, and responsive to individual needs. This includes differentiated teaching, assistive technology, and quiet spaces where needed.
Lead Enhanced Transition Planning
The receiving setting or school should take the lead in coordinating Enhanced Transition Programmes for learners with ASN. This includes early planning with the promoting setting additional visits, tailored activities, and opportunities to build relationships with key staff in the receiving setting for the child and parent/ carer.
Develop a clear transition timeline
Agree on a structured timeline based on the following guidance for transition activities, meetings, and reviews. This should be shared with all stakeholders and adapted to meet the needs of the individual child or young person.

Policy and Rights-Based Context

The guidance emphasises that children with additional support needs should receive the necessary help to succeed in mainstream environments, promoting both equity and excellence. A child-centred approach is central to the policy, ensuring that decisions about school placements are made in the best interests of the child and involve both the child and their family. The document also seeks to close the gap between policy and practice by promoting meaningful inclusion – focusing not just on physical presence in a mainstream school, but on active participation and achievement. Additionally, it highlights the importance of being part of a school community for emotional wellbeing and social development, helping all children appreciate and value diversity.

The Review of the Implementation of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 under Recommendation 6.1 Relationships between schools and parents states that

“This must include clear pathways on transitions for children and young people with additional support needs, in the context of learning for life, allowing parents, carers, children, young people and professionals to be informed and supported at key transition points.”

This will improve the support to disabled Children and Young People at stages of transition to early years/primary school/secondary school/ higher education or work

The Legislative landscape: Defining the Children and Young People

Defining the Children and Young People – What do the Acts say?

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 defines someone as having a disability when they have a condition which has an impact on their day-to-day life. This, for example, means people who have cancer, multiple sclerosis, a hearing impairment or a sight impairment, or perhaps a mobility difficulty. The physical impairment will have a substantial and long term adverse effect on the ability of the young person to carry out normal activities.

The Mental Health (Care & Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 provides a range of new rights and protections for all individuals with a mental disorder. This term covers a range of mental health problems, including mental illness, learning disability, and personality disorders. It also includes a range of syndromes which have an impact on day-to-day life or on a young person’s resilience to future mental distress.

The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 makes it plain that children with complex needs or a disability are children first and, as such, are entitled to the same services as other children. They are defined as children “in need”, and entitled to an assessment of their need. Services should be designed to enable such children to maximise their independence.

The Additional Support for Learning (Scotland) Act 2004 (ASL) seeks to offer a more co-ordinated, person-centred approach to transition planning which requires meaningful input from all professionals involved with a Young Person (YP)

There are various definitions of the term ‘complex’ needs. NICE (National Institute for Care and Health Excellence) define adults with complex needs as:

people aged 18 or over who need a high level of support with many aspects of their daily life, and relying on a range of health and social care services. This may be because of illness, disability, broader life circumstances or a combination of these. Complex needs may be present from birth or develop over the course of a person’s life, and may fluctuate. (Social work with adults experiencing complex needs, NICE guideline [NG216] Published:26 May 2022)

A child or young person who has additional support needs arising from one or more complex factors or multiple factors (needs that are likely to continue for more than a year) is deemed to have ‘complex needs. However, a rigorous, clearly bounded and universally accepted definition is extremely difficult to formulate because of the multiplicity of factors and the impact of specific contexts in different local authorities. For that reason, the National Strategic Commissioning Groupi1 is using a working description rather than a definition of children and young people with complex additional support needs. (Milestones: Supporting learners with complex additional support needs; Education Scotland, 2016)

In schools, children and young people who are likely to present with complex needs and therefore, be subject to this guidance are likely to:

Have at least one clinical disability
Have very significant learning disabilities, maybe with a diagnosis of Intellectual Disability

In addition, they may:

Experience great difficulties in problem-solving, playing and/or working collaboratively with others and maintaining positive relationships.
Use signs or symbols to communicate, may be with the help of technology or communicate verbally to some extent, but with limited functionality and cognition.
Need significant support with everyday tasks, personal care and keeping themselves safe.
Have sensory and health needs.
Have significant developmental delays in one or more aspects of their presentation.

In addition, these conditions may co-exist alongside disabilities or disorders such as Autism, Downs Syndrome, epilepsy or other chromosomal disorders. As adults, they will need quite specific supports in place to enable their communication, cognitive and physical functions as well as their self-help and independence.

