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University students with disability (SwD) are disadvantaged in the job market. While universities have limited influence on the job market, there are opportunities for them to better prepare SwD to compete in it. This Fellowship sheds light on such opportunities, as well as the barriers which hamper university efforts to provide targeted careers support and the factors that create added complexity for universities in regional Australia. The project used a mixed methods approach to gather data from SwD as well as staff working in disability, careers, other professional roles and academic/teaching roles. Data was gathered using the following mechanisms: a desk review of current university offerings; national surveys of university staff and SwD; staff focus groups; Regional Heads of Service email interviews; and a case study.

The key finding of this report is that overall, universities do not appear to understand how SwD think about their careers. Combined with the mixed understanding of employability among university staff that was also confirmed by research, the university system inadvertently conspires to perpetuate SwD avoidance strategies. The encouraging news is that some disability and careers professionals are beginning to break through. A case study of Swinburne University's AccessAbility Careers Hub (AACH or 'the Hub') identified the initiative as an emerging model of good practice. The case study identifies drivers of success, but professional staff training and support are required if the drivers of success are to be rigorously harnessed. While employers' disability confidence has been developing in recent years, they need support too. Their willingness to participate in disability-inclusive careers events contributes to shared understandings of disability inclusion among all stakeholders. If the university sector can take advantage of these kinds of opportunities, it will contribute to positive developments in the national recruitment landscape for SwD.

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Apprenticeships are an important route into work, offering paid employment, on-the-job training and a qualification. The UK, Scottish and Welsh governments have all set targets to increase the number of apprenticeships and recognised the need to increase the diversity of those starting, participating in and completing apprenticeships. With the drive towards increasing diversity within apprenticeships, there is a need for employers, governments and policy makers to consider the tools that are available to address long-standing under-representation. This report seeks to evaluate the use of positive action to address under-representation of female apprentices in gender segregated sectors, and disabled people and ethnic minorities in apprenticeships more broadly.

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This report presents findings from the second phase of a study to review models of support for disabled students in higher education (HE) in England. Phase one, undertaken in 2016/17, established a baseline of provision. Phase two, the focus of this report, reviews progress by higher education providers (HEPs) over the subsequent two years to implement new models of support which reflect a more inclusive approach. It also assesses the impact of increased government funding to support these changes. Overall (across Phases one and two) the research explores the approach to supporting disabled students across the sector and particularly the use and experience of inclusive models of support. Phase one was undertaken by IES and REAP in 2016/17 and established the baseline of provision (at that time). This involved a review of the nature and levels of support, the understanding across the sector of inclusive approaches, and an assessment of progress towards inclusive models.

The Phase one research involved an online survey of publicly funded HE providers who received at least £20,000 in disability funding. This was supplemented with 13 case studies: three early case studies to support the development of the questionnaire, and 10 main-stage case studies to gather more detailed insights into the issues of developing inclusive provision. Phase two - the focus of this research report - reviews the progress made over the subsequent two years. It assesses the impact of the increased central funding to support disabled students and encourage HE providers to adopt an increasingly inclusive approach that reduces the need for reasonable adjustment. It also expanded the scope of the research to include alternative and private HE providers.

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The success of Auckland and its region has a crucial part to play in New Zealand's overall prosperity. A successful Auckland needs people to be highly competent, flexible and career capable. A career capable city is one where young people and their families are provided with high quality skills, training and career development information and support. An Auckland where there are strong links between business and education, and people are encouraged to develop their careers. An Auckland that makes the most of its human potential.

This report outlines Auckland's challenges in developing a skilled workforce, and recommends actions that will add value to the regional economy. These include helping young people through the transition between school and the workplace or further study; actively supporting people who are disengaged or under employed; and supporting migrants to Auckland to realise their full potential. The focus is on good talent development and career development support.

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In Australia, people with mental illness are up to 50 per cent less likely than people with no mental illness to participate in the workforce. This report documents the inquiry of the Family and Community Development Committee, a Joint Investigatory Committee of the Parliament of Victoria, into workforce participation by people with a mental illness. The Committee considered: evidence of the low rate of workforce participation of people with mental illness, and the social and economic costs involved; barriers that people with mental illness experience in gaining and retaining employment; the respective roles of, and collaboration between, local, state and Commonwealth governments, business and community organisations in supporting the workforce participation of people with mental illness; the effectiveness of programs that aim to improve the workforce participation of people with mental illness, including best practice models; opportunities for tailoring education and vocational training for the needs of people with mental illness; effective measures to support employers to recruit, employ and retain people with mental illness; and the role of mental health services, and general health and community services in improving the workforce participation of people with mental illness.

The Committee identified that people with mental illness experience considerable barriers to their participation in the workforce. Systemic barriers include stigma and discrimination, inflexibility within workplaces, and issues accessing mental health and appropriate employment support services. Barriers related to the effects of mental illness include the episodic nature of some mental illnesses and the impact that symptoms and medications can have on people's ability to function in their employment role. This report highlights the personal, social and economic benefits of participation by people with mental illness in employment. It makes recommendations to encourage the creation of pathways into employment for people with mental illness. It also recommends strategies for healthy and supportive work cultures that enable people with mental illness to maintain their employment. To lift the rate of workforce participation across the private and public sectors, the Committee has suggested that the Victorian government establishes a mental health employment strategy.

