Guide one: curriculum
This theme relates to Gatsby Benchmarks three and four. These state that teachers should link curriculum learning with careers and that a school’s careers programme should embed equality and diversity considerations throughout.
For the autistic young people in our specialist provision, Ambitious College, we personalise the curriculum to their aspirations and interests as much as possible. Our Ambitious Approach to teaching ensures that curriculum planning can be tailored and specific. All the young people at Ambitious College have an employability and enterprise action plan. The action plan is created by our employment specialists and through regular meetings across the trans-disciplinary team. Targets are then interwoven throughout the young person’s timetabled sessions.
Download template: employability and enterprise action plan
Download example: completed employability and enterprise action plan
On this page, you will find information on the following:
- What you teach autistic young people
- How you teach autistic young people
- How to embed work-related learning opportunities across the curriculum
- Where you teach
- Download our resources.
What you teach autistic young people
When moving into employment, many autistic young people struggle to understand how making a disclosure may be beneficial for them and instead worry about being stereotyped or excluded from opportunities.
Knowing when, how and who to disclose to can also be difficult. Autistic young people can struggle with making positive disclosures and may tend to talk negatively about themselves, their skills and talents.
It’s crucial that as part of an autistic young person’s education experience they develop a positive understanding of themselves. This will look different for all autistic young people and may be supported through recognising and recording progress and achievement (RARPA) or teaching this as part of your curriculum.
Young people understanding their strengths and skills throughout your curriculum, and linking it to the context of the workplace, will help bridge the gap between classroom and employment.
Download learning resource: self-advocacy lesson plan
Download learning resource: self-advocacy booklet
How you teach autistic young people
Think about where you can embed learning within existing subjects. For example, if learners are on a community visit, they could also take part in a scavenger hunt to spot jobs in the community that involve wearing a uniform.
A good careers programme should include a tracking and monitoring system for learners moving out of your provision (this is also an Ofsted requirement). This will allow you to understand the impact of your careers education while your young people are with you and the impact on sustained destinations after your careers education.
Your alumni are the perfect autistic role models to support your curriculum delivery. For example, do you have a previous student working in a shop? Can they be supported to return to your setting to help role-play activities they complete in their job?
How to embed work-related learning opportunities across the curriculum
Along with careers education being embedded within existing subjects or timetabled sessions, you may want to create a bespoke scheme of work for structured, work-related learning sessions. This is where you can use an employer network to support young people through visits to workplaces and by delivering workshops.
National Careers Week takes place in March every year and is the ideal opportunity to either do a drop-down timetabled week or ensure that every session during the week has a careers education focus.
Scaffolding learning as much as possible, and building on the strengths and training by staff across your provision, can also support careers education planning.
- Do you have staff trained in Training in Systematic Instruction (TSI)?
- Can they create task analysis for specific lessons such as a cooking task?
- Can this approach to breaking down tasks for autistic young people complement all other aspects of the curriculum?
Where you teach
In supporting autistic young people, the design of your space is crucial. People’s needs are either fulfilled or frustrated by their environment.
The environment can serve to nurture and enrich individuals, and facilitate development, but can also be disruptive. This can lead to less optimal development, defiance, developmental regression or alienation. Therefore, when thinking about distressed behaviour, we need to explore underlying needs and environmental factors.
Download guide: inclusive classroom design checklist
Download our resources
Template: employability and enterprise action plan
Example: completed employability and enterprise action plan
Learning resource: self-advocacy lesson plan and booklet
Guide: an inclusive classroom design checklist
