The purpose of this position paper is to outline key policies and legislation underpinning post-school transitions practices for people with disabilities in the Republic of Ireland. This will be demonstrated firstly, through examination of how inclusive education policy and legislation situates post school transition planning within a human rights framework in international legislation. Secondly, it will explore underpinning policy and legislation for post school transition in the Republic of Ireland (ROI), a summary of which can be observed in Table 1. The paper will then offer a critique of the implementation of international and domestic legislation and policy in the Republic of Ireland.

The paper is structured in this way as it has drawn upon the work of Bowe et al. (1992) in their descriptions of the Policy Cycle. Acknowledging two of the three stages in the Policy Cycle (1992), this paper has been influenced by the Context of Influence and Context of Practice. The paper aims to outline the Context of Influence of international policy and legislation on policy development at a national level and the impact of societal influences and drive for change and reform within a human rights context when creating a national policy agenda for education and social inclusion.

Specifically addressing the Context of Practice, this paper also outlines the variation in application of legislation and policy based on interpretations of such within the Irish education system. According to Bowe et al. (1992), policy makers cannot determine the interpretation and implementation of their documents, therefore within this paper, the Republic of Ireland’s interpretation and application of international legislation, namely the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (2006), is critically examined. The implementation of domestic policy within the context of transitions is also discussed.

As this is a position paper, there are limitations in terms of scope of discussion. However, future work could identify post school transition planning practices at an international and domestic level and outcomes for those in receipt of such plans.

Recent international legislation (CRPD, 2006; Union of Equality, 2021–2030) have emphasised the need for society to adapt and respond to the needs and abilities of people with disabilities, moving away from the medical model or within-person deficits way of thinking towards a social model of disability. However, decades before the Republic of Ireland’s ratification of the CRPD (2006) in 2018, which provided the first legally binding mandate for inclusive education through Article 24, other legislative provisions were in place to scaffold these developments.

Conceptualising inclusive education within a human rights framework, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (1989), which the Republic of Ireland ratified in 1992, cemented rights for children with disabilities (Article 23 (3)) to access education which facilitates the “fullest possible social integration” (UNCRC, 1989, p. 23). Building on this, the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action (1994), stipulated as a guiding principle, that schools must accommodate all children regardless of the presence or type of Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND), and that a move towards inclusive schools was required. It specifically stated that the allocation of a placement for a child on a permanent basis to a special class or special school would be an exception, rather than the norm and only where a mainstream placement had been unsuccessful (Salamanca Statement, 1994).

Situating inclusion within and beyond compulsory education and framing post-school transition as a human right, the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action (1994) stated that senior students with disabilities should be prepared and supported to enter higher education by engaging in transition preparation programmes, and access subsequent vocational training in order to prepare them to function as independent, contributing members of society (Salamanca Statement, 1994).

The UNCRPD (2006) was the first legally binding treaty comprehensively addressing disability rights within and beyond compulsory education (Lang et al., 2011) and placed obligations on state parties and education providers, to ensure that the rights to an inclusive education and employment are upheld. Supporting the concept of inclusion within society, Article 1 of the CRPD (2006) set out a clear and focused purpose, to ensure “full and equal enjoyment” of the rights that non-disabled people experience and to have all barriers removed so they can experience “full and effective participation” in society (p. 4). When considering this statement in relation to post-school transitions, the basic aspects of ‘participation’ in society must be taken into account: access to further and higher education; employment or self-employment; access to community networks and social interactions, and access to healthcare and welfare services. Therefore, post-school transitions are rooted at the heart of the Salamanca Statement (1994) and the CRPD (2006).

Post-school transitions are viewed even more specifically through the CRPD (2006) Article 24(5) (equal access to tertiary education through provision of reasonable accommodations) and Article 27(d) (employment; general technical and vocational guidance programmes, placement services and vocational and continuing training), where the promotion of full access to lifelong learning and employment is emphasised. However, the concept of post-school transition planning for people with disabilities has been evident in legislation in other developed countries as early as the 1970s.

America led the way with various iterations of disability legislation since 1973 (Americans with Disabilities Rehabilitation Act 1973;1990; Education for all Handicapped Children Act 1975), resulting in the current Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 2004, which mandates transition planning as part of Individual Education Plans (IEPs) by the age of 16. Similarly in the United Kingdom (UK), transition planning has been central in the Code of Practice (2015), underpinned by the Children and Families Act 2014 and the Equality Act 2010 which ensures that students with SEND have in place an annually reviewed transition plan from Year 9, typically when students are aged 13–14.

