Difficulties in making career decisions in students with mild intellectual disability and their typically developing peers

Abstract

Making career decisions is an important task for young people, which intensifies at the end of primary school when they assess their working abilities with regard to the requirements of their future vocation. The general aim of this research is to determine whether there is a difference between students with mild intellectual disability (MID) and typically developing (TD) students in making career decisions, and if there is, what the nature of that difference is. The influence of age, gender, family environment and general school success on making career decisions is separately assessed. The sample consists of 71 examinees (31 or 43.7% students with MID and 40 or 56.3% TD students), of both genders, attending the seventh and eighth grade at three Belgrade primary schools. Career Decision Scale - CDS was used to assess the ability to make career decisions. The research results indicate that students with MID are inconsistent in choosing careers when compared to TD students, since they have more difficulty in understanding the congruence between personal characteristics, abilities and skills, and the selected career (p=0.023), they are less informed on the careers (p=0.014), they make decisions less frequently (p=0.043), they do not have enough information on the vocational training in which they are interested (p=0.001), and they are more in need of organized support in choosing careers (p=0.012). Some TD students do not agree with their parents in making their career choice (p=0.000), they are not equally informed on what career leads to the fastest employment (p=0.032), uncertain TD student would like to do a test which would help them decide on the career which is best for them (p=0.000), and a number of TD students do not know whether they can relate what they like doing at present to their future career (p=0.032). Girls showed greater maturity in choosing careers than boys, as well as eighth grade students when compared to seventh-graders (p=0.000). The influence of age (p=0.794), family environment (p=0.102), and general school success (p=0.123) on the ability to make career decisions was not confirmed.

Donošenje profesionalnih odluka je važan zadatak za mlade ljude koji se intenzivira pri kraju osnovnoškolskog obrazovanja kada procenjuju svoje radne sposobnosti u odnosu na zahteve budućeg zanimanja. Opšti cilj istraživanja je utvrditi da li postoji razlika između učenika sa lakom intelektualnom ometenošću (LIO) i tipičnog razvoja (TR) u donošenju profesionalnih odluka, i ukoliko postoji, u čemu se ogleda. Posebno će se proceniti da li uzrast, pol, porodično okruže­nje i opšti školski uspeh utiču na donošenje profesionalnih odluka. Uzorkom je obuhvaćen 71 ispitanik (31 ili 43,7% učenika sa LIO i 40 ili 56,3% učenika TR), oba pola, sedmog i osmog razreda iz tri beo­gradske osnovne škole. Za procenu veštine donošenja profesionalnih odluka primenjena je Skala za donošenje profesionalne odluke (Ca­reer Decision Scale - CDS). Rezultati istraživanja ukazuju da učeni­ci sa LIO u poređenju sa učenicima TR imaju nekonzistentan izbor zanimanja jer teže shvataju usklađenost između ličnih karakteristika, sposobnosti i veštine, i izabranog zanimanja (p=0,023), manje su informisani o zanimanjima (p=0,014), ređe donose odluke (p=0,043), ne raspolažu dovoljnim brojem informacija o načinu obuke za zanimanje koje ih interesuje (p=0,001) i treba im više organizovane podrške u izboru zanimanja (p=0,012). Neki učenici TR i kad izaberu zanimanje ono se ne sviđa njihovim roditeljima (p=0,000) ili nisu podjednako informisani koje zanimanje im omogućava da se najbrže zaposle (p=0,032). Nesigurni učenici TR voleli bi da urade test koji bi im pomogao da odluče koji je posao najbolji za njih (p=0,000) a jedan broj učenika TR ne zna da li bi mogao da poveže ono što sada voli da radi sa budućim zanimanjem (p=0,032). Devojčice su pokazale veću profesionalnu zrelost od dečaka, kao i učenici VIII razreda u odnosu na učenike VII razreda (p=0,000). Uticaj uzrasta (p=0,794), porodičnog okruženja (p=0,102) i opšteg školskog uspeha (p=0,123) na veštine donošenja profesionalnih odluka nije potvrđen.