Transition beyond secondary education : issues, trends and challenges Special education : From defectology towards inclusive education Siauliai, 28th octobre 2010 Prof. Serge Ebersold serge.ebersold@inshea.fr

Transition, a core issue for youth with disabilities

Early tracking and change in enrollment conditions (special schools, further education) Change in definition of disability Change in requirements made to institutions Change in requirements made to individuals Cross sectoral responsability (education, employment, higher education, etc..)

Gaps are not only barriers, but disability revelators Programmatic way of life that impedes any possibility to define a futur, to choose a career path and inclusion opportunities . Anchors citizenship in servitude. Erratic pathways leading to non transferable accumulation of educational and professional experiences Struggle for access to right and to esteem that reveals what it means to have a disability Reduce individuals’ ability to see themselves as respectables and estimable as anybody and appear as a disability revelator

Gaps have a disabling effect Reduce individuals’ self confidence and self esteem Deprive them from identity capital required to access to labour market and tertiary education Perpetuate a medical approach of disability (time) Maintain, if not widen, gap between PWD (mental, behavioral and mental disorders) and persons without disabilities and expose to exclusion and to criminality

An increasing transition to higher education

An increasing access to tertiary education

Profiles of SEN students differ among countries

An improvement rooted in increasing number of students with learning difficulties

SEN students tend to follow different courses than their non SEN counterparts

A trend rooted in Non discrimination policies requiring institutions to meet educational needs to improve transition opportunities Educational approach of disability Additional financial technical and human resources and incentives both for students and schools Quality assurance policies aiming at appropriate education for all (drop out prevention, pedagogical differientation , school as learning organisation, accountability From orientation to transition (connexion services, ITP)

Challenges remain

situation of youth with disabilities (CNC A and CNC B) who left high school in 2007 in some OECD countries

Access may not be fluent or may not reflect personal choices In the United States, SEN students take longer to access to tertiary education then their peers and are four times less likely than non disabled students to be admitted to long courses or enroll in institutions offering a first postgraduate. In Norway, 24% of SEN students consider following a course they did not want to. Young adults don’t have the skills and knowledge required to progress to post compulsory education and to work

YWD are more likely to face difficulties in achievement In the United States, entry to tertiary education may result in failure, especially for students with learning, behavioral or emotional difficulties In Ireland, students having a sensory impairment have lower access opportunities then those with other types of disability In the Netherlands, 50% of SWD fall behind in their studies, SEN students are more likely to drop out, SEN students are twice as prone as their non disabled peers to discontinue their undergraduate studies

Accomodations and supports are not always available and appropriate In many countries students feel lacking the skills required to transit beyond lower secondary education In Austria, SWD feel disabled by examination procedures (40%), the coursework (34%), and the study of written documents (43%). In the Netherlands, most SWD are unaware of the support and facilities available and almost half of them feel disadvantaged by lack of either appropriate teaching materials or special arrangements for examinations; In many participating countries students complain about isolation

YWD tend to have more erratic pathways within tertiary education In Germany : SWD overproportionnaly change their study programme (23% compared to 19%) or institution (18% compared to 16%) and drop out (20% compared to 13%). In Austria : SWD are more likely to drop out (17.3% as opposed to 13%). In the United States SWD are overproportionnaly unable consistently to keep pace with the requirements of a sustained full-time course, or study part time.

YWD face difficulties in accessing to employment YWD have Lower employment rate More precarious and part time jobs Are less self sufficient than average population VET opportunities are not effective Loose links with firms (austria, Germany) Disabling apprenticeship system (NW Lack of assistance and support (NL, Iceland) Employment of SWD is not always an issue for schools and universities

Some issues to be tackled

At policy making level Equal opportunities in terms of access, success and prospects (non discrimination legislation) Developmental conception of disability fostering on practices and their enabling effect. Reliable and international comparable data allowing for identifying the enabling or disabling effect of policies and practices Effective teacher training systems Educational institutions responsive to the diversity issue student profiles (technical, financial and human incentives) Develop integrated transition systems (Transition services)

At educational institutions’ level Develop effective needs assessment tools From counseling to guidance From help to empowerment. Lead YWD to consider themselves as capable and demonstrate their sense of independence and self-advocacy (Cultural capital, identity capital and social capital Consider the IEP as a rite de passage to embed it in an ITP and make it effective and appropriate to students’ needs Put students’ prospects in the center of the process instead of the student

Some references OECD, (2003), Disability at higher education; OECD, Paris. Ebersold, S, (2007). An affiliating participation for an active citizenship, Scandinavian journal of disability research, 9;3 Ebersold, S. (2008) Adapting higher education to the needs of disabled students : development, challenges and prospects in OECD (2008) Higher education to 2030, OECD, Paris. Ebersold, S., (2010). Transition policies for young adults with disabilities to tertiary education and to employment. OECD, Paris (forthcoming)

Thank you Serge.ebersold@inshea.fr