Why is Self-Determination Important for Students with and without Disabilities in Vocational Education?

Abstract

Th e purpose of the study was to determine diff erences in self-determination between high school students with and without disabilities and to determine the infl uence of three predictors of self-determination in vocational education: gender, group and grade point average. Research was done by comparing students with the method of pairs. Th e results show that students with disabilities have a lower level of self-determination than their peers; signifi cant predictors of self-determination are group and grade point average. Results reveal important fi elds of intervention for self-determination development, especially for students with disabilities in vocational education. Th is is also the fi rst study of student self-determination in Slovenian vocational education with specifi c cultural and education background.

From Passenger to Pilot – Using Formative Assessment to Support Students With Intellectual Disabilities to Become Self-Regulated Learners

“…The challenges Maria and Julia experienced when using formative assessment to promote students' SRL competence were: Low expectations and caretaking, Experiences of shortcomings, and Learning difficulties. The challenges identified in the present study are similar to those presented in the study by Anderson and Östlund (2017) and seem to be associated with common issues in Swedish education for students with ID (Östlund, 2015;Licardo and Schmidt Krajnc, 2016;Hanreddy and Östlund, 2020). These challenges and how they can be addressed will be further discussed below.…”

“…Students with ID are found to be less self-determined than non-disabled students (see Wehmeyer et al, 2007), and selfregulatory strategies in problem-solving tasks are less developed among adolescents with ID than among children without ID (Nader-Grosbois, 2014). Students with various learning disabilities can experience specific challenges in regulating their own learning because of, for example, weak executive functions, metacognitive knowledge, and motivational beliefs (Butler and Schnellert, 2015;Licardo and Schmidt Krajnc, 2016). Yet lower capacity for SRL can be due to a lack of opportunities and support to develop SRL competence (Wehmeyer et al, 2007).…”

“…Yet lower capacity for SRL can be due to a lack of opportunities and support to develop SRL competence (Wehmeyer et al, 2007). Teachers may lack sufficient knowledge about how to support SRL competence among their students (Licardo and Schmidt Krajnc, 2016), or they may believe their students lack the prerequisite cognitive abilities to build such competence (Wehmeyer, 2005). Previous studies about self-determination show that it is possible for students with ID to develop skills associated with SRL competence and that there are strong incentives for education to create opportunities for such development (Butler and Schnellert, 2015;Wehmeyer, 2015).…”

“…Similar to formative assessment, the SDLMI is a complex instructional model requiring teachers to creatively embed the model practice in their existing classroom practices and change from a primarily teacher-directed approach to a primarily student-directed approach (Shogren et al, 2020). Teachers working with students with ID also need to consider risks of dependency, learned helplessness, low self-value, and low self-esteem, and they need to ensure that environments and activities empower the students to become actively causal agents (Licardo and Schmidt Krajnc, 2016).…”

“…A disability diagnosis may explain specific challenges students experience in regulating their own learning (Butler and Schnellert, 2015;Licardo and Schmidt Krajnc, 2016). Yet possibilities for development are proven (Shogren et al, 2019(Shogren et al, , 2020, and the opportunities provided for such development in the environment appear crucial (Wehmeyer et al, 2007), with strong incentives for education creating opportunities for such development (Butler and Schnellert, 2015;Wehmeyer, 2015).…”