Abstract
This research explored parental involvement in mapping career transitioning of adolescents diagnosed with Mild Intellectual Disabilities (MID). The literature review indicated that limited research has been done on parental involvement in mapping career transitioning of adolescents diagnosed with a MID, particularly in the South African context. The objectives of the study were to discover different experiences of parents in mapping career transitioning of adolescents diagnosed with MID and to explore these adolescents’ perceptions of parental involvement in career transition. The Interpretative Phenomenological Approach (IPA) in qualitative approach was used to explore the lived experiences of participants in relation to the research aims. The study involved parents of adolescent learners and those adolescent learners as participants of the study. The adolescents were from a MID school and in the exiting class. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews for parent participants and collages and a group discussion of the collages was used to collect data from adolescent learner participants. Data were analysed using thematic analysis where five themes emerged with sub-themes. Findings indicated the need to improve parental involvement in schools (parent-teacher collaboration) in mapping career transitioning. The findings further showed factors hindering parental involvement such as lack of knowledge of MID careers related to MID school skills, and socio-economic status of parents. Recommendations were based on assisting parents to be effectively engaged in mapping the career transitioning of their children in MID schools.
M.Ed. (Educational Psychology)