Examining the Post-School Pathways of Young People With SEN in Ireland: A Bio-Ecological Approach

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Using Longitudinal Data Sets to Answer Pressing Questions in Special Education

Abstract

While Ireland compares well in terms of school completion and higher education progression across student groups, less is known about how post-school pathways vary by SEN status. This study draws on nationally representative longitudinal data from the first, second, third and fourth waves of the child cohort of Growing Up in Ireland (GUI). Framed within a bioecological system theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1989; 2006) and robustly underpinned by nationally representative longitudinal data (Ben-David & Nel, 2013; Lindsay et al., 2018), we address a relatively underexplored topic, namely whether post-secondary trajectories differ for students with different types of SEN and what role do individual, family and school context processes play in supporting and constraining the opportunities for young people with different needs.

Authors

• Eamonn Carroll, The Economic and Social Research Institute

• Selina M. McCoy, Economic and Social Research Institute