Participants sought for research into supported internship (work
experience) programmes for people with learning difficulties and / or
disabilities.
Introduction:
I am Paul Straitt, a college
lecturer and part-time student studying a Master of Art (MA) degree in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of
Education (London, UK). I have worked for over 13
years educating people with a learning difficulty and / or disability (LDD).
I am interested in
supported internship programmes for people with LDD. Supported internships can
also be called supported work experience or supported apprenticeships. I would
like to know more about what people with LDD are doing after they complete a programme
which includes a supported internship. I would also like to know if
programmes that lead to particular outcomes (education, employment,
unemployment) have identifiable features and what those features are.
I hope this study and further
research can give an insight into the variation
between supported internship programmes and I hope my research can be used to
support an evidence based approach to their development.
What will you do
if you take part in the study?
You will
read the information sheet and then decide whether you would like to fill in the
questionnaires by clicking on the links. The links will take you to online
questionnaires developed on SurveyMonkey. You are asked to complete 10 questions
in ‘Outcome questionnaire’ and 10 questions in ‘Programme Structure questionnaire’ describing your programme.
Who should take
part?
Organisations
with a programme which includes a supported internship for people with LDD. All
organisations should complete the ‘Outcome questionnaire’ and ‘Structure questionnaire’. Some organisations do
have data on participants after they complete the programme. I have created an
online questionnaire (‘Intern questionnaire’) you can use to collect
individual participants data, if you wish. Taking part in the study is totally
up to you.
What are the
potential risks to you in taking part?
There
are no risks to taking part in the project. Your name will not be on the form,
and only I, the researcher at University will be able to look at it. Your
organisation’s name or the name of the programme will not be published.
What happens to
the information in the project?
The
questionnaires (SurveyMonkey) and my computer will be the only places that I
will store the information and these will only be accessible
through a username and password that only I know. Your name will not be on the
questionnaires and your details will not be made public.
What will happen
to the results of the project?
The
results of the project will be written up and I intend to publish the results
after I have completed the study.
How do I take
part?
To
take part you can click on the links that will take you to the questionnaires
on SurveyMonkey. You can withdraw from the questionnaires at any time. However,
you will be asked to give your consent and by completing and submitting a questionnaire
it will be deemed that consent to participate has been given. If you do not
wish to take part in the study, thank you for your attention. Thank you for
reading this information.
Contact for
further information
You can
contact me if you have any questions about the project or about the information
written here.
Researcher
Contact Details:
Paul Straitt
Tower Hamlets College
Poplar High Road
London
E14 0AF
Tel: 020 7510 7683
Email: pstraitt@ioe.ac.uk
