Disabled students and placements: Barriers and challenges

William, Laura; Lowe, Hilary

Abstract

The UK is experiencing a persistent skills gap which has grown since the COVID-19 pandemic. One factor that contributes toward the skill gap is university students graduating, but not being equipped with the necessary employability skills to meet graduate outcomes. This skills gap is exacerbated by a leaky pipeline, which is more pertinent for minority groups. Women, for example, are more likely to leave the labour market than men and ethnic minority groups commonly do not continue in their chosen careers due to systemic racism. Research in these areas commonly focuses on STEM subjects, medicine, women and ethnic minorities. We argue, therefore, the leaky pipeline concept currently has quite a narrow focus in the literature. We believe, it can also be applied to other industries and other minority groups, especially disabled people as the number of disabled people is growing and the numbers of disabled students has risen dramatically in recent years.

In light of the persistent skills gap and a lack of diversity in senior levels of key industries, the British government has tasked UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) with filling the skills gap. One way that this has been done by HEIs is through work placements or internships. Students, however, are not a homogenous group and access to placements and internships is not equal or available to all. Importantly, disabled students face challenges when both applying for and undertaking placements or internships, arguably placing them at a further disadvantage within the labour market and reducing the potential of HEIs to plug the skills gap. It is, therefore, important to ensure that disabled students develop the skills to survive in the current labour market by giving them an equal chance to complete skill developing activities such as placements.

This paper uses a systematic literature review to establish current knowledge on the barriers disabled students face when applying for a placement. The paper presents the context to the review and outlines the methodology for the systematic literature review following the protocols for studying qualitative research by Pettigrew and Roberts (2006). The paper presents the findings of the systematic review and outlines future research to continue research in this pertinent area. The research project is underway, and the results of the systematic review will be completed by the time the conference is held in June 2024.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: EURAM 2024
• Start Date: Jun 25, 2024
• End Date: Jun 28, 2024
• Deposit Date: Oct 9, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 10, 2024
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/13277345