Sir, – I read with great interest Michelle McBride’s excellent article “Transition year gap: ‘Why is it only some schools get to go on trips abroad?’” (Education, December 3rd), highlighting the uneven uptake of and funding for transition year, particularly in disadvantaged communities and among pupils with additional needs.
I wonder, are your readers aware that there is a further hidden inequality in the system?
Pupils who attend special schools with moderate, severe or profound intellectual disabilities are not offered a transition year programme to work on their personal development, wellbeing and life skills, although their typically developing peers are.
There was a particularly wise and insightful comment in the article from a young neurodivergent man who shone a light on the routine exclusion of pupils with additional needs from the same opportunities as their peers: “It feels like extreme bias. No person should have to be denied further access to their education simply because of their developmental abilities.”
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The Department of Education, the National Council for Special Education, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and the incoming minister for disability should take note and act immediately on this blatant inequality. – Yours, etc,
CAROLINE FARRELL,
Marino,
Dublin 3.