FEM Step 4

Use a voting process to identify priority areas and develop meaningful goals from them.

Last updated 2 September 2026

Developing Goals

Step 4 progress bar showing 30 minutes, approximately 60 percent complete in green.

By making everyone feel welcome and having all participants share their aspirations, assessing what's working and what isn't in the identified areas, and prioritising their needs, we can effectively guide the students and families towards meaningful goal-setting.

Focusing on the child’s Aspirations, What’s Working, and What’s Not Working generated from Steps 2 and 3, facilitators guide the student and family toward meaningfully using the 3-step Outcome Sequence below.

A Goals whiteboard with a checkmark icon beside three outcome sequence steps labeled Step 1, Step 2, and Step 3.

Step 1: Identify the Priority Areas

The facilitator guides everyone through a 3 Dots Voting Process.

All participants are given 3 stickers (dots) to indicate their votes. Participants place their dots on the areas they care most about. The facilitator invites participants to vote their top 3 items from the responses from the following three focus areas in FEM Step 2:

Aspirations
What’s Working?
What’s Not Working?

The process is fully explained in the visual below.

Three-step flowchart showing Voting, Counting Votes, and Consolidating Votes with bullet points under each step.

Pro Tip card titled Voting with Different Stickers, with a yellow lightbulb icon and two bullet points on yellow background.

A whiteboard with a four-quadrant chart titled "What is working?" and "What is not working?" covered in sticky notes.

Source: Eden School

Step 2: Develop the Goals

The facilitator leads participants in crafting the student’s post-school goals. With reference to the priority areas, ask: What is the positive change you want to see? (This could be either changing what is not working or moving towards an aspiration.)

Write this into a specific outcome, keeping in mind what you should avoid in developing outcomes.

Step 3: Check the Goals

Ensuring students' goals are well-crafted and meaningful supports the next step in transition planning and promotes progress in their journey. Check the quality of the goals by using the following checklist:

A colorful checklist titled Quality of Goals Checklist with seven guiding questions and a check column.

PCP Spotlight infographic showing the Golden Thread sequence of Aspirations, Needs, Outcomes, and Provision with goal-writing reminders.

Four people in a room, three seated at a table while one stands writing on large paper sheets mounted on a wall.

Source: Grace Orchard SchoolTurn

Turn goals into reality! Explore how to develop actionable plans in Step 5.