2019 Annual Conference

Learners with Disabilities and Special Needs

Fast Format (7 minutes)

This session will provide the current situation/vision of University about disability students’ transitioning school to work, which is an emerging Issue for Faculty in Higher Education of South Korea. It will include the policies and actual circumstances by empirical evidences. It will suggest future direction based on learner-centered perspective.

This session mainly targets the academic researchers or practitioners who concerned with school to work transition development of higher education learners, especially the students with disabilities in South Korea. Furthermore, it is also intended the students with disabilities themselves or experts who are interested in career development in the faculty of higher education, particularly focused on learner-centered resilient integration. The audience will be exposed to the actual situation and policies about disability learners’ career development. In addition, they can also catch the desired future direction based on human rights and sustainability.

The session will contain three learning outcomes. First of all, the learners will comprehend difficulties about the disabilities’ transitioning in school to work due to their unique traits and lack of career development educational programs. Secondly, the learners will realize what is and what is wrong with the Korean government’s latest efforts to educate disabled students of higher education on career path. Thirdly, the learners will see what kind of vision a faculty of higher education should have for disabled students’ career development based on learner-centered perspective based on the education of work theories.

The session will be held in three parts; (1) reasons for paying attention to school to work transitioning of disabled learners, (2) current circumstances of career development about higher education students with disabilities in South Korea, (3) vision of higher education institutions for students with disabilities’ career path development.

There is an emerging interest about social responsibilities of career development of learners with disabilities in the Republic of Korea. Korean government’s the 5^th Special Education Development Plan(‘18~’22), which has been in effect since 2018, has set its goal of ‘restoring the ladder of education’ as its main task of strengthening special education support by life cycle. It is importnat for disabled learners to be integrated into the community and live independently as happy workers. It is the first interest of Korean higher education faculty that disabled learners have own contextual difficulty in transitioning school to work. since the special admission system for college students began in 1995. However, as a learner with disability, I realized that career development for them was far from sufficient. Solutions that focus on goverments or universities remain at formal learning levels in name only, which is not proper to adult learners.

The latest effrots of Korean government and Education faculty will be introduced, including practices visions about learners with disability in higher education career development. The survey will be conducted on disabled university and college students. The semi-inverview will be carried out with five individuals, who were in the context of school to work transitioning on disabled learners, such as disabled students, experts in disabilities and faculty of higher education. Also, theories of school to work and resilient integration, which is related to topics will be provided for suggesting the future direction.