The research questions of this project, which is a PhD project overseen by Bettina Lindmeier, focus on how students from special need schools manage their transition from school into post school arrangements. Therefore narrative-biographical interviews (Rosenthal 1995, Schütze 1983) were conducted with students when they were still in school (first survey date) and then after they finished school (second survey date), in order to talk about gatekeepers who accompanied their process of vocational choice and how their vocational choices might have changed. In addition to the biographical interviews with the students’ interviews with their parents were also conducted. These interviews can give insights into how families talk about vocational choices, how parents (educational/vocational) biographies may influence their children’s choices. This presentation should not only give insights into how students talk about their transitions and how they interpret their lives and (educational/vocational) decisions retrospectively but also focus on important methodological aspects. One main aspect might be simple but crucial: It is necessary to build a lasting relationship with the youths and their parents before the interview can even begin (Rosenthal et al. 2006). Considering the fact that this study consists of two survey points makes this even more important. The reflection of this relationship and how it influences what and how the youths talk about their lives should be taken into consideration during the process of conducting and analysing the data (Bourdieu/Wacquant 1996). During the process of analysing the data it became clear that the position and role of the interviewing person, in the sense of Bourdieu’s (1991) theory of field, needs to be taken into greater account. In this presentation two case studies will be presented and should give insights into how youths depict their lives so far and which chances and challenges they see for themselves. By means of the case studies we would like to discuss the role of the interviewing person and how this person is involved in constructing the interview situation.

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