Performance of handicapped graduates in secondary vocational agriculture and vocational home economics programs as perceived by employers

Abstract

The underlying purpose of this study was to determine employers' satisfactoriness with handicapped employees who have completed secondary Vocational Agriculture and Vocational Home Economics programs in preparation for employment. A second purpose was to estimate the degree to which these secondary programs are providing handicapped students with appropriate job and social skills. Identification of employers of handicapped persons who had completed secondary Vocational Agriculture and Vocational Home Economics programs was the first undertaking of this study. This was accomplished by asking the ten Area Specialists in these areas to nominate teachers in each of the 3 program options. Theses teachers were asked to identify employers with whom they had placed handicapped students. The named employers were asked to respond to a mailed questionnaire which consisted of the Minnesota Satisfactoriness Scale and an Employer Survey. A stratified random sample was conducted of those employers who did not respond, and those identified were contacted by phone. As determined by the Minnesota Satisfactoriness Scale, a major finding of this study was that employers of handicapped graduates/completers of secondary Vocational Agriculture and Vocational Home Economics programs expressed less satisfactoriness with these employees when compared to employees in general. Although having been identified as an employer of handicapped employees, many employers responded that they did not hire handicapped persons. This may be due to the employee having a "hidden" handicap, data the employers receive from the school not being correct, or lack of communication between the teacher and the employer. Ten out of 62 employers had personal experience with handicapped persons within their families. The less structured Employers Survey produced more positive responses, as related to employers' satisfactoriness of handicapped employees, than the highly structured Minnesota Satisfactoriness Scale. Phone responses yielded more positive responses on some measures, as related to employers' satisfactoriness of handicapped employees, as compared to those received through the mailed questionnaire...