One question that came up frequently at this year’s Association of School and College Leaders conference was: “Do young people have the building blocks for a healthy future?” Alongside academic success, building capacity for health and happiness is fundamental to education. And yet, too often, it is neglected.

A recent study of life chances for young people in Scotland neatly summarises four foundations for a healthy life:

• Opportunity to engage in good-quality work.
• Access to secure and affordable homes in flourishing communities.
• Stable and supportive relationships.
• Habits that promote and maintain health.

Holistic ambitions for young people is an area where special educational needs and disability (SEND) settings have been working hard and can offer leadership. Since the code of practice was introduced in 2014, there has been an explicit focus on independence and employability in individual education, health and care planning.

Special schools have been quick to respond, making life skills more central to the design of the curriculum. Some have developed assessment systems to ensure careful monitoring and progress of their students’ steps towards successful life after school.

Transition - in theory, bridging the divide between school and work (yet often characterised in practice as “falling of a cliff” ) - is now the focus for partnership building. Exciting developments are happening across the country, such as supported internships, where schools link with hospitals, hotels, airports and other employers to design a scaffolded transition to the world of work.

Young people are trained on the job with the help of a job coach. It’s a revolutionary shift in working practices and helps to raise the expectations of employers, families and, most importantly, the young people themselves.

I’d like to think the divide were closing as a result, but this is far from true. According to the Department for Education, only 6 per cent of adults with learning disabilities who are receiving support from social services are in paid employment - one of the most shocking statistics in Britain today.

As the majority of young people with learning difficulties are in mainstream schools, surely we must consider the implications of this for our mainstream curriculum?

A new research inquiry by the Health Foundation explores the hypothesis that young people are transitioning to adulthood with fewer “assets” than they require to successfully weather the storms of everyday life. The 2,000 twentysomethings who took part identified critical gaps that needed addressing: matching qualifications and skills to their chosen career; developing personal networks; having practical financial support and emotional help to navigate the transition.

We often hear about resilience in the context of coping with exams or workload. Yet, teaching life skills as “assets” sits outside our current curriculum. What about the skills to maintain friends, to manage money and to build emotional resilience?

The good news is that reconceptualising “achievement” is on the agenda. Let’s all be braver and prioritise development of softer skills outcomes - making friends, managing finances, travelling independently, valuing health and self-worth. How can we help all teenagers to get an A or a 9 in confidence to navigate the adult world?

Margaret Mulholland is the SEND representative on the Association of School and College Leaders Council

This article originally appeared in the 14 June 2019 issue under the headline “Let’s help every student to achieve an A in life skills”