Transition planning is also evident in Scottish legislation as seen in the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 as amended (2017). This broad and wide-reaching legal framework provides for education authorities to create co-ordinated support plans. These plans, similar to IEPs in the USA and Republic of Ireland, must identify the educational objectives, additional supports to be made available and nominate a school that would be attended by the young person with additional support needs. The plan, which must be reviewed every twelve months, aims to ensure that educational objectives are written and supports made available to secure that the young person will benefit from school education. With regard to transition planning, this legislation requires education authorities to engage in transition planning, by both requesting information from prospective appropriate post-school agencies at least twelve months prior to transition and sharing information with providers no less than six months before the transition.

Within the European Union, there have also been concerted efforts to support and promote inclusion beyond compulsory education through its policy development. The Union of Equality: Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021–2030 focused on three main themes: freedom of movement, personal autonomy, and equal opportunities, aligning specifically with Article 1 of CRPD (2006). It recognises that its predecessor (European Disability Strategy 2010–2020) presented many barriers in supporting people with disabilities to access employment, healthcare, education and social inclusion (Union of Equality: Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021–2030). This revised European strategy sets out the fundamental role in how inclusive accessible education, employment and self-employment are central to the quality of life of people with disabilities, and where education is viewed as a ‘multiplier’ to accessing other rights (Heyer, 2021, p.47). It highlights the role of skill development in relation to employment for people with disabilities. However, high numbers remain of students with disabilities attending special schools – therefore, the access routes to further and higher education and to the labour market are more limited than students attending mainstream education (Salamanca Statement, 1994). It also identifies the key role of guidance counselling in supporting young people with disabilities in making the transition from vocational training and skill development programmes to becoming a member of the labour force.

Internationally, evolutions in the conceptualisation of special education over the past century have influenced policy development and legislation in the Republic of Ireland. The first formalisation of education was detailed in the Constitution of Ireland (1937), which placed obligations on the State to provide free primary education and to ensure children received a minimum education (Article 42). However, in this provision of government, this right did not extend to children with disabilities. The Commission of Inquiry into Reformatory and Industrial Schools (1936) (as cited in Swan, 2000, p. 1) stated that it was “in every way undesirable that mentally deficient children, even of the higher grade, should be placed with normal children”. This resulted in segregation becoming embedded in Irish culture, with students with SEND attending residential special schools, typically under the auspices of religious orders or hospitals. As a result of this requirement being viewed through the medical model lens, ambiguity developed between the Department of Health and Department of Education in terms of overall responsibility for SEND provision. Assessment and diagnosis soon became the role of the Health Services with the passing of the Health Act 1953. The Department of Education recognised special schools from 1947 and appointed a school inspector in 1959 exclusively for the sector (Swan, 2000). These ties between health service and special schools have lasting impacts to this day on the provision and realisation of post-school transition goals.

Special school provision grew in the decades that followed and SEND became conceptualised as ‘other’, ‘different’ and ‘for the few’, even for those that attended mainstream school with the provision of ‘remedial’ education (Swan, 2000). Emerging international human rights movements in the 1960s, which centred around advocacy, empowerment and equality, soon influenced educational provision in other jurisdictions. Despite this, the Republic of Ireland’s mainstream education system operated alongside special schools in this multi-track approach similar to that of many western European countries (Kenny et al., 2020).

Despite a number of special educational provision reports in the eighties and early nineties (Green Paper on Education, 1992; Programme for Action in Education 1984–1987; White Paper on Educational Development, 1980), legislative progress became evident from 1993. The combination of parent litigation against the state and the Report of the Special Education Review Committee (SERC) in 1993, laid down a framework for the legislation that followed.

The O’Donoghue case (High Court of Ireland, 1993) challenged the Irish Government’s failure to provide for the educational needs of an eight-year-old boy with severe disabilities. The child’s mother was successful in the case, and it triggered significant changes to the educational provision for children with SEND in the years and decades that followed, particularly those with severe and complex learning needs. In 1991, the Special Education Review Committee was established and tasked to review the existing educational provision for learners with SEND in the Republic of Ireland. The SERC report (1993) among its many findings, promoted the concept of a continuum of educational provision, supporting access to a range of flexible placements, with full-time and part-time access to special schools, special classes and mainstream classes with support. It also noted that segregation inhibited the realisation of the goal to develop skills to access society, and live and work in their own communities.

A move to integration was advocated for and following a Report of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities (1996) (Rose et al., 2010), the Republic of Ireland began to consider moving to a social model of provision, with greater awareness of the concept of inclusion being reflected in legislation that followed, i.e., the Education Act 1998. Moving from the within-child deficit model, the Education Act 1998 supported the move to inclusion, emphasising that schools needed to adapt to meet the needs of the learner (Swan, 2000), and to ensure that “their educational needs were identified and provided for” (s 9, c).

