10 Technical Vocational Education Training Pathway …
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The challenges pertaining to the inclusion of disabled learners in the TVET
learning institutions remain a prevalent topic of research in several African states [23].
It was found that disabled students’ enrolment in vocational education programmes
in Kenya and Tanzania is inconsequential. This is due to their restricted accessibility
to the services around the colleges. Similar barriers are rampant in Ethiopia where
attitudes, environmental and institutional factors limit the disabled learners’ involvement in TVET programmes there. Regardless of the supportive political willpower
in the provision of special TVET needs of the disabled learners in these three African
countries, its implementation still has room for further commitment from the policymakers. Limitations are also present in the legal instrumentation of the implementation strategies which continuously disrupt the disabled students’ participation in
the TVET system. Similar realisation of the rising needs of the disabled learners is
present in Malaysia but very little is done to thoroughly address the issues particularly
with regard to autistic learners.
Anuar et al. (2018) lament that disabled individuals in the society are every so
often insufficiently presented in higher educational institutions in Malaysia [24].
This has posed numerous problems to these minority groups such as inaccessibility
to academic services and facilities, and limited opportunities to partake in campus
activities. All these limitations decapitate the learners’ intellectual and psychological
development. The focus of this study by Anuar et al. is the foregrounding of the role of
the rehabilitation counsellors in educational institutions. These counsellors are found
to play an instrumental role in assisting the disabled learners in their challenges during
their academic pursuits. This research is beneficial for all educational institutions in
Malaysia to identify the required aptitudes of the counsellors in accommodating the
needs of the disabled learners. Among the skills and competencies that a rehabilitation
counsellor should possess are adequate knowledge in the psychosocial and medical
aspects related to disability. In addition, the counsellors too must be equipped with
vocational and technological rehabilitative counselling skills.
All these research indicate the importance of TVET as a viable post-secondary
educational avenue for the autistic learners, however, none, to our knowledge has
been done to clearly show the existence of a post-secondary TVET educational
platform for our autistic learners in Malaysia. In addition, none of the local studies
have been done to determine a solid framework for a pathway for autistic learners to
pursue post-secondary TVET education in Malaysia.
10.3 Challenges in the Implementation of TVET
for the Autistics
Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) constitute an increasingly growing
segment at the post-secondary level of education [25]. Understanding the unique
attributes of this population is thus crucial. The first barrier concerns the challenges
to successful academic pursuit among the autistic learners which are varied. The
97
The challenges pertaining to the inclusion of disabled learners in the TVET
learning institutions remain a prevalent topic of research in several African states [23].
It was found that disabled students’ enrolment in vocational education programmes
in Kenya and Tanzania is inconsequential. This is due to their restricted accessibility
to the services around the colleges. Similar barriers are rampant in Ethiopia where
attitudes, environmental and institutional factors limit the disabled learners’ involvement in TVET programmes there. Regardless of the supportive political willpower
in the provision of special TVET needs of the disabled learners in these three African
countries, its implementation still has room for further commitment from the policymakers. Limitations are also present in the legal instrumentation of the implementation strategies which continuously disrupt the disabled students’ participation in
the TVET system. Similar realisation of the rising needs of the disabled learners is
present in Malaysia but very little is done to thoroughly address the issues particularly
with regard to autistic learners.
Anuar et al. (2018) lament that disabled individuals in the society are every so
often insufficiently presented in higher educational institutions in Malaysia [24].
This has posed numerous problems to these minority groups such as inaccessibility
to academic services and facilities, and limited opportunities to partake in campus
activities. All these limitations decapitate the learners’ intellectual and psychological
development. The focus of this study by Anuar et al. is the foregrounding of the role of
the rehabilitation counsellors in educational institutions. These counsellors are found
to play an instrumental role in assisting the disabled learners in their challenges during
their academic pursuits. This research is beneficial for all educational institutions in
Malaysia to identify the required aptitudes of the counsellors in accommodating the
needs of the disabled learners. Among the skills and competencies that a rehabilitation
counsellor should possess are adequate knowledge in the psychosocial and medical
aspects related to disability. In addition, the counsellors too must be equipped with
vocational and technological rehabilitative counselling skills.
All these research indicate the importance of TVET as a viable post-secondary
educational avenue for the autistic learners, however, none, to our knowledge has
been done to clearly show the existence of a post-secondary TVET educational
platform for our autistic learners in Malaysia. In addition, none of the local studies
have been done to determine a solid framework for a pathway for autistic learners to
pursue post-secondary TVET education in Malaysia.
10.3 Challenges in the Implementation of TVET
for the Autistics
Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) constitute an increasingly growing
segment at the post-secondary level of education [25]. Understanding the unique
attributes of this population is thus crucial. The first barrier concerns the challenges
to successful academic pursuit among the autistic learners which are varied. The