Abstract:

Within an inclusive society every individual has rights and responsibilities, belongs to community life, has an active role to play, and has the right to feel valued, safe, connected, and cared for. Creating an inclusive society and higher education system is a worldwide challenge, particularly when related to employment and career resources. Therefore, we carried out a qualitative study to explore salient career development support among university students with special educational needs. Thus, influenced by an interpretative paradigm and qualitative methods, we developed a research based on multiple realities of a purposive sample of four students, two of them feminine and two male, aged between 18 and 41 years old, and self-reported having a diagnosis of specific learning disabilities (SLD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They were enrolled in graduation degrees from the 1st and 2nd cycles of study, related to technologies, teaching, and social sciences, at two public Portuguese universities. This study was approved by the two universities’ ethics committees, participation was informed and voluntary, and ethics guidelines for educational research were carefully considered and implemented. We used partially structured open-ended interviews and inductive and deductive thematic analysis using MAXQDA, version 24. Criteria of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability were considered. The two over-arching themes identified were the facilitators and the challenges of the career resources development throughout participants’ educational pathways from secondary to university. Preliminary results suggested that those students who had a diagnosis as children were able to recognize facilitators within their pre-university pathways, being those related to the inclusive legislation that since 1991 exist in all Portuguese schools, as well as the existence of specialized supports within the school system. Additionally, as examples of facilitators throughout the university pathway, participants reported: informal support from professors, friends and family, their own ability to self-motivate and learn, their own characteristics related to SLS or ADHD, and intervention of the university support office (one student). In what concerns challenges in their pre-university pathways, participants highlighted the impact that special educational needs had on academic and social adjustment, negative experiences regarding social and learning inclusion, lack of knowledge regarding the transition to adulthood, an atypical pathway in school development, and lack of support in what concerns career decisions. Among the challenges participants faced during their time at the university, the most notable were the fact that three of the participants did not ask for formal support from the university, and the lack of support and preparation they felt from some of their teachers to accommodate their needs and characteristics. On a more personal level, two participants mentioned difficulties with time management. Implications from this study will be discussed, focusing on its potential for higher education institutions to contribute to the development of graduates’ employability. Considering the lack of research concerning this topic, these results can promote awareness, curiosity, and suggest a major shift in how educational institutions promote career development for students with special educational needs.

Keywords:

Diversity, disabilities, career development, educational institutions.