The 'Achieving More in College' project: Support for autistic students attending further education colleges

This paper presents the data from a survey of 58 FE colleges in England which asked for details of the type of support offered to autistic students. There were over 6,500 students who had declared an autism diagnosis and some colleges had more than 200 autistic students on roll. There was evidence that this number was increasing year on year. Data were gathered on staff knowledge of autism and training opportunities, the support given to students and arrangements for the transition from school. Of the 57 colleges, 40 had at least one autism specialist on the staff. A range of support was provided largely concerned with academic work but 26 colleges had a befriending scheme or mentioned clubs. The authors recognise that it was not possible to ascertain the quality of the support offered and suggest that an accreditation scheme which specifically audits provision for autistic students would be helpful. The Autism Education Trust has developed a set of Standards and a Competency Framework for post 16 settings specifically for autistic students.