Job Interview and Vocational Outcomes Among Transition-Age Youth Receiving Special Education Pre-Employment Transition Services

Vocational outcomes among transition-age youth receiving special education services are critically poor and have only incrementally improved since the implementation of the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act. Few studies highlight whether interviewing may be critical to obtaining vocational outcomes such as competitive employment or internships. This study evaluated vocational interviewing and outcomes among 656 transition-age youth receiving special education pre-employment transition services from 47 schools. Results suggest 20.8% of these youth were currently employed, and 88.8% of these employed youth interviewed prior to obtaining their job, which is higher than anecdotal evidence suggests and speaks to the importance of job interview skills as an intervention target for special education pre-employment transition services. We discuss the implications and directions for further study.

Pre-Employment Transition Services: What Secondary Special Education Teachers Need to Know

In July 2014, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) was signed into law, amending the Rehabilitation Act of 1998 and establishing new workforce initiatives for state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies. The passage of WIOA led to the expansion of VR services, including the requirement to provide pre-employment transition services (Pre-ETS) to eligible and potentially eligible students with disabilities to support their transition from school to postsecondary employment and education. Pre-ETS afford students with disabilities an early start at job exploration, maximizing their potential to enter competitive integrated employment. It is imperative for secondary special education teachers to inform students and their families of the availability of Pre-ETS. To do this, school personnel must first be knowledgeable about Pre-ETS themselves. This column provides secondary special education teachers with a general understanding of Pre-ETS and furnishes them with strategies for securing these services on behalf of students with disabilities.

Negotiating a new Swedish model: Employment transition agreements and the struggle over redundancies

This article is aimed to contribute to our knowledge regarding employer and employee preferences about employment security and unemployment income protection as well as the degree of neoliberal change during the last decades through the lens of collective bargaining. It charts the institutional–historical development of an Employment Transition Agreement (ETA) between the bargaining cartel for white-collar unions, PTK, and the organisation for private employers, SAF/SN. ETAs are a form of institution through which Swedish trade unions and employer organisations give employees added protection in the event of redundancies, mostly in the form of added income protection but also matching services and shorter training programmes. Drawing from archival material and published statements in newspapers, the article engages with what the organisations wanted from such agreements during negotiations and how this shifted during the decades. The results show that the agreements have given employees added unemployment income protection while at the same time giving employees greater flexibility during collective lay-offs. It also shows how the agreement initially was more focused on employment security and proactive investments in skills. But when the balance of power shifted in favour of employers, PTK had to give up any such ambitions.

Implementation of Pre–Employment Transition Services: A Content Analysis of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act State Plans

Many youth with disabilities experience persistently low rates of competitive integrated employment (CIE) and participation in higher education. In 2014, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) established a policy focus on CIE as the goal of vocational services for youth and individuals with disabilities. In addition, WIOA created provision for Pre–Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) to ensure that state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies focused sufficient resources toward transition-age youth. This study examined a sample of WIOA State Implementation Plans in depth using content analysis to identify how state VR agencies prioritized the provision of Pre-ETS services to youth with disabilities. Analysis of state plans resulted in three emergent themes: (a) instructional priorities, (b) instructional contexts, and (c) networks of stakeholders. We discuss the implications of these themes for future research, policy, and practice related to the employment of individuals with disabilities.

Parent Perspectives on Pre-Employment Transition Services for Youth With Disabilities

Parents have long been recognized as critical supports and partners to youth with disabilities preparing for the world of work. We collected survey responses from 253 parents of transition-age youth with disabilities regarding their views on practices related to pre-employment transition services (Pre-ETS), the overall employment preparation of their children, potential barriers to future employment, and their knowledge of local transition resources. Parents reported that their children would benefit from an array of employment-focused transition practices. However, they were quite mixed in their views of prevailing barriers and current employment preparation. Moreover, a large majority of parents said they were unfamiliar with a range of transition-related resources available in their communities. In some areas, the views of parents differed based on the type of community in which they lived (i.e., rural vs. non-rural) or the nature of their child’s disability (i.e., intellectual and developmental disabilities vs. other disabilities). We offer recommendations for supporting families as they prepare their children with disabilities for life after high school.

