Young people with disabilities on the labor market

Podmiot prawny

Fundacja Inceptum

Świdnica

Inkubator bez ścian [2016-2019]

Model organizacyjny

Students with intellectual disabilities are not very self-reliant and usually they are incapable of changing that. This is not only due to the limitations resulting from mental disabilities, but also because they are always under someone's care and their parents, teachers, therapists, etc. often do not trust them to do things by themselves. This does not encourage them to take responsibility for their behaviour and life. They are not taught how to be independent, be responsible or how to manage their finances. They also do not have the chance to show their abilities, skills or take initiative.

In this innovation we tested a method for developing skills that are useful on the labor market with a new target group (people with intellectual disabilities). The method involved setting up and running a student cooperative. There are usually no such cooperatives in special schools and other educational institutions for people with intellectual disabilities. Students with intellectual disabilities who attend vocational schools complete trainee programs at companies cooperating with the school or at's school own workshops. Under a predefined trainee program they learn simple skills which constitute only some of the qualities that employers value in their employees. In the cooperative, students are involved in every stage of the venture. They are responsible for the planning, the implementation of the idea and the results, including the financial success. During the trial, the students operated a café called 'Królewska' at Zespół Szkół Specjalnych in Świdnica.

people with mild intellectual disabilities – students of special vocational schools and/or schools preparing people with disabilities for work

– Vocational schools for people with mild intellectual disabilities – Special schools for people with mild intellectual disabilities

The handbook ‘Innovation in the process of teaching entrepreneurship to students with intellectual disabilities. Why employing people with disabilities is worth it’, including: - Lesson plans for student workshops; - Guidelines for setting up student cooperatives; - Model statutes of a student cooperative; - A questionnaire to survey the students’ competences.

For three months the students co-run a café (as a student cooperative) at Zespół Szkół Specjalnych in Świdnica. They learned how to prepare meals, wait on guests, give change, etc. The profits were used to further develop the cooperative – to buy additional equipment and produce. All co-founders of the cooperative: - acquired skills useful on the labor market: they worked independently, planned their future actions, carried out their duties, learned to come to work on time, how to manage money etc. - became confident, increased their self-esteem, felt that they were important and useful in the school community - learned the concept of money and how to manage finances in accordance with their intellectual abilities - formed a team responsible for the success of the project. The teachers, who supervised the cooperative, acquired the knowledge and skills to create a student cooperative and decided to spread it. They contacted the center for Professional Development of Teachers and offered to share this knowledge with other schools and institutions providing education to students with intellectual disabilities (the student cooperative called “I’m resourceful and independent” is the first such initiative in the city of Wałbrzych and its surrounding area). They became job coaches, they will train additional groups of students and employees of student cooperatives. They also plan to expand their network by cooperating with employers. The parents’ attitude towards the initiative has changed and their opinion about it is now positive, which is quite the opposite to how they felt about it initially. As soon as the parents saw the commitment of their children, who could not wait to set up the café, they changed their minds and got involved themselves (during a charity event for an teacher who struggled with health issues they baked cakes).

Zdecydowanie pozytywna

Tak

Teachers, educationalists, caregivers of people with intellectual disabilities – Coaches trained in social economy

Space to open a student cooperative - Equipment (depending on the type of business to be opened, i.e. café, shop, etc.) - A statute of the student cooperative -A business plan of the student cooperative