In Dumfries and Galloway young people with complex needs have historically been educated at Georgetown Primary School (Queensberry), Belmont Children’s Centre (Stranraer) Langlands School (Dumfries), Lockerbie Learning Centre and the Aird unit (Stranraer Academy). Given the ‘Presumption of mainstream’ expectations, increasingly all schools are providing for young people with complex additional support needs that meet the descriptor above so this guidance is of relevance to all settings.

The Statutory Guidance to the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act’ (Published 20 December 2017) states that:

‘It is anticipated that the transitional duties will certainly apply to all those children and young people with additional support needs where one, or more, of the following circumstances apply. They:

have a co-ordinated support plan
are in a specialist placement such as an enhanced provision, a special unit or a special school
have additional support needs arising from a disability within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010
are otherwise at risk of not making a successful transition such as looked after children and young carers.’

The aim of this guidance document is designed to assist all the stakeholders involved in supporting and planning transitions for young people with complex additional support needs to minimise the impact of these factors on a young person and their families. (Chapter 6: Transitions – Additional support for learning: statutory guidance 2017 – gov.scot)

We know that many young people with additional support needs and their parents and carers find the transition to young adult life particularly challenging. These challenges are exacerbated by:

Organisational processes taking priority over individual needs
Lack of support for carers and families
Insufficient planning
Unclear transitions pathways
Limited options
Lack of clarity about accountability

Key Principles: What do we mean by Transitions?

School education is organised in such a way that all children and young people experience transitions as they move through the various stages of schooling. These transitions include entry to pre-school provision, transfer to primary school and through the different stages of primary and secondary school and, in particular, to post-school provision. Within almost all schools, children and young people will encounter changes and transition from each stage to stage.

Whatever the form of change and transition, all children and young people are entitled to support to enable them to gain as much as possible from the opportunities each education setting can provide for them and support in moving into positive and sustained destinations beyond school. There are two key national guidance documents that apply to the Transitions process.

Transition is the period when young people develop from children to young adults. This is not a single event, such as leaving school, but a growing-up process that unfolds over several years and involves significant emotional, physical, intellectual and physiological changes. During this period young people progressively assume greater autonomy in many different areas of their lives and are required to adjust to different experiences, expectations, processes, places and routines. Transitions also impact on the family or on those who care for the child or young person (Principles of Good Transition, ARC Scotland 2017)

The key working document that provides a framework to inform, structure and encourage the continual improvement of support for young people with additional needs between the ages of 14 and 25 and the current direction for the management of effective transitions for young people is ‘Supporting disabled children, young people and their families: guidance’ published in November 2023 (Transitions – Supporting disabled children, young people and their families: guidance – gov.scot). Throughout, this guidance references ‘Principles of Good Transitions 3’ (Principles of Good Transitions – Scottish Transitions Forum ARC Scotland 2017). In this document ‘Transitions’ are defined as

The ‘Statutory Guidance to the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act’ (Published 20 December 2017) Chapter 6: Transitions – Additional support for learning: statutory guidance 2017 – gov.scot also focusses on transitions and lays out the duties of education authorities in respect of the management of transitions. This document provides specific timelines for different stages of a child’s progress through the education system from pre-school to leaving school into adulthood.

This website lays out the duties of education authorities in respect of the management of transitions and provides specific timelines for different stages of a child’s progress through the education system from pre-school to leaving school into adulthood.

Getting it Right for every child in Dumfries and Galloway and the Principles of Good Transitions is based on seven principles reflecting the Rights of the Child.

Principle of Transitions	United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
Principle 1.	Planning and decision-making should be carried out in a person-centred way
	Article 2 (non-discrimination) The Convention applies to every child without discrimination, whatever their ethnicity, sex, religion, language, abilities or any other status, whatever they think or say, whatever their family background
Principle 2	Support should be co-ordinated across all services
	Article 23 (children with a disability) A child with a disability has the right to live a full and decent life with dignity and, as far as possible, independence and to play an active part in the community.
Principle 3	Planning should start early and continue up to age 25
	Article 3 (best interests of the child) The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all decisions and actions that affect children.
Principle 4	All young people should get the support that they need
	Article 12 (respect for the views of the child) Every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously.
Principle 5	Young people, parents and carers must have access to the information they need
	Article 24 (health and health services) Every child has the right to the best possible health.
Principle 6	Families and carers need support
	Article 5 (parental guidance and a child’s evolving capacities) Governments must respect the rights and responsibilities of parents and carers to provide guidance and direction to their child as they grow up, so that they fully enjoy their rights. This must be done in a way that recognises the child’s increasing capacity to make their own choices.
Principle 7	A continued focus on transitions across Scotland
	Article 29 (goals of education) Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment