Employability Skills of Students with Learning Disabilities in Sekolah Menengah Pendidikan Khas Vokasional Indahpura

Abstract

The unemployability among special education students with learning disabilities in Malaysia is seen to be alarming. Their skills often disputed by some of the community and are considered working inefficiently. Hence, this study is conducted to identify the employability skills among the learning disabilities students in Sekolah Menengah Pendidikan Khas (SMPK) Vokasional Indahpura. This quantitative study through a survey method involved 60 of the second year learning disabilities students of SMPK Vokasional Indahpura. A set of questionnaires was adapted from the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) and the General Self-Efficacy (GSE) scale to study the employability skills and self-efficacy were used as the instrument of this study. The data obtained are statistically analysed using frequency, mean, standard deviation, percentage, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson Coefficient through the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) 19.0 version. The results have shown that students employability skills and self-efficacy level are moderate. There are significant differences in the students' employability skills in terms of courses attended. However, there were no significant differences in the students' employability skills in terms of career transition. The study has identified there is a strong positive relationship between students self-efficacy and employability skills. It is concluded that special education students with learning disabilities need to improve their employability skills by continuously engaging in the entrepreneurship program, community program, self quality enhancement courses as well as training at the relevant agencies to become a better person, competitive and able to serve the country