Event

Joint EPR – EASPD Webinar: Transitions for Young People with Disabilities – Good practices and success factors

Adolescents and young adults, especially those with a disadvantaged background and fewer opportunities, e.g., due to disabilities, migration, risks to fall into poverty and social exclusions, are facing barriers in accessing the labour market and becoming economically independent. The COVID-19 pandemic and the related economic downturn have had a negative impact on these groups, leading to new challenges and an urgent need to provide adequate individual support. The design of pathways for young people with disabilities (YPWD) to successfully transition from school, vocational education and training (VET) or inactivity into employment is thus highly relevant across Europe, given the persistent high unemployment and unacceptably high inactivity rates in particular for more vulnerable groups or socially or economically disadvantaged adolescents and young adults.

One key aim and focus of the European Year 2022 of Youth is to improve the opportunities to shape i.a. a more inclusive future for young people in the EU. The Disability Employment Package issued on 20 September 2022 has as one thematic focus the promotion of pathways to the mainstream labour market. For social service providers in the field of disability and vocactional rehabilitation, their staff and users, organising the successful transition from school or vocational training to employment is a permant challenge, influenced by labour market developments as well as policies and legislative frameworks at the various levels of government and regulation in place in order to support this transition for young people with disabilities, but also by the knowledge about successful programmes, approaches and services.

The EPR members involved in the Working Group Youth have been collecting in the last months good practices on transition programmes and services for YPWD from school or vocational education and training (VET) into employment, to be published in a report. A report on selected transition services for youth with disabilities in member organisations of EPR published by EPR in 2014 dealt with services to support the transition from school (secondary education) into vocational, employment and/or the community for young people for disabilities. It looked into programmes and approaches that EPR members were using with transition age youth (14 to 24 and beyond) to increase their independence and inclusion in the community and included recommendations. We aim to update this good practice collection.

As part of the Lighthouse Network EASPD’s Member Forum on Education and the development of a manual on how services can support persons with disabilities at key transition phases during their lives namely: Secondary School into employment, a collection of promising practices on the transition from education to employment is also taking place in EASPD. This manual still being worked on will include a number of promising practices on how to support the transition at each phase.

EPR and EASPD thus decided to join forces for a webinar with its members and the interested public to present key finding from the collection of good practices done in recent months by both organisations. They would like to offer a forum to discuss the success factors of transition programmes from school and training to employment and to have an exchange – towards the end of the European Year 2022 of Youth – on supportive legislative and policy frameworks at the different levels of government and regulation.

The Concept Note and DRAFT Agenda can be accessed below. If you are interested in participating, please fill in the registration form.

This event is for EPR members, EASPD members and the interested public.