4) Transfer points

There seems to be increasing acknowledgment that transfer and transition points in the education system can often serve as the trigger for susceptible students begin to exhibit challenging behaviour. For example, the move to secondary school http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7072870.stm . This importance of transition points has been taken up by government http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/nov/20/children.drugsandalcohol and it also features in the rational for the new education bill, http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/educationandskills/docs/Raising%20Expectations.pdf This paper goes well beyond the much publicised raising of the education leaving age to 18. For example, on page 15, different types of students are identified as being potential beneficiaries of mentoring. Maybe we could approach government with suggestions as to how this could be achieved.