Transition to employment program (Super) for youth at risk: A conceptual and practical model

Abstract

This article describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of the transdisciplinary “Successful Pathways to Employment for youth at Risk” (SUPER) program to raise the transition readiness of youth at risk (YAR) from school into participation in adults’ responsibilities and employment. More than 10% of adolescents are at risk of dropping out of school following poor academic attainments. Schools appraise academic merit but do not develop relevant educational programs to prepare youth to transition into adult working life. The SUPER program addresses a range of knowledge and skills required for this transition. Sixty YAR from three high schools participated in the 18-week SUPER program. Comparing the pre-and postintervention results revealed that the students’ engagement with responsibilities, objective knowledge about the work world, and self-rated self-advocacy skills improved as did their supervisor-rated work performance capacity. This study confirms the contribution of the SUPER model. Its concepts, tools, principles, and community labor-market involvement through workplace internships were effective and could apply in other contexts. The SUPER model provides evidence-based knowledge translation that can bring conceptual and practical changes towards successful transition and participation of YAR in adult working roles. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Adolescents Future orientation meaningful learning Work Skills Knowledge translation Model of human occupation (MOHO) Multidisciplinary intervention Self-advocacy

Index Keywords

Employment Skill learning adult female human male Humans Risk assessment adolescent Article juvenile workplace Students educational development student academic performance academic success controlled study Job market human experiment conceptual framework school Schools responsibility knowledge job performance high school labor market young population secondary education Model of Human Occupation

Author Affiliations

Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

Israeli Ministry of Education, Jerusalem, Israel, Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

Funding & Acknowledgements

University of Chicago

Funding: This project and research were funded by the Hymen Milgrom Supporting Organization (HMSO) and the University of Chicago, who considered the topic important and funded the research (Successful Pathways from School to Work, the Committee on Education).

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Transition to employment program (Super) for youth at risk: A conceptual and practical model

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