Special needs and work paths. Considering educational choice-making and students' work-related plans

Author(s):

Anna-Maija Niemi(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

28. Sociologies of Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

28 SES 10 A, Educational Choices and Market Orientation

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-25

15:30-17:00

Room:

NM-B101

Chair:

Sarah Croché

Contribution

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?

Method

Methodologically, the study is multi-sited ethnographic research and it is contextualised in current education policy. The research data derives from two institutes of vocational education and training in Southern Finland, while observing the every-day life of the classes of Metalwork and Machinery and Preparatory Training for disabled students within the period of 23 school days. The data produced in the institutes consist of interviews, field-notes and education policy documents. In addition, the data also include a separate data set of life-historical interviews with 27 young adults who have studied in special education classes. The analytical approach is ethnographic and discursive.

Expected Outcomes

According to the results of the study, for many young people with SEN applying and being accepted into vocational education seems to be complex and challenging. This obviously has an influence on their later possibilities in the labour market as well. When addressing their own educational and work-related hopes and negotiating the options offered in study counselling, many students in my study did so in various roundabout ways. Structural factors associated with the education system such as study field-specific entrance requirements, educational content, pedagogical practices and available support in each field influence how students regarded as having SEN are admitted and become attached to vocational education. In this presentation, I will also propose some new findings about the students' negotiations on their work-related hopes and plans by particularly looking at the study counselling processes and the students' work experiences. To deepen the understanding of the labour market position of young people with SEN, I will make some theoretical suggestions about the different forms of the agency and how it could be used in sociological research. I propose that educational and work-related choices be seen as processes where young people create spaces for their agency while negotiating the guidance and options offered by professional adults.

References

Baron, Stephen, Riddell, Sheila & Wilson, Alastair. 1999. The Secret of Eternal Youth: Identity, risk and learning difficulties. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 20 (4), 483–499. Båtevik, Finn O. & Myklebust, Jon O. 2006. The Road to Work for Former Students with Special Educational Needs: Different Paths for Young Men and Young Women? Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research 8 (1), 38–52. Evans, Karen. 2007. Concepts of Bounded Agency in Education, Work, and the Personal Lives of Young Adults. International Journal of Psychology 42 (2), 85–93. Hakala, Katariina. 2010. Discourses on Inclusion, Citizenship and Categorizations of ’Special’ in Education Policy: The Case of Negotiating Change in the Governing of Vocational Special Needs Education in Finland. European Educational Research Journal 9 (2), 269–283. Henderson, Sheela, Holland, Janet, McGrellis, Sheena, Sharpe, Sue & Thomson, Rachel. 2007. Inventing adulthoods. A biographical approach to youth transitions. London: SAGE publications. Niemi, Anna-Maija. 2015. Erityisiä koulutuspolkuja? Tutkimus erityisopetuksen käytännöistä peruskoulun jälkeen. [Special educational paths? A study on the practices of special needs education after basic education]. Academic dissertation. Helsinki: Unigrafia. Niemi, Anna-Maija & Kurki, Tuuli. 2014. Getting on the right track? Educational choice-making of students with special educational needs in pre-vocational education and training. Disability & Society, 29 (10), 1631–1644. Niemi, Anna-Maija & Mietola, Reetta. Forthcoming. Between hopes and possibilities. (Special) educational paths, agency and subjectivities. To be published in: Scandinavian journal of disability research. Shah, Sonali & Priestley, Mark. 2011. Disability and social change. Private lives and public policies. Bristol: The Policy Press. Yates, Scott & Roulstone, Allan. 2013. Social Policy and Transitions to Training and Work for Disabled Young People in the United Kingdom: Neo-liberalism for Better and for Worse? Disability & Society 28 (4), 456–470.

Author Information

Anna-Maija Niemi (presenting / submitting)

University of Helsinki

Institute of Behavioural Sciences

Fiskars

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