Career Choice in Pupils with Special Educational Needs Comparison of Case Studies

Career Choice in Pupils with Special Educational Needs Comparison of Case Studies Zdeněk friedmann, FacultyofEducationfriedmann@ped.muni.czBohumíra lazarová, Faculty ofArts lazarova@fsps.muni.czMasaryk university, brnoCzechrepublic

Career choice of pupils – lot offactorsinfluence • Special problems are faced by pupils with special educational needs (SEN) • In the research project „Special educational needs in the context of the Framework Educational Programme“we focused on the issue of professional aspirations of pupils with SEN • Our goal - among others - to identify the specificity of the choice in children with SEN, to describe theprotective and risk factors of the choice. • The research questions aim among others to determine ‘what is the role of school in professional aspirations of pupils in selected cases’ • In this paperwe outline the methodology of (thisphase) research and compare school intervention in three case studies. Atiner, May 2009 Introduction

Study, analysis Atiner, May 2009 Schoolpsychologists The scheme of research methodology Interviews with pupils: April, June, October 2007, January, April 2008 Study, analysis Researcher Interviews with parents: April, October 2007, January 2008 interviews Interviews - teachers and school counsellors: October 2007 Documents/plan of school guidance centre, certificates, family case history... Test of professional aspirations (Holland)

Bob - 15.4 years old , one sister, mother works as a clerk, father is a technician. They live in a 3-room flat in urban residential area together with a grandmother. Large school in the residential area, his achievement was higher average, he had a status of an integrated pupil - ADHD, dyslexia and dysorthographia. His interests included machines, cars, planes and modelling (with father), he liked drawing. Ondra- 14.3 years old , three siblings. His mother works as an operator at the post office, the father is an engine driver. .. a 3-room flat in an urban residential area. The boy attended a large school in the residential area, his achievement was lower average, he had a status of an integrated pupil with verbal classification in languages (for dyslexia, dysgrafia and graphomotor ineptitude). Following a disagreement with the school ,the boy was on his parents´ request transferred to a special class for children with dyslexia in a different school in the city for his last year. His interest included computer games, partly also sport and fishing. Yan-14.4 years old, three siblings, they all live with their mother in another family. Romany, he lives with his father and a step-mother. Neither the mother or father of the boy worked, they completed primary education. Three people lived in one-room flat on social benefits. Yan attended a middle-sized elementary school in the city centre with standard educational programme where almost 100% of pupils were Romany. Yan´s achievement was worse average with frequent absences and a tendency to repeat years; nevertheless at school he was considered one of the ‘better’ pupils. He was treated by neurologists for impaired colour perception, chronic headache, and wrong body posture. Atiner, May 2009 The cases B-O-Y

Selected cases are compared in the following areas: attitude of the school and family to mutual cooperation, educational, organisational and counselling activities of the school in the area of professional aspirations of pupils. Atiner, May 2009 Comparison of cases B-O-Y: the role of school in the process of choosing a profession

Atiner, May 2009 The scheme of factors involved in the choice: protective factors of external support Family: Financial, fact-finding, cognitive, emotional, practical support External support Protectivefactors Pupil Physical and mental health Abilities and intelligence Interests and focus Emotion, motivation and effort School achievement Other personality traits (independence, self-confidence, etc.) School: Protective, fact-finding, educational, formative, counselling support choice Other sources of support: Institutional – grants, child guidance centre and other subjects Personal – friends, acquaintances, etc. Complicating external factors: Housing, location of school, economic situation, other obligations of the pupil, health of parents, etc. Risk factors

communicators with the school were mothers, the fathers stayed in the background In the Bob case: trust, cooperation Ondra case: distrust, distance, Yan case: transfer of responsibility the mutual expectations of the role school-familyare different We asked both parties (teacher and mother) the question: To what extent should the school interfere in the choice? We offered the scale 0 to 10 (where 0 stands for Should not interfere at all, 10means Thechoice is thebusiness of the school). Bobs´mother: 8 teacher 2 Ondras´mother 2 teacher 5 Yans´mother 10 teacher 5 Atiner, May 2009 Comparison –relationschool-family

BOB case: The school attitude: the parents are competent and sensible, they are able to look after the boy themselves, it is not necessary to intervene very much, we are available if they need us. The mother´s attitude: Give us advice and tell us what is suitable for Bob, you know him well, so help us protect him’. Atiner, May 2009 Comparison

Ondra´s case: • The relationships between the family and school were rather reserved, the mother expected only information and if appropriate the opinion, definitely she expected the boy to enjoy certain advantages regarding his handicap. • The view of the teachers:if the mother feels she can see to everything herself, it does not make sense to intervene, if she wants, we are here to help. • The mother´s attitude indicated that: ‘I will take the school´s opinion and I expect they will respect his handicap and provide information, but I know my son best and I am able to choose the best for him.’ Atiner, May 2009 Comparison

Yan´s case: • The school took over initiative, as it was standard treatment of pupils with social disadvantage. • The view of the school:we have to appreciate the parents´ interest in their son, we have to help as much as we can, give Yan a chance. • The parents´ expectations can be characterised as following: ‘Tell us what we should do and we will do that, if we can.’ Atiner, May 2009 Comparison

Atiner, May 2009 Cooperation between family and school, the role of school in professional aspirations of pupils

In allourschools: Education for choice - included in the curriculum only in the last grade (in different teaching subjects) : Not even in one of the cases the education had a significant influence on the choice. Ondra: ‘We went through a small white brochure, there I chose... The school counsellor told us that those working indoors have an easier job because they don´t get cold.’ • All ourschools offered service ‘above standard’ - psychological examination and counselling, - for a limited number of pupils(different in Yans´school – role of teacher assistants, seeking opportunities for Roma pupils… parent education etc.). • Forpupilswith SEN schoolsoffered only ‘more time’ andpsychologicalservice • Teachers are not informedabouthandicapsandcontraindications • Parents have different expectations of the school: information; complete counselling service; preparation for entrance exams; even emotional support…. –itmustgetclear. Atiner, May 2009 The educational and counselling activities of schools - Summary

Thank you for your attention Atiner, May 2009

Career Choice in Pupils with Special Educational Needs Comparison of Case Studies