School and Beyond

Why it matters

There are very few robust, helpful resources for neurodivergent young people who are not children any more, but who are not yet fully out in the world doing their own thing. Being neurodivergent adds another layer of complexity to that stretch, and usually without any support to help someone work out their best way forward or advocate for themselves.

Girls fare particularly poorly here.

Public debate tends to split between claims that neurodiversity is over-diagnosed and evidence pointing the other way, such as the underdiagnosis of ADHD in girls, or the finding that most dyslexic people leave school without a formal diagnosis. Underneath that argument sits the thing that actually matters: without help, many of these girls risk becoming a shell of what they could be, when the right support would have built their confidence and given them the skills to advocate and care for themselves.

What I found

Successful transition cannot be measured through qualifications or university progression alone. That is the clearest finding from the whole Fellowship.

Young people also need self-knowledge, confidence, communication, problem-solving and self-advocacy skills, alongside real opportunities to make decisions and learn from experience. Flexible academic, vocational and applied pathways are particularly valuable, but only when they are meaningful, properly supported, and genuinely regarded as equally valid.

The other half of that finding is about the systems, not the young people. Nobody should be expected to navigate an inaccessible system independently. Education providers, employers and other institutions have to create environments where differences are understood and where asking for support leads to something actually happening.

What I recommend

The report makes 30 recommendations, grouped by how quickly change could realistically happen and where responsibility for it sits. A few from each group:

Long term and structural

For government, policymakers, funders and large employers.

• Reform how schools are evaluated, so accountability extends beyond exam results and university progression to include sustained participation, vocational destinations, wellbeing and progress from an individual starting point.
• Establish parity of esteem between academic, vocational and applied pathways, and fund them accordingly.
• Create a national entitlement to early, personalised transition planning that follows the young person across settings.
• Improve access to timely diagnostic assessment, while making sure support does not depend entirely on having a formal diagnosis.
• Develop screening that is sensitive to masking and to the different ways neurodivergence presents in girls, and that leads to support rather than becoming another label.

Within institutions

For schools, colleges, universities, training providers and workplaces.

• Teach communication, self-advocacy, emotional regulation, organisation and workplace expectations explicitly, rather than assuming they are picked up along the way.
• Allow students to demonstrate knowledge through practical tasks, oral responses, presentations or portfolios where the learning outcome permits it. Flexibility should give equitable access to the standard, not lower it.
• Make high-quality resources free at the point of use, so access does not depend on family income or an existing diagnosis.
• Appoint a named transition lead, so young people and families know who is coordinating things and nobody gets lost between departments.
• Create portable, student-led support profiles that belong to the learner.

Things that can happen now

For organisations, professionals, families and individuals, mostly without extra funding.

• Provide warm referrals. Introduce someone to the next person rather than pointing them at a webpage.
• Keep a clear menu of adjustments staff can make quickly, so support is not delayed while evidence is gathered.
• Agree quiet spaces and non-punitive ways for a young person to step away, regulate and come back.
• Make expectations explicit. Deadlines, conventions and unwritten rules should be said out loud rather than assumed.
• Recognise a broader range of achievement, including confidence, communication, independence and willingness to try.

What happens next

This is not a finished piece of work. I am still going through the data and still talking with colleagues about what I saw, and the project will keep growing over the coming years.

The part I most want to build is a set of resources, free at the point of use, that neurodivergent girls and young women can use directly to understand their own needs, recognise their strengths and practise advocating for themselves.

About the Churchill Fellowship

Churchill Fellowships fund UK citizens to travel overseas, learn from what works in other countries, and bring those ideas back to benefit communities here. My Fellowship was funded by the Churchill Foundation and supported by The Mercers’ Company.