| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立屏東教育大學 === 特殊教育學系 === 99 === This qualitative study looked at three intellectually disabled young employed adults who graduated from a vocation high school. This examination concerns the condition of their vocational education, what occurred to them before and after finding a job, the way they overcame the problems they encountered, the changes arising from their employment, and the reasons for maintaining employment. The data for this study was acquired by interviewing, observing, gathering relative papers, and taking notes through the keeping of a journal.
The findings were as follows:
1. The condition of the vocational courses: The vocational course teachers for these three students were outside hires. The special education teachers didn’t necessarily need a special secondary education license. The classrooms for special education students in vocational high school were the same professional classrooms which were used by other non-special education students. Also, the school will cooperate with other schools by using their equipment. In order to let all the special education students can join all the vocational courses, the special education students were divided into two groups to different vocational courses and interchange latter. Not every special education student in vocational high school was required to obtain a license after completing the program. The relationship between license and employment in the future were not consequential. While in the special education vocational high school, the special education students were not allowed to date other students within the program.
2. The condition of vocational field practice: The focus of the practical training within the second year of high school was to help the students understand the work place environment and to prepare them for employment in their third year of high school education. The specific jobs for those in the vocational training were in the fields of cleaning occupations, jobs were high duplication, and requiring low technical skills, allowing for no specified work schedule. The students were also not required to interact with others. Unfortunately, because of limited time and human resources of homeroom teachers, the designated teachers and the employment specialists needed to help homeroom teachers to monitor the special education students while they were in vocational field practice. The employment specialists, homeroom teachers, and guidance teachers in the organizations served as the intermediaries between the employers and the students. The specific worksites for the students’ vocational field practice depended on the students’ ability, the need of the work place, the students’ transportation capability, their work place performance, the job vacancies in the future, and a student’s personal safety. One of the difficulties teachers encounter in the vocational field practice was the problem to communicate the need for some money allowance from the employers, and their responsibility for compensating the costs when some equipment might be damaged. For this problem there were presently no definite rules to follow, applying either to the employer or the vocational training program. The students did not have to find their own jobs but depend on the employment specialists and their teachers to find the places for vocational field practice. Some work places would cooperate with the school on their own initiative. This type of vocational field practice was both helpful and necessary for students needing to work in the future. One of the factors impacting the performances in the vocational field practice was the influence of a student’s family and their schoolmates. There could also be transportation difficulties for special education students. By the way, owning the traffic capability could help the students to last in the vocational field practice.
3. The condition of finding jobs: In this research it was found that the first jobs obtained by the three young adults with intellectual disability were actually the same jobs they were training for in the vocational field practice. Their homeroom teachers were the key persons for finding the students these jobs. One helpful factor in the students’ favor was also the legal obligation of employers to do what they could to provide employment for the disabled with the required qualifications and skills.
4. The condition after getting jobs: The jobs offered to special education students have the same characters as those offered in the vocational training. The jobs were simple, easily substituted among different employees, and requiring a low level of technical skills. There was often a need for physical strength in many of these jobs. The salary received for the students’ labor or benefit were not to be used exclusively for the students’ personal needs but some of it must be directed to the students’ home family expenses. When it came to opposite sex relationships, the one the intellectually disabled young adults date with was also more disadvantaged. In mention to the opposite sex relationships and entering into marriage of the intellectually disabled young adults, the attitudes of the parents were different because of the intellectually disabled young adults’ gender. So often young adults with an intellectual disability were insufficient in workplace interpersonal relationships. Another serious disadvantage for young people with intellectual disabilities was a lack of knowledge or understanding of laws which pertained to workplace behavior, or how to respond when they did get into a legal difficulty. Sometimes, the intellectually disabled young adults were exploited by the employers. In order to keep the work, the parents of the intellectually disabled young adults had no choice but suppress grievance or endure the exploitation. After working for a period of time, the intellectually disabled young adults would have the condition of being tired of the jobs. As the real-world skills of the intellectually disabled improved, their transportation ability also improved obviously. General speaking, the young adults with intellectual disability had what many might considerd very boring leisure lives, and most of the leisure types were static states, and could be done at home by oneself. Leisure activities differed between the genders.
5. The possible reasons for affecting the three young adults with intellectual disability to work: The possible reasons contained the person’s family background, the support of the family, the religious influences, the people meet in workplaces, the support received from the organizations or social welfare systems, as well as the character of the intellectually disabled young adults.
Finally, based on the findings of this study, the researcher made some suggestions for the officials, special education vocational schools, parents, young adults with intellectual disability, employers, and society’s many other institutions for reference.
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