Career Guidance of Disabled People in Sustainable Education

Content: Research Experience and Development Prospects

Olga A. Denisova

, Olga L. Lekhanova

and Svetlana A. Parygina

Cherepovets State University, Cherepovets, Russia

Keywords: Sustainable Education, Career Choice, Applicant, Young Disabled Person, Inclusive Education, Career

Guidance.

Abstract: Sustainable education is aimed at helping the countries' governments to find the most effective solutions and

implement the changes that will make societies more stable and resilient. Inclusive education is designed not

only to address educational inequalities, but also to provide citizenship education for people with disabilities.

This feature includes willingness to take responsibility for the consequences of their decisions and choices,

career choice included. The article considers the results of the study of career choice and the assessment of

vocational guidance of 259 young disabled people of 17-20 years old who are at the stage of choosing a route

for vocational education. The aim of the study is to assess the vocational guidance of young disabled people

in educational sustainable development content. The results presented in the article show that young people

with disabilities have serious vocational guidance deficiencies. The ideas about their career prospects and

arguments for choosing a career prove immaturity in terms of taking responsibility for their professional

choice and awareness of their career prospects. Passive position, lack of initiative characterize young disabled

people in terms of choosing their career, their vocational self-determination. The analysis of individual career

profiles showed pronounced difficulties in understanding by young people with disabilities their resources,

capabilities, limitations and qualities that are significant for choosing a career. The obtained results prove that

young people with disabilities need special assistance in vocational guidance and career choice. Such

assistance, implemented in the aspect and methodology of ideas for educational sustainable development

content, is designed to form special competencies of young people with disabilities. These competencies are

designed to ensure the formation of predictive models of their career prospects, the acceptance of

responsibility for career choice and the desire for independent life.

1 INTRODUCTION

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) or

sustainable education has been proclaimed by the UN

and UNESCO as a global strategy for achieving

sustainable development of society. Sustainable

education is designed to help governments find the

most effective solutions and bring about change that

makes societies more resilient. In this aspect, one of

the main tasks is the education for global citizenship,

which ensures that citizens have social attitudes,

responsibility for the decisions made and their

consequences. Elimination of inequality and ensuring

the quality of education without discrimination on

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0236-9181

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0882-4632

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4578-2950

any grounds are effective tools of citizenship

formation (Aichi-Nagoya Declaration, 2014).

The issue of eliminating inequalities in education

is considered mainly in educational inclusion content,

designed to provide people with disabilities equal

rights to affordable and quality education, which is

the key to independent life and integration into

society.

One of the most significant problem areas of

inclusive education is vocational education for

disabled people, as a basic condition for their

independent life. (Alekhina, Samsonova Yudina

T.A., 2018; Iljina, Zarin and Kantor, 2020). Sheila

Riddell, Elisabet Weedon emphasize that for young

people with disabilities, a university is an important

Denisova, O., Lekhanova, O. and Parygina, S.

Career Guidance of Disabled People in Sustainable Education Content: Research Experience and Development Prospects.

DOI: 10.5220/0010594606010606

In Proceedings of the International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure (ISSDRI 2021), pages 601-606

ISBN: 978-989-758-519-7

601

environment for the formation of responsibility and

adult identity, as well as in obtaining qualifications of

a higher level. (Sheila Riddell, Elisabet Weedon,

2014).

We believe that the attention should be focused on

the intersection of career guidance, inclusive

education and the employment of people with

disabilities, as it allows highlighting new perspectives

and aspects for discussing the problems of sustainable

inclusive education.

