VET career pathways for school students living with disability: working with employers

Research has shown that employers and industry are key partners in work-based learning and can hinder or enhance access to VET (Atkinson, 2016). This pilot project focuses on increasing employer and industry understanding of what is involved in engaging in the work-based component of school-based VET for students with disability. It seeks to identify barriers and enhancers to both employer and student participation in work-based learning in workplaces in a regional city and strategies to address the barriers. Using a qualitative approach, this interpretive research aims to answer the following questions:

• How can employers, industry groups, students, teachers and other influencers of student education and career pathway choice work together to increase opportunities for successful participation of students with disability in the work-based component of school-based VET?

• What factors influence employer decisions to engage in work-based learning for school VET students with disability?

• What are the barriers and supports for employer and school students with disability participation in the work-based learning component of VET courses?

• What is effective practice for students with disability participation in the work-based learning component of VET in community workplaces in one regional context?

• How can an intervention based on good practice guidelines for school students’ with disability participation in the work-based learning component of VET in workplaces support positive outcomes for them, employers and the local community?

Employers and staff at organisations that support/place school-based VET students with disabilities were interviewed and inductive content analysis was used to code interview transcripts. Based on these interviews and a literature review, draft guidelines for employers were developed and then validated by employers and an advisory group. It is anticipated that the use of the guidelines by employers and schools will increase willingness of employers to engage in work-based learning for school VET students with disability which in turn develops the workforce of the region; the use of the guidelines by schools will increase student and parent/carer understanding of what to expect and how to support students with disability to engage in work-based learning in community workplaces; and in turn, greater breath of opportunities for work-based learning in the community for school VET students with disability will lead to improved employment outcomes for people with disability in the region.