Consultation on Job Marketability for Students with Special Educational Need and Their Families

Abstract

Consultation for job marketability or career strategy is delivery of information to students and parents (family) in planning career appropriately according to the students’ capabilities and abilities. Knowledge requirements and career information and work among families of special education students are still lacking in terms of being considered for study in Malaysia. This study aimed to explore the marketability consultation process among the students which was carried out by students of special education for students and families of students with special educational needs. The qualitative study was conducted with 11 special education students and their families. The consultation process had 2 phases whereby for phase 1, consultations were conducted by special education students. For the second phase, consultation and collaborative process involved students and special education undergraduate students from education guidance and counseling. Analysis of data from verbatim of reflection and consultation with special education students was analyzed using N vivo 11. The results from the two-phase consultation process has shown that the family are lacking in terms of knowledge in work marketability and challenges in getting proper education and training for their children. The results also show the marketability of consultation work carried out has provide experience to coach special education teacher trainees to be more empathetic towards special education students and their families.