The issues of career guidance and employment of

people with disabilities are considered by researchers

from different countries. Miles Rinaldi, Rachel

Perkins note that it's necessary to take into account

the factual data when deciding on the employment of

people with disabilities and making

recommendations for a practical solution to this issue

(Miles Rinaldi, Rachel Perkins, 2007). The authors

believe that too often advice and recommendations on

the employment and career guidance of people with

disabilities do not correspond to the available

scientific data and in fact do not help people with

disabilities to get and keep a job. Veronika

Calikovaa, Evgeney Egorov, Elena Razumovskaya

state that employment can in practice ensure life

independence for people with disabilities, and

regional programs are a tool to achieve the goals of

inclusive employment (Veronika Calikovaa, Evgeney

Egorov, Elena Razumovskaya, 2014). Sheila Riddell,

Elisabet Weedon indicate as a problem the conflicting

discourses about disability, as well as a significant

increase in negative identity at the stage of the

transition of disabled people from university to

employment (Sheila Riddell, Elisabet Weedon,

2014). W.Ingamells, S.Rouse, P.Worsfold

W.Ingamells, S.Rouse, P.Worsfold point to

discrimination against the disabled when seeking

employment, which, according to the authors, may be

due to employers' lack of understanding of people

with disabilities (W.Ingamells, S.Rouse, P.Worsfold,

1991). Angus Duff, John Ferguson, Karen Gilmore

emphasize that often, when dealing with employment

issues, employers take the position of compliance

with legal rights of the disabled, rather than delving

into the real needs and opportunities of applicants

(Angus Duff, John Ferguson, Karen Gilmore, 2007).

O.A. Denisova, O.L. Lekhanova note that at present

there is an increase in the quantity of the disabled who

receive vocational education and are focused on

working in their profession. The authors emphasize

that the employer is not always ready to consider

people with disabilities as job seekers, which is

largely due to the low awareness in business sphere

about the real opportunities and competitive work of

people with disabilities. (O.A. Denisova, O.L.

Lekhanova, 2020). Mukta Kulkarni, ReimaraValk

describe paradoxical situations at the employment of

people with disabilities, when disabled employees are

embarrassed to ask for help, and the employer does

not offer help because of the unwillingness to belittle

the dignity of the disabled employee (Mukta

Kulkarni, ReimaraValk, 2010). A number of works

indicate a decrease in social responsibility as well as

consumer sentiment of the disabled. Laufey Lövea,

Rannveig Traustadóttira, James Gordon Riceb note

that the services availability for the disabled limits

their autonomy and negatively affects the desire for

independent life and work (Laufey Lövea, Rannveig

Traustadóttira, James Gordon Riceb, 2018).

Employment problems are often caused by those

deficits that are formed at the stage of vocational

guidance for disabled people. Alois Gherguta,

Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Toma Cozma, studying the

influence of parents and teachers on the choice of a

career by schoolchildren with disabilities, observed a

significant impact of social environment on the

vocational interests of students with disabilities

(Alois Gherguta, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Toma

Cozma, 2014). According to the authors, teachers and

parents should seek to better understand the special

needs of such children in order to positively influence

their vocational interests and career choices. Some

authors assert that young people with disabilities do

not have a holistic understanding of their personal

qualities and their place in the world, their career and

social prospects. So Kantor V.Z., Antropov A.P.,

Gdalina T.G. believe that high school students with

disabilities need targeted vocational guidance, the

emphasis of which should be on clarifying the

essence of the career, informing about the content and

nature of work in this profession (Kantor V.Z.,

Antropov A.P., Gdalina T.G., 2018). Some

researchers indicate that senior students with

disabilities have a vague idea of theircareer prospects.

Sarah Richard и Sophie Hennekam, analyzing the

awareness of their limitations and resources of the

disabled, highlight the conditions for the formation of

a positive work identity of a disabled person (Sarah

Richard, Sophie Hennekam, 2021).

In general, the available information allows

stating that the correct career choice by a young

disabled person is the matter of intersection of the

interests of the individual and the state in terms of

ensuring conditions for society sustainable

development and global citizenship. The correct

career choice is associated with the ability to

adequately and critically assess their abilities,

opportunities, demands and trends in the labor market

and education resources. The issue of choosing a

ISSDRI 2021 - International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure

602

career for people with disabilities is especially acute

and requires a comprehensive assessment and

analysis. One of the aspects of the issue is the problem

of vocational guidance of disabled people in

educational sustainable development, which requires

its experimental study and comprehension.

