Employment and adjustment of school-leavers with mild retardation in New Zealand

Abstract

A series of three studies was undertaken into the employment and adjustment of mildly retarded school leavers. Study 1 focused on the employment status and community adjustment of graduates of a secondary school special education program in West Auckland. Less than half of the graduates surveyed were in open employment and a high proportion (24%) were unemployed at the time of the survey (the remainder were in sheltered employment). Comparatively high levels of police contact and low levels of community participation were also reported. Employment rates and adjustment characteristics were found to be similar in familial retarded and other retarded graduates. Study 2 was concerned with the generalizability of the Study 1 employment findings for the total Auckland metropolitan area. It was found that 45 percent of graduates were in open employment and that 18 percent were unemployed. These percentages are noticeably close to those obtained in Study 1. It is important to note that the rate of unemployment documented in these studies is almost three times that shown by all school leavers during the survey period. In Study 3, the actual availability of employment opportunities for mildly retarded school graduates in West Auckland (the area used in Study 1) was ascertained. While 56 percent of employers surveyed reported that they would consider employing a mildly retarded school leaver, only 6 percent expected to have a suitable vacancy in the year following the survey. Of those employers who did expect to have employment opportunities, most were in “large” (more than 10 employees) rather than “small” businesses. The results of Studies 1 and 2 indicate that a substantial proportion of mildly retarded school leavers in Auckland are not obtaining/retaining employment, and from Study 3 it is apparent that a major reason for the low open employment rate of graduates in Studies 1 and 2 is unavailability of jobs rather than lack of awareness of employment opportunities or inadequate search strategies on the part of the graduates. Accordingly, a close examination needs to be made of the content and conduct of current postschool training/assessment programs and of some of the assumptions which underpin current special education policy for children with mild retardation in New Zealand.