Mellan gymnasiesärskolan och framtiden som vuxen : En kritisk studie av gymnasiesärskolans utbildningsinsatser för att utveckla elevers självständighet och delaktighet inför ett framtidan vuxenliv

The purpose of this study is to describe how staff at the upper secondary school's national pro- grams prepare their students for their upcoming adult life. What didactic and subject-related resources do they use in the process towards the pupils' independent adult life and how in- volved are the pupils in the transition to adulthood and future employment. My hope with this study is to contribute with knowledge about possible ways to support the students during their studies and the transition to adulthood. The study is based on qualitative interviews with four teachers, a study and vocational coun- selor and a work consultant who works at the upper secondary school. The study has its theo- retical starting point in a didactic perspective and in a relational perspective. These perspec- tives are intertwined in the analysis, as the informants in the study integrate both perspectives as mutually interacting aspects of learning. As an analytical method, meaning coding has been used and the answers are presented in five themes: how teachers vary their teaching, inde- pendence, collaboration, participation and influence and leisure time. The result shows that the staff at the upper secondary school work in a conscious manner to make the pupils as independent and involved as possible in the process towards adulthood. The staff collaborates with various actors who can support the pupil when it comes to employ- ment after graduation. In previous studies that I use in the study's research overview, on the other hand, shows that the group of people with intellectual disability does not feel that they have participated and had influence in their process towards adult life. This group should be given the opportunity to prepare for what the labor market demands, but when they make their choice to the upper secondary school they are referred to a limited number of programs. In or- der for students to achieve social justice and be able to establish themselves in the labor mar- ket, employers need to see them as a resource. Today, only 22% of those who have an intel- lectual disability are established in the labor market. Thus, cooperation during the high school years is not enough, it needs more efforts.