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The aim of the study is to assess the vocational

guidance of young disabled people in educational

sustainable development content.

The study consisted of two stages. At the first

stage, a survey was conducted, during which

information about the health condition and the age of

the respondents was collected. We also collected data

on the career prospects of the respondents, the place

of getting vocational education, and the leading

sources of information for career guidance. The

collection of information took place by filling out an

online standardized survey form at

https://инклюзивноеобразование.рф .

The content of the survey was developed and

approved by the experts from the Federal Network of

Resource Educational and Methodological Centers

for the Education of Disabled People, established on

the basis of Russian universities.

At the second stage of the study, the young

disabled people's career guidance was assessed.

Vocational guidance diagnostics was carried out by

taking the “Perspective-PRO” test by the respondents.

Subsequently, the results of the study were subjected

to cluster and factor analysis. Cluster analysis of the

respondents for different levels of education was

carried out using 3 hierarchical clustering methods:

Ward's method, the method of intergroup

connections; the nearest neighbor method), the k-

means method as an optimization method of cluster

analysis.

259 people took part at different stages of the

study. At the first stage - 171 applicants with

disabilities. The second stage of the study involved 88

young people with disabilities. The age of the

respondents ranged from 17 to 20 years old. All the

respondents had disabilities in vision (15%), hearing

(15%), movement (36%) and general diseases (34%).

At the time of the study, the participants in the

experiment were at the stage of choosing a route for

their vocational education. All respondents lived in

the Northwestern Federal District of the Russian

Federation.

3 RESULTS OF THE STUDY

Let us present the results of the first stage of the study,

focusing on such information as ideas about their

career prospects and arguments when choosing a

career.

Getting the answers to the question about their

career prospects from the respondents, we obtained

the data indicating that about two-thirds of the

respondents are uncertain about their career prospects

(Table 1).

Table 1: Young disabled people's ideas about their career

prospects

Possible answer Percentage of the

respondents who chose

the answer option (%)

Confident of their career

ros

ects

Doubtful about their

career

ros

ects

Having a vague idea of

their career prospects

Having no idea about

their career

ros

ects

Let us present the data on the arguments for career

choice that are significant for young disabled people.

In most cases, the key argument when choosing a

career is the income it brings, the conformity of the

profession to hobbies, career prospects and the

profession prestige. None of the respondents named

the state of health, demand in the labor market as an

argument for choosing a profession (Table 2).

Table 2: Arguments of young disabled people when

choosing a career

Possible answer Percentage of the

respondents who chose

the answer o

tion

(

)

Prestige of the

rofession

Income 54

Ease of learning by

rofession

Family traditions of

choosin

a caree

Compliance with the

rofession and hobbies

Career

ros

ects 28

Arguments are not given 46

Most of the respondents noted that when choosing

a profession they rely on the opinion of parents and

teachers, information on the websites of educational

institutions. It is extremely rare that the career choice

Career Guidance of Disabled People in Sustainable Education Content: Research Experience and Development Prospects

603

is made on vocational guidance testing, materials

from Internet platforms on career guidance and

employment, reference data (Table 3).

Table 3: Reasons for choosing a career by young people

with disabilities.

Source of information for

career choice

Percentage of the

respondents who chose the

answer option (%)

Parents 68

Teachers 29

Friends 19

ers 11

University websites 43

Reference sites 14

Career guidance and

ment websites

Social networks 24

It should be noted that, despite the obvious

problems of career self-determination, only 15% of

the respondents indicated the necessity of assistance

in choosing acareer.

At the second stage of the study, individual

vocational guidance testing was carried out using the

"Perspective-PRO" methodology. The analysis of the

results assumed an assessment of the individual

profiles of the respondents, their clustering and

typology.

