Narratives in transition : parents of students with an intellectual impairment experience the end of their child’s compulsory education

Abstract

The dissertation is based on the following research question: “How have parents of students with an intellectual impairment in Malta experienced the end of their child’s compulsory education in mainstream education during the years 2015 and 2018?”. An idiographic approach was applied in the study, and the data was collected using unstructured narrative interviews with five parents (from four families), all of whom had children with an intellectual impairment who were enrolled in mainstream education and have now transitioned to post-school. Narrative analysis was then applied to the interviews, resulting in four distinct narratives outlining how parents have experienced their son’s or daughter’s transition. Apart from the individual narratives, common themes were also identified and presented in the results section. The narratives outlined how, for the parents, the transition from school to post-school was not simply about the move out of school. Participants shared experiences of their engagement with the education system and professionals both before and after the move. In the participants’ narratives, there was also a parallel between their child’s transition to post-school life, and their transition into adulthood The uniqueness of each parent’s experience of the transition was also apparent in the results. Despite supposedly having the same services available to them, the participants emphasised different needs and engaged with the education system in significantly different ways. The study highlighted that if services are to provide effective supports for such families, service providers need to start by understanding service users’ needs and aspirations, and not expect them to fit into pre-existing structures. Professionals delivering such services also need to make sure that their presence increases accessibility to services, and not hinders it.