An early tracking system anchored in changes in assessment and

The picture of the legal framework under which opportunities of further education are available is a rather complex one. There are either general laws with special provisions for disabled people, or special laws, according to the countries. In addition, vocational training or parts of it are, in many countries, governed by employment laws.

Academic Network of European Disability experts (ANED) – VT/2007/005

As already mentioned, the target group tends no longer to include all young people needing support to achieve their development and learning. The vocabulary tends less to consider those experiencing barriers associated with migrant languages or their social background after compulsory schooling, for example (although guidance may exist). Special provisions tend now to be more limited to young disabled people, as defined by disability law in each country.

There is a new focus in assessment after compulsory schooling. Whereas the child’s needs for successful compulsory schooling were more carefully listed for primary and lower secondary education, they are less considered in the same way for upper secondary schooling, vocational training and higher education. Students are regarded as having a greater responsibility to manage their own studies or acquire skills. They are also more assumed to know how to handle the additional technical devices used in earlier years. The required assessment tends more towards

prospective employability and those limitations that may hamper their training, studying, and employment prospects; aimed at listing possible compensations for such limitations.

In many countries (but not in Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Portugal or the United Kingdom), the identification of students with SEN is no longer used in laws dealing with education after compulsory school age and assessment procedures shift from special educational needs towards employability and disability access needs. Levels are still in use and access to vocational training is sometimes restricted to those with the greatest prospects of finding a job after training. Some training schemes have added an assessment of the individual’s skills to the usual assessment of disability, as in Portugal. Such re-assessing is also made in those countries where vocational training is not yet very well distinguished from rehabilitation and social integration (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania). Different laws govern inclusive vocational training centres, special training centres, and apprenticeship contracts or training contracts in supported employment schemes or, as in Germany, Poland and Austria, training contracts with workshops.

The shift from educational support needs, towards disability access means that upper secondary schools, training centres or universities have to make adaptations that are necessary for the student to overcome identified barriers (for example, adapted examinations). This shift begins to challenge inequality in education, as for instance when the student’s career choice is diminished because of inaccessible buildings, lack of adapted transportation systems or other barriers created by the built environment as reported from several countries.

In addition to eligibility criteria for supports, young disabled people have to comply with admission criteria beyond the compulsory school level. In most countries, admission to upper secondary education and higher education still depends on disability policies and strategies developed autonomously by the schools and universities themselves.

Academic Network of European Disability experts (ANED) – VT/2007/005

As to vocational training, students may have to meet the entry requirements of the various vocational schemes and of their choice of craft and trade (since access to vocational training is often governed by employment laws and a range of

professional codes). In this sense, there remains some confusion about the extent to which the requirements for equal treatment in ‘occupation and employment’, such as Directive 2000/78 EC, are being applied to education or training that is designed to lead into future employment (there is particular uncertainty in the case of

academic courses that are not explicitly ‘vocational’ or ‘training’).

Furthermore, young disabled people may be hampered in progressing within the education system beyond compulsory levels by the modes of funding. Whereas compulsory schooling is, by law, free of charge, including devices and support measures for children with SEN this is no longer the case in vocational training and higher education where the legal framework is far more flexible. For example, according to the Icelandic report, technical and human support ceases at the age of 16, and young disabled people must seek help from the grants available at the Regional Offices for the Affairs of Disabled People, which are much more limited and restrictive in their allocation rules (and under some threat in the current economic crisis). In Lithuania, young disabled people are entitled to financial support only if they are assessed as having up to 45% of working efficiency and if they do not have academic debts or other penalties imposed by the University. Here, as in many others, the legal framework of foundations allows for the involvement of civil society in funding further education. The report from Germany indicates an example of good practice with the ‘Hildegardis-Verein’, a private association that supports women in their university studies and academic careers, offers a mentoring programme for 60 female disabled students. Lithuania and some other countries indicate support by the Students’ Unions, supported different bodies in civil society. Malta indicates two more foundations supporting professional training for young disabled people.