Let us consider the results of factor analysis,

implemented using the method of principal

components (MPC), in order to form generalized

characteristics based on the levels of development of

the identified 10 spheres of human activity, which

determine the main directions of professional

development of the respondents:

 Factor 1. Focus on high-tech areas. The factor

weight is 2.538. The explained variance is

25.38%. Variables (spheres of activity) that

make up the factor: economic sphere (variable

weight -0.773); IT sphere (variable weight

0.626); production and technological sphere

(variable weight 0.824); pedagogical sphere

(variable weight -0.769).

 Factor 2. Focus on environmental and medical

fields. The factor weight is 2.342. The

explained variance is 23.42%. Variables (areas

of activity) that make up the factor:

environmental area (variable weight 0.676);

scientific sphere (variable weight -0.866);

medical and sports and recreational sphere

(variable weight 0.818); social services sector

(variable weight 0.421).

 Factor 3. Focus on artistic and social spheres.

The factor weight is 2.027. The explained

variance is 20.27%. Variables (areas of

activity) that make up the factor: artistic area

(variable weight 0.861); IT sphere (variable

weight -0.41); social services (variable weight

0.684); managerial sphere (variable weight -

0.81).

Thus, as a result of factorial analysis using MPC,

it was possible to identify 3 factors (main

components), describing 69% of the total variance.

These factors determine the main directions towards

which the majority of the surveyed respondents

showed the greatest inclination.

Aiming at typologizing individual career profiles,

a cluster analysis of the research results was carried

out. With the help of cluster analysis, it was possible

to identify 4 types of career guidance profiles of

young disabled people:

 Cluster 1 "Selective" (38% of respondents).

Dominating personality traits significant for

carrier choice: the ability to choose the

necessary information from a large volume,

dominant visual memory, emotional restraint -

1st rank. Interest in new things, creativity,

preference to perform monotonous activities

for a short period of time - 2nd rank. Optimism,

physical abilities, the ability to accurately

present the memorized material after a long

time, the ability to establish a connection

between cause and effect, find a solution, work

in a team and offer non-standard solutions - 3rd

rank. The cluster includes people with

disabilities in sight, hearing, movement, and

general diseases.

 Cluster 2 "Creative" (28% of respondents).

Dominating personality traits significant for

carrier choice: purposefulness, desire to learn,

creativity, the ability to choose the necessary

information from a large volume, to offer and

find non-standard solutions - 1 rank. The ability

to search and analyze information, to

accurately present the memorized material

after a long time, to adapt to new conditions,

the willingness to perform monotonous

activities for a long period of time - 2nd rank.

The cluster includes people with disabilities in

vision and movement.

 Cluster 3 "Adaptive" (26% of respondents).

Dominating personality traits significant for

carrier choice: the ability to work in a team -

1st rank. Interest in new things, the ability to

highlight the main thing, the ability to adapt to

new conditions - 2nd rank. Responsibility,

developed applied skills (manual labor),

creativity, the ability to offer non-standard

ISSDRI 2021 - International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure

604

solutions, quickly switch to another type of

work, developed visual memory, preference to

perform activities at a fast pace for a short

period of time - 3rd rank. The cluster includes

people with disabilities in vision, hearing

(including speech), and general diseases.

 Cluster 4 "Analytical" (8% of respondents).

Dominating personality traits significant for

carrier choice: the ability to plan their activities

- 1st rank. The cluster includes people with

disabilities.

Individual testing of the vocational guidance of

young people with disabilities showed that the

leading factors of professional choice and dominant

typological features of the vocational guidance

profiles of young people with disabilities can be

identified.

4 DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS

The results obtained in the study show that young

people with disabilities have serious deficits in

vocational guidance. Thus, ideas about their career

prospects and arguments for choosing a career prove

immaturity in terms of taking responsibility for their

career choice and awareness of their career prospects.

Dominant decision-making sources also demonstrate

deficits in awareness and responsibility of disabled

people for their career prospects and a lack of creative

attitude to the career choice. Passive position, lack of

initiative characterize the vocational guidance of

young disabled people, their vocational self-

determination. The analysis of individual career

profiles showed pronounced difficulties in

understanding by young disabled people their

resources, capabilities, limitations and qualities that

are significant for career choice.

