Transition meetings
When your child is moving from one stage of their life to another, for example leaving education to start work, it’s called ‘transition’. When your child is 13 or 14, and if they have additional support in education, their school or local authority may hold a transition plan meeting.
This meeting is the first step to planning and preparing for your child’s future. It will help your child make a successful move into further education, training or employment.
Transition meetings
In a transition meeting, you and your child will sit down together with their teacher or careers adviser to talk about your child’s plans for the future.
Sometimes, a transition meeting is called an ‘annual review’. This is because formal plans for additional support in school often require transition planning as part of their annual review.
Not all deaf young people have transition meetings, but they should get the chance to talk to a careers adviser or teacher about what they want to do in the future.
The rights your child has and the arrangements for transition will depend on where you live in the UK.
Preparing for the transition meeting
Encourage your child to prepare for their transition meeting so they get more out of it. They should think about what they might like to do in the future – if you and your child’s teacher have an idea of what their aspirations are, it makes it easier to support them.
Deaf people do all sorts of jobs. There are only a small number of jobs they aren’t allowed to do because being able to hear is important for safety reasons. With the right support and skills, most jobs will be open to your child, so encourage them to aim high.
It might help to go through some questions together. Here are some examples of questions that might come up in the transition meeting:
- What subjects are you best at?
- What options are available to you when you’re 16, 17 or 18? For example, college, staying at school, apprenticeships and so on.
- Are there any jobs you'd like to do in the future? Why would you like to do them?
- Do you know what qualifications you need to do a particular job?
See also our advice for deaf young people on understanding their options for the future.
Questions to ask at the transition meeting
Your child may have questions about planning for their future. Talk about these together and encourage your child to write some down. They can bring these questions to the transition meeting to ask the teacher or careers adviser. For example:
- What support can I get at local colleges, university or on an apprenticeship (such as note-taker or a communication support worker)?
- What support is available to help me find a job?
- What do I need to do when I turn 18 to transfer to adult audiology services?
What to do if your child is unhappy with the support they’ve received during their transition
Sometimes young people receive poor advice or not enough time is spent talking with them about their transition. Their options might not be properly explained to them. If your child is unhappy with the support they’ve received, they can complain to a teacher they trust or use their school or college’s complaint system.
If you would like to make a complaint on your child’s behalf, see the relevant page for more information: