Att ha ett jobb som alla andra. Möjligheter och utmaningar i övergången från gymnasiesärskolan till arbete: en kritisk forskningsöversikt

Abstract

Today a lot of students with intellectual disabilities in Sweden are struggling to join the labor force and face multiple barriers when trying to gain employment. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to explore the facilitators and barriers concerning students with intellectual disabilities in their transitions from high school to employment through a systematic mapping of parts of the research field. Another goal of the study is to identify facilitators and barriers that the school can help the student with, and how schools can support the students in their transition to em ployment. In order to improve the rates of students transitioning to employment in Sweden. The theoretical framework used for this thesis stems from critical theory and the emancipatory in terest from Habermas and his framework for critique of ideology. From this an agenda for reformation is formulated with the aim of changing the ideological perspective that currently encompasses special needs high school education in Sweden from the ground up, with proper educational programs that interest the students and with adaptations to the current employment market. The study showed that workplace training, workplace support and workplace adaptations are strong facilitators alongside high expectations from co-workers and family. Whereas level of intellectual disability, comorbidity, fear of discrimination, ineffective governmental agencies and weak employment services became barriers for transition for students with intellectual dis abilities. This study along with previous research showed that there is a lack of research done from the perspective of individuals with intellectual disabilities, and that their perspective is still missing. The study achieved its goal and identified different facilitators and barriers concerning students with intellectual disabilities in their transition from high school to employment. The study re sults show special needs high schools around Sweden of the importance of proper work-place ment training for their students, and what levels of support is needed for them to attain self efficacy in their work place before they transition to employment, it also brings attention to the lack of high school programs for students with intellectual disabilities to choose from, and how few of the students actually attain employment after graduation.