As reported in former European studies, the educational and work paths of the students regarded as having special educational needs (SEN) are commonly troublesome and disjointed (see Niemi & Kurki 2014; Yates & Roulstone 2013; Båtevik & Myklebust 2006; Baron et al 1999). Although nearly all students with SEN participate in some kind of post-compulsory education in Finland, it is still few of them, who will later receive a job in the open labour market. A statement of SEN provides access to different kinds of support services that would not be available without such a statement. However, access to those welfare services can also result in gridlocks both in the education system and later in the labour market (Shah & Priestley 2011; Hakala 2010).

This presentation is based on my recently completed doctoral dissertation (Niemi 2015) on special needs education after basic education. The focus of the study was on the positions of young people and the formation of their educational paths and choice-making in the context of pre-vocational and vocational education and training. Theoretically, the study adheres to the field of sociology of education, and it also draws on the theorizations of disability studies and youth studies.

In this presentation, I will extend the analysis towards students’ work-related hopes, plans and negotiations that they have had about their educational choice-making. I will present some research findings which, on the one hand, articulate the problematics in the (special) education system and in study counselling processes, but on the other hand, highlight the students’ agency in making their educational and work-related choices (see Niemi & Mietola, forthcoming; see also Henderson et al 2007; Evans 2007).

The specific research questions in the presentation are the followimg: 1) how do students with SEN negotiate their work-related hopes and plans? and 2) how do different practices of special support and study counselling enable or restrict students' participation in education system and in labour market?

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