Building on the provisions in the Education Act 1998, the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act (EPSEN) (Government of Ireland, 2004) sought to define inclusive education and became the first piece of legislation concerned specifically with the educational provision of learners with SEND (Scanlon & Doyle, 2021). It aimed to provide for the education of learners with SEND in inclusive education settings, alongside their neurotypical peers, to ensure that learners with SEND enjoy the same rights to education as others. Among a number of other provisions, the creation of Individual Education Plans (IEPs) was another important feature of the legislation. These plans, created by the school in conjunction with parents and other relevant stakeholders, should outline the educational profile of the learner and related supports being provided and accessed. However, to date in 2023, the Act has yet to be fully commenced and importantly, Section 9, relating to the provision of such plans has yet to be enacted; therefore, there is no legal obligation on schools to create or engage with IEPs.

In late 2022, the Minister for Special Education called for the review of the EPSEN Act 2004 and in the first quarter of 2023 the Government of Ireland engaged in a public consultation on what the revised legislation should consider. It is anticipated that a revised version of the Act will acknowledge the Republic of Ireland’s commitments under the CRPD.

Similarly, in further and higher education in the Republic of Ireland it is only since the 1990s that inclusion has been considered and reflected in policy and practice. The earliest notable piece of legislation actively progressing transitions to third level for those with SEND, Charting our Education Future (1995), outlined a range of supports and arrangements that should be facilitated. These included consultation with students on their needs; physical access, facilities and equipment requirements; counselling, and special examination arrangements.

Independent organisations such as the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability (AHEAD), founded in 1988 as a result of Professor John Kelly identifying emerging student needs, were influential in supporting students with disabilities in third level. Starting as a non-profit body, it gained support from the Higher Education Authority to create a national organisation in the early 1990s.

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) was established in 1971, however formal funding from the Department of Education and Skills (DES) was not provided until 1994. This funding supports universities in offering students with certain SEND access to supports and services in order to fully participate in and complete their studies (HEA, n.d.).

The Fund for Students with Disabilities proved to be a success, with over 14,000 students benefiting from it in the academic year 2019/2020, compared to only 300 in 1999 (HEA, n.d.). However, a limitation of the fund is that it is not accessible to people with intellectual disabilities.

The commencement of the Universities Act 1997 further cemented the rights of people with SEND by solidifying the right to equality of access. Organisations such as AHEAD advocated for funding and encouraged the DES to develop equality of access plans such as the National Access Plan (HEA, 2005; 2008). AHEAD continues to provide valuable supports, aiming to create inclusive environments in education and employment for people with disabilities, however their remit does not extend to those with intellectual disabilities.

Subsequent legislation such as the Equal Status Act 2000–2004 and the Disability Act 2005 all emphasised the role that educational institutions must play in providing for reasonable accommodations and promoting equality of access to education which will “facilitate them in transferring to the workplace” (EPSEN Act 2004, p. 12). However, these Acts, along with the EPSEN Act 2004 all use varying definitions of disability from adult-centred definitions to medical-model deficit diagnosis-led definitions. As a result, current legislation in the Republic of Ireland is insufficient at preventing discrimination and promoting equality of access for young people with SEND (Mind the Gap Report, 2021). Along with insufficient legislation, there is poor implementation of existing legislation and policy, both international and domestic, in the Republic of Ireland.

The purpose of this position paper was to outline key policies and legislation underpinning post-school transition practices for people with disabilities in the Republic of Ireland. Through examination of how inclusive education policy and legislation situates post-school transition planning within a human rights framework in international legislation, it can be clearly identified that transition planning has been and continues to be rooted in international inclusive education legislation. The Republic of Ireland has been influenced by this international human rights and inclusion movement through development of domestic policy and legislation for post-school transition. While implementation of these policies and legislation have resulted in some tangible progress for people with disabilities generally, individuals with intellectual disabilities continue to be underrepresented and unsupported by legislation and policy to access transition planning and pathways to further and higher education and employment. As the Republic of Ireland continues to operate a largely segregated education system at primary and post-primary levels, access routes to post-secondary education and progression to employment are more limiting for those with intellectual disabilities. Without dedicated transition planning legislation, similar to that in England and America, the Republic of Ireland will continue to have low participation rates in further and higher education and employment, particularly for individuals with intellectual disabilities. As this was a position paper, there are limitations in terms of scope of discussion. However, future work could identify post-school transition planning practices at an international and domestic level and outcomes for those in receipt of such plans.

Data analysis was performed on previously published articles which are listed in the References.