An inclusive educational system provides equal opportunities for education to all students. While inclusion has in general positive effects for students with special education needs, it remains unclear whether they benefit from the specific integrative school measures (ISM) they are provided. This study focuses on two mutually exclusive measures: reduced individual learning objectives (RILO, comparable to the US term curriculum modifications; Harrison et al., 2013) and accommodations (ACC). RILO and ACC are used in Swiss mainstream schools for students with mild learning or behavioral disabilities. While the target group of RILO are students with generally low cognitive abilities who are not able to achieve the regular learning objectives, the target group of ACC are students with an at least average cognitive ability but with a specific disadvantage (e.g., Dyslexia or ADHD) which is compensated by special aids (e.g., spell checker program, extra time at exams) to enable them to achieve the regular learning objectives.

While ISM aims to support SEN-students, they carry the risk of reproducing or exacerbating educational inequalities (Sahli Lozano & Wüthrich, 2019). RILO, in particular, may have negative side-effects due to a less stimulating learning environment (Neumann et al., 2007) and a negative labeling bias (Fox and Stinnett, 1996). It has been shown that students with RILO felt less socially integrated in their school class and had a lower academic self-concept than comparable classmates, and that RILO negatively affected their academic performance (Sahli Lozano et al., 2017; Wicki et al., 2022). Meanwhile, no negative side effect of ACC is expected, as this ISM supports students to demonstrate their full cognitive potential (Sahli Lozano et al., 2020) and ACC has been shown to have a positive effect on academic performance (Wicki et al., 2022).

Vocational aspirations at the end of compulsory school (i.e., 8^th/9^th grade or lower secondary school) play a decisive role in determining which educational pathways a person chooses and pursues. They significantly influence the professional position in adulthood as they hardly change after the transition to upper secondary education/VET (Blossfeld, 1988). In Switzerland, by the age of about 15, young people generally have adjusted their vocational aspirations to the opportunities open to them based on their school track attended (Hirschi, 2010). Previous research showed that vocational aspirations are generally influenced by background variables (e.g. parents’ education, socioeconomic status, migration background), individual capacities (e.g. intelligence, academic performance) and gender (e.g. Hirschi, 2010; Kriesi & Basler, 2020).

To date, there has been little research on vocational aspirations of students with special educational needs (SEN). Rojewski et al. (2012) showed that the vocational aspirations of SEN-students with ISM were, on average, significantly lower than the average of learners without SEN. However, for their analyses, they didn’t differentiate between various types of integrative school measures, even though they have been shown to have different effects on academic performance (Wicki et al., 2022).

This study aims to examine the following questions: 1) Do RILO and ACC influence whether students can state a vocational aspiration immediately before entering upper secondary education/VET? 2) Do RILO and ACC influence the socioeconomic status of their vocational aspirations? In line with previous findings we expect that compared to similar students without RILO, those with RILO are less likely to have decided on their vocational aspiration and if they mention a vocational aspiration, it corresponds to an aspiration with lower socioeconomic status. Meanwhile, no negative effects for ACC are expected.

Sample Our cross-sectional analyses are based on a dataset collected as part of a prospective Swiss longitudinal study which has been running since 2015 and aims to describe the short- and long-term opportunities and challenges of RILO and ACC. In 2018, 2194 students (average age: 15.1 years) in 116 school classes from 53 schools and their teachers were surveyed at lower secondary level in the canton of Bern. Measures The following variables will be included in our statistical analyses: Integrative school measures. The teachers indicated for each student in the class whether they received ISM (RILO, ACC). Criterion variables. The vocational aspiration was assessed among students by asking them about their dream job (following the theoretical approach of idealistic vocational aspirations during the diffuse career orientation phase, Heinz et al., 1985). Their answers were recoded into two variables: A dichotomous variable indicating whether they knew or indicated their vocational aspiration and a continuous variable consisting of codes from the International Socioeconomic Index of Occupational Status (ISEI) indicating the socioeconomic level of their vocational aspiration (Ganzeboom, 2010). The continuous variable was z-standardized to facilitate the interpretation. Potential confounders. Our analyses include students’ grade (8th vs. 9th), school track (lower vs. upper), gender, age, migration background, socioeconomic status (Highest International Socioeconomic Index of Occupational Status, HISEI), parents’ educational background, intelligence (Culture Fair Intelligence Test 20-R; Weiss, 2006) and academic performance level in math and German language based on responses by the teachers and students. Statistical Analysis Descriptive analyses (frequencies, mean value comparisons) were carried out to gain a first insight into the data to be included in the multivariate analyses. Multivariate analyses are still pending. As ISM have specific target groups (e.g. RILO is used for students with low basic cognitive abilities) and are more often used in low school tracks, the bivariate association between ISM and vocational aspiration are not very informative, as ISM are confounded with factors known to influence the vocational aspiration. Therefore, a propensity score matching approach will be used for the analysis. Similar to a case-control study, this will allow us to examine the vocational aspiration of students with vs. without RILO or ACC, given that both groups are similar in terms of intelligence, academic performance, and other potential confounders.

In our sample, 3.8% (n=71) of the students had RILO and 3.4% (n=64) had ACC. As expected, the probability of receiving an ISM was linked to the school track: 95.8% of students with RILO and 57.8% of students with ACC were in the lower school track. Preliminary analyses indicate that students with RILO were less likely to indicate a vocational aspiration than students without an ISM (p<.001) or with ACC (p<.001): While 72.8% of students without an ISM indicated their vocational aspiration, this was 81.8% of those with RILO and only 53.5% of those with ACC. Additionally, in terms of the ISEI of the vocational aspiration there are no significant differences between students receiving an ISM vs. not, even though the effect sizes were of practical relevance: no ISM (M = 0.04, SD = 1.00), RILO (M = -0.22, SD = 1.12), ACC (M = -0.26, SD = 0.95). A propensity score matching approach will be used for more detailed analyses. This has the advantage of controlling for confounding variables and comparing the vocational aspiration of students with an ISM with similar students without such a measure. In view of the long-term consequences of vocational aspirations at the end of compulsory schooling the results of the present study will be of great importance. A negative effect of ISM on vocational aspirations could highlight the importance of coaching and career guidance to motivate students with an ISM to optimally use their individual strengths and not to underestimate their own abilities.

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