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Many students with disabilities continue to struggle to successfully make the transition from school to employment. The rates of employment for people with disabilities in Australia is half that of their peers and is actually reducing. There is a strong link between the labour market aspiration and expectations of the community (including parents and schools) for young people with disabilities, and whether such young people take an employment pathway. This paper is both a literature review of strategies and approaches to apprenticeships and traineeships for people with a disability and recommendations for how to develop a best practice Australian School Based Apprenticeship and Traineeship model for young people with disabilities.

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This report is based on the findings of an inquiry by Policy Connect's All-Party Parliamentary Group for Assistive Technology (APPGAT), co-chaired by Kevin Shinkwin (Baron Shinkwin) and Lilian Greenwood. Policy Connect is a cross-party think tank that collaborates with government and the UK Parliament to influence public policy to improve people's lives. Assistive technologies (AT) are powerful tools to remove digital barriers and open opportunities for education, training, and work for disabled people. For example, screen readers remove text-based barriers for people with visual impairment and dyslexia. Training opportunities, recruitment practices and job roles are increasingly incorporating digital tools or moving online entirely. Unless this is accompanied by the use of tools and practices that allow everyone to access the digital world, disabled people risk being further locked out of employment opportunities. This report examines the role of AT and digital accessibility in disabled people's transitions into employment from education and from unemployment into employment, as well as the realities of starting a new job, in relation to disability and digital accessibility. The focus is on how the UK can use technology to support disabled people to achieve their maximum personal and economic potential.

The report begins with an overview of key findings and recommendations for government, educational institutions, and employers. Chapter two examines AT and the transition from education into employment while chapter three explores the experiences of unemployed disabled people who are not in education and their access to assistive technologies and training. Chapter four focuses on employer practices and experiences regarding digital inclusion and hiring disabled staff, followed by a discussion of AT and Access to Work in chapter five.

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A recent study of the destinations of graduates found that of all disabled graduates, autistic individuals are least likely to be employed (AGCAS, 2022). These outcomes for autistic people in the UK are widely recognised in literature (Remington and Pellicano, 2019, Vincent, 2020,) and highlight the way in which these individuals are marginalised. This article outlines the participatory action research project conducted at a UK university over the past two years that explored how to provide effective careers and employability support for autistic students. Understanding that it would be important to involve individuals whom this employability support would seek to benefit, a careers practitioner recruited autistic volunteers to act as consultants. With the exception of the final analysis, these autistic student consultants were engaged in all stages of the project, from analysing an initial survey of all autistic students in the university, to co-designing the careers-related programme and evaluating the effectiveness of these activities. This participatory methodology not only provided the careers practitioner with a deeper appreciation of the lived experience of being autistic and real insights into what provision to include in the future, but was also perceived to have an emancipatory impact on some of participants involved, with signs of a 'ripple effect' within the university. This article concludes with recommendations for careers practitioners and researchers who are eager to bring about change at their own educational institutions, resulting in more positive employment outcomes for autistic individuals.

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This in-depth analysis of available data for 49 countries examined five education indicators based on data from three sources, collected between 2005 and 2015: Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) sponsored by USAID, School-to-Work Transition Surveys (SWTS) by ILO, and population census data compiled by IPUMS-International. The indicators are: (1) the proportion of those aged 15 to 29 who have ever attended school; (2) the out-of-school rate for children of primary and lower secondary school age; (3) the completion rate for primary and lower secondary education; (4) the mean years of schooling for those aged 25 and older; and (5) the adult literacy rate for those aged 15 and older. The analysis confirms that persons with disabilities are less likely to ever attend school, more likely to be out of school and that they tend to have fewer years of education than persons without disabilities. They are less likely to complete primary or secondary education and are less likely to possess basic literacy skills. In all 25 countries with relevant data, the adult literacy rate for those with disabilities is lower than for other adults. The data also reveal that women with disabilities are often less likely to reap the benefits of a formal education than disabled men - marginalised not only by their disability but also by their gender.

The paper also makes a series of recommendations to improve the quality and comparability of data on disability and education: (a) increase the availability of internationally-comparable data on education and disability; (b) build an inventory of existing data; (c) use Washington Group questions in all surveys and censuses; (d) increase frequency of data collection for regular monitoring, especially in light of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4; (e) strengthen statistical capacity in countries to measure disability, including administrative data collection; (f) improve coordination between national and international agencies in the area of disability statistics; and (g) increase funding by international donors and foundations for collection and analysis of data on disability.

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'No one knows' is a UK-wide program that aims to bring about change by exploring and publicising the experiences of people with learning difficulties and learning disabilities who come into contact with the criminal justice system. It will run until 2008. This report, the first in a series of reports and briefing papers from 'No one knows', focuses on prisons in England and Wales and covers preliminary findings from research into the views of prison staff on how prisoners with learning difficulties and learning disabilities are identified and supported. The report first outlines the aims and methodology of the study, describes the context for prisoners with learning difficulties and learning disabilities and then presents the views of prison staff. Respondents to this study were asked questions relating to how prisoners with learning difficulties and learning disabilities were identified and supported at their prison and they were asked to comment on difficult issues facing such prisoners, the challenges to providing support, and on examples of good practice. Research findings indicate that people with learning difficulties and learning disabilities are not routinely identified prior to arriving into prison and once in prison face a number of difficulties, are more likely to be victimised than other prisoners, and are unable to access prison information routinely. They are likely to receive inadequate levels of support of varying quality and, because of their impairments, will be excluded from certain activities and opportunities. A number of early recommendations are provided. Show less