Students with disability seem to have a higher dropout rate when it comes to succeeding in school, and also face tougher situations when entering the labour market. This is because these persons do not come across the normal pitfalls, but face a number of barriers they need to overcome in their career. It is at the onset of establishing a career path that the career guidance teacher emerges as an important aide for the student.

The plight of students with disability and how career guidance can help them succeed is the subject of a new publication by Andrew Azzopardi, entitled Career Guidance For Persons With Disability, launched a fortnight ago at the University of Malta. The launch coincided with a public lecture on inclusive education by a University of London professor.

"Enrolment of these students is an uphill enterprise because of the complexity of such needs... There are many elements which will affect the way students will prevail over these challenges, namely, their personality, their sense of pliability and the support imparted by society to overcome these barriers... A person with a disability, like any other student, requires a positive experience and needs to answer questions related to 'Who am I?' and 'What can I become?'

Because of such complexities, disabled students need the support of both their families and the employers: "The issue lies within the employers who need to develop a receptive employer culture, and parents who need to convey more confidence in their sons and daughters."

They also need the support of community leaders, educators, therapists, parents, youth and community workers, mentors, priests and coaches, who can help them build up their own personal strategies.

Throughout this journey, and among all the persons that can offer support, the career guidance teacher plays a crucial part, because he/she can create an effective and effectual partnership that helps the disabled student offset the damage that market considerations make and go beyond it.

In general, a guidance teacher accompanies the student through the ups and downs of the professional ladder. From Dr Azzopardi's study, the more pressing need for career guidance teachers to help students with disability emerged clearly.

In his foreword, Joseph Camilleri, chairman of the National Commission Persons with Disability, said that the labour market presents a major hurdle for all disabled people.

"Often, failure is not the result of an individual's disability, poor motivation, or a lack of job opportunities, but of low aspirations, a lack of conviction in the abilities of disabled people and a lack of innovative thinking when offering careers advice."

In Dr Azzopardi's monograph, the subject of career guidance for disabled students is viewed both from the lens of inclusion, as well as from the lens of how career guidance teaching is currently modelled.

One the one hand, Dr Azzopardi says that inclusion, even in Malta, is a contemporary debate in education that raises noticeable discussion and argumentation but regrettably remains a dispassionate topic, with shallow exchanges. On the other hand, a survey among guidance teachers revealed that they have little knowledge and training about this sector. Furthermore, several guidance teachers complained about excessive paperwork, and that their timetable requires them to teach another subject, which creates difficulties whenever a situation which requires immediate intervention crops up.

It is in this light that Dr Azzopardi proposes several recommendations to improve career guidance. The recommendations are divided into five domains: policy and training, long-term strategy, school practices, disabled activists and parent activities.

Among the recommendations for guidance teachers are that, together with counsellors and the school administration, guidance teachers should be instructed about the social model of disability; the organisation of career guidance meetings in collaboration with the National Commission Persons with Disability; the introduction of a post-graduate certificate for guidance teachers; and the introduction of guidance teachers in the second part of primary education.

Together with all the five domains of recommendations, Dr Azzopardi hopes that "the multifaceted and complex service" of guidance teaching becomes a central structure in the development of any individual educational or transition programme.