Experimental results prove that the vocational

self-determination of the disabled is a problem not

only for them, but also for their relatives, teachers,

and society. Special measures are needed to promote

vocational self-determination of young disabled

people, to ensure their awareness, correlation with

health opportunities, the labor market and career

requirements.

5 CONCLUSION

The obtained results prove that young people with

disabilities need special assistance in vocational

guidance and career choice. Such assistance,

implemented in the content and methodology of

educational sustainable development, is designed to

form special competencies of young people with

disabilities. These competencies are designed to

ensure the formation of predictive models of career

prospects, the acceptance of responsibility for career

choice and the desire for independent life. The

materials obtained in the study are the basis for a

significant model for vocational guidance of young

disabled people and the construction of differentiated

routes to support vocational guidance, taking into

account the individual vocational guidance profile

and tasks of sustainable education.

REFERENCES

Alekhina S.V., Samsonova E.V. and Yudina T.A. (2018).

The foundations of an inclusive paradigm for

contemporary education. Specialusis Ugdymas, 1(38):

33-60.

Alois Gherguta, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Toma Cozma

(2014). Aspects Related to the Educational and

Vocational Guidance of Intellectually Impaired

Students. 4th World Conference on Psychology,

Counseling and Guidance. Procedia - Social and

Behavioral Sciences, 114: 116-120

Duff, A., Ferguson, J. and Gilmore, K. (2007). Issues

concerning the employment and employability of

disabled people in UK accounting firms: An analysis of

the views of human resource managers as employment

gatekeepers. The British Accounting Review, 39(1): 15-

Denisova, O.A. and Lekhanova, O.L. (2020). On

Capabilities of People with Health Limitations in Terms

of Industrial Business. IOP Conference Series:

Materials Science and Engineering, 718(1): 012022

Iljina, S., Zarin, A. and Kantor V. (2020). Equal access to

education for students with disabilities in russia :

concept, problems, variety of solutions. Inclusive

education, Unity in diversity. Warszawa, 245-253.

Kantor V.Z., Antropov A.P. and Gdalina T.G. (2018).

Choice of Professional and Educational Route in High

School Students with Disabilities: University

Education in the Context of Motivation and Needs.

Psychological Science and Education, 23(2): 42-49.

Laufey Lövea, Rannveig Traustadóttira, James Gordon

Riceb, (2018). Trading autonomy for services:

Perceptions of users and providers of services for

disabled people in Iceland. In Alter, 12(4): 193-207

Miles Rinaldi, Rachel Perkins,

(2007).Vocational rehabilitation for people with mental

health problems. In Psychiatry, 6(9) 373-376

Mukta Kulkarni, ReimaraValk (2010). Don’t ask, don’t tell:

Two views on human resource practices for people with

disabilities. IIMB Management Review, 22(4): 137-146.

Career Guidance of Disabled People in Sustainable Education Content: Research Experience and Development Prospects

605

Sarah Richard, Sophie Hennekam (2021). Constructing a

positive identity as a disabled worker through social

comparison: The role of stigma and disability

characteristics. In Journal of Vocational Behavior, 125:

103528.

Sheila Riddell, Elisabet Weedon (2014). Disabled students

in higher education: Discourses of disability and the

negotiation of identity. International Journal of

Educational Research, 63: 38-46

Veronika Calikovaa, Evgeney Egorov, Elena

Razumovskaya, (2014). About the Need of

Employment of Disabled People for Regions of the

Russian Federation. Procedia Economics and Finance,

15: 1029-1032.

Aichi Nagoya Declaration on Education for Sustainable

Development, 2014. In the UNESCO World

Conference on Education for Sustainable Development,

Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, 14 р.

https://unesdoc.unesco.org/search/13f61355-1c65-

4ca6-9144-9ce3eb986823.

ISSDRI 2021 - International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure

606