/library/oar/handle/123456789/20820 2025-11-12T18:51:18Z 2025-11-12T18:51:18Z Pleven, Lorraine Callus, Anne-Marie /library/oar/handle/123456789/27671 2025-06-27T09:05:51Z 2017-12-01T00:00:00Z

Title: The outcomes of mainstream post-secondary education for young people with intellectual disability : investing in human capital or whiling away the time? Authors: Pleven, Lorraine; Callus, Anne-Marie Abstract: In Malta, as in other countries, the investment in postsecondary and tertiary education is based on human capital theory, whereby education is seen as important on an individual as well as an economic level. This paper analyses the outcomes of mainstream postsecondary education for people with intellectual disability within the framework of this theory. A qualitative study was carried out with eight former students of the Pathway Programme at MCAST and the Key Skills course at ITS, as well as an MCAST representative. The main findings show that education is viewed by the participants as a necessary step to finding employment. This is very much in line with human capital theory which considers education to be an investment in human capital that has economic returns in terms of increasing students’ employability. However, the various issues raised by the research participants regarding difficulties with their current job or their job prospects may make it seem as if the post-secondary courses they attended have led to failure. This paper argues that the continued need for support experienced by people with intellectual disability may be seen as undermining their ability to join the labour market, even if the persons with intellectual disability interviewed do not see any contradiction between the two. For young people with intellectual disability to have equal opportunities in the workplace, it is essential for their voice to be heard, and for their perspectives to be understood. It is also essential for their support needs to be attended to, while appreciating that having support needs is not contradictory to being an employee.

2017-12-01T00:00:00Z Cardenas-Jimenez, Andrea Moreno-Angarita, Marisol /library/oar/handle/123456789/27670 2018-03-07T02:26:31Z 2017-12-01T00:00:00Z

Title: From adversity to success : four life experiences around resilience Authors: Cardenas-Jimenez, Andrea; Moreno-Angarita, Marisol Abstract: Despite high rates of educational exclusion of adolescents and young adults with disabilities reported by Colombia’s Ministry of Health and Social Protection, 3.7 % of disabled people have reached some level of education. The process of adaptation to the school environment led them to the successful completion of this phase of their training. They confronted adverse conditions and registered some important achievements, notwithstanding adversity. This invites us to think of ‘resilience’ in this population group as a process that ‘arises from’ adversity and not ‘in spite of’ it. Resilience is a transactional process between individuals and their context, a process with strong roots in the individual’s history. This qualitative study emerged in order to understand what happens with disabled young people in Bogotá, Colombia. It was developed using oral life history as a method. Prominence is given to the subjectivity of the collaborator, the social and cultural context and its vision of process, rather than the result. This study seeks to identify and describe the process of adaptation and resilience in schools, as lived by a group of four people with disabilities during their adolescence and young adulthood. The results are presented as suggestive material to design strategies to support students at secondary level. The participants’ own voices, perceptions and expressions were the focus of the study.

2017-12-01T00:00:00Z Psaila, Elvira /library/oar/handle/123456789/27669 2018-03-07T02:26:22Z 2017-12-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Voices in the classroom : exploring how the voice of the disabled child and the educational professionals are manifested in the classroom Authors: Psaila, Elvira Abstract: Children are often presented as vulnerable and in need of guidance (Priestley, 2007), thus, as adults and professionals we tend to assume that we know what is best for them, particularly if the child has some form of impairment. This may therefore cause children’s voices to be silenced, unacknowledged and unheard. Drawing on the findings of a project I embarked on through the use of the Mosaic Approach, this paper presents the voices of a seven year-old boy, Alexander, having Spina Bifida, and that of his teacher and LSA. A brief overview of the importance of voice is given, and the paper then proceeds to explain why the Mosaic Approach is an appropriate tool in making children’s voices heard in research and everyday life. By presenting the voices of Alexander and the education professionals simultaneously, the messages they are attempting to convey, namely themes focusing on identity, normalization of the body, academic excellence and accessibility, are then discussed. The voices brought forward highlight the different discourses presented by the child and the professionals. Whereas the child projects a message of normalcy and equality with peers, the education professionals still place emphasis on disabling discourse. Possible ways in which the disabled child’s voice is promoted and acknowledged at a level at par to that of the education professionals conclude the discussion brought forward in the paper.

2017-12-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/27668 2025-06-27T09:00:08Z 2017-12-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Editorial [Malta Review of Educational Research, 11(2)] Abstract: Inclusive education is about making sure that schools, colleges and universities, and the education systems within which they operate, cater for the individual educational needs of each and every student. It is about asking the question ‘what do we need to do to accommodate this student’s needs?’. For this special issue of the Malta Review of Education Research, we have sought answers to this question in relation to the inclusion of disabled students. More specifically, we have sought these answers from research carried out with disabled students themselves. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (United Nations 2006) determines the rights of disabled students in education. Article 24 sets out the details of these rights, establishing that non-discrimination and equal opportunity in the area of education requires ‘an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning’ (Article 24.1) and the provision of a quality and holistic education that enables disabled students to develop their potential to the maximum. Furthermore, these rights require the provision of reasonable accommodation that attends to disabled students’ impairmentrelated needs, including Braille, sign language, augmentative and alternative forms of communication, and individualized support. Crucially, Article 24 also emphasizes the function of education to enable disabled students to attain a ‘sense of dignity and self-worth’ (Article 24.1(a)) and ‘to participate effectively in a free society’ (Article 24.1(c)).

2017-12-01T00:00:00Z