Post-secondary Transition Services and the Role of the Occupational Therapist

Post-secondary transition services are federally mandated, yet there are great differences in implementation. The purpose of this study was to explore the current practices in post-secondary transition services and to understand how occupational therapists are involved in transition services. Public school administrators from 11 school districts were interviewed, all of whom work in transition services. Triangulation of data, member and stakeholder checks were all completed for validation and to ensure trustworthiness. Analysis of the interviews revealed four assertions: a) Districts use a variety of personnel as the transition coordinator b) Transition assessments need to be continuous and more comprehensive c) More training is needed for the entire transition process d) Occupational therapists are underutilized in transition services From these assertions, one global theme emerged: There is a need for increased training on the overall process to deliver best practice transition services, including timeline, assessments, agency involvement, and training for parents and staff. This study also discussed the importance of parent involvement for student success. Future research is recommended on the implementation of the pre-employment transition services and the process of evaluating students throughout their transition years.

Pre-employment transition services for students with disabilities: A scoping review

BACKGROUND: Students with disabilities often experience numerous challenges in terms of finding employment. Given the important role of vocational rehabilitation counselors in supporting employment activities for these students, a need exists for identifying effective strategies that increase employment outcomes for this population. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this scoping review is to examine and describe successful research- based interventions on pre-employment transition services for students with disabilities that can be used by vocational rehabilitation counselors. METHODS: The search strategy examined literature from 1998 through 2017 focused on vocational rehabilitation counselors, students with disabilities, and elements related to pre-employment transition services. Articles included American, European, and Australian literature published in English. RESULTS: This review identified a number of research-based interventions that support employment outcomes for students with disabilities. CONCLUSIONS: The research-based interventions identified in this scoping review can help vocational rehabilitation counselors consider effective strategies for increasing employment outcomes for students with disabilities.

Transformation of the Ghent System in Sweden: Silent Institutionalization of Complementary ­Unemployment­ Benefits

The Swedish public unemployment insurance program is characterized by its governance structure involving union-linked insurance funds, famously known as the Ghent system. This paper argues that the unions’ strongly entrenched interest in the provision of unemployment benefits has continued to shape the establishment and expansion of complementary benefits for the unemployed in multiple forms, including bilateral Employment Transition Agreements between employers’ organizations and unions (occupational pillar) and privately provided complementary income insurance benefits mediated by unions (private pillar). The paper accounts for this multi-pillarization process of the Swedish unemployment benefit provision system and how the unions’ involvement has come to take multiple forms. The paper also discusses distributive implication of this union-led development of the complementary pillars, which reinforces the differences in risk protection between different occupational groups and sectors.

Employment transitions for spouses of stroke survivors: evidence from Swedish national registries

Background The sudden occurrence of stroke often leads to impaired physical, emotional, and cognitive abilities. Many stroke survivors therefore require support from their family members. However, little is known about the effects of a stroke event on the spouses’ employment transition probabilities. The aim of this study was twofold 1) to investigate whether a first ever stroke has an effect on employment transition probabilities for employed and unemployed spouses and 2) to analyze whether heterogeneity with respect to age, gender, education and comorbidities influence the size of the effect. Method Data for this population-based cohort study were extracted from Swedish national registries from 2005 to 2016. The national sample consisted of 1818 spouses of first ever stroke survivors during 2010 and 2011, and 7399 matched controls that were employed or unemployed during 5 years prior stroke onset. Effects of stroke on spousal employment transitions were analyzed using linear regression, stratified by employment status prior to stroke onset. Results Employed spouses prior stroke onset reduced their employment by − 1.3 percentage points (95% CI, − 2.4, − 0.2). The data also indicated that employed spouses with lower age, comorbid conditions, and low educational attainment may be at even greater risk of transitioning to unemployment. On the other hand, stroke events appear to have limited impact on spouses that were unemployed prior to stroke onset. Conclusion The risk of transitioning to unemployment appears to increase after stroke onset for spouses of stroke survivors, and disadvantaged groups may be at even greater risk. Thus, it is important for policy-makers to implement interventions to ensure that these groups of spouses have the possibilities to combine their caregiving role and remaining in the labor market.