From the recent Oregon Employment First Initiative bulletin: The Relationship between High Standards, and Work If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe I recently watched a Ted Talk about an interesting study that took place in England. The study looked at how our expectations and standards reflect student outcomes in school. The study switched the test scores of students who usually received A grades with those who received D grades before their school year started. The test scores determined what type of schoolwork the students would receive, and ultimately how they were treated by the school (in this study the teachers were not notified of the switch). At the end of the study, the results were interesting to say the least. The D students who were treated like A students rose to the occasion - they were treated like they could succeed, and they did. On the flip side of the study, the A students who were treated like D students began to do worse in school, and unfortunately met the low expectations that were set for them. This study points out a valuable lesson, the importance of setting high standards, raising our expectations, and presuming competence of all people. The thought of having high expectations is important when considering the topic of work. As employment consultants, job coaches, job developers, family members, peer supports, friends, teachers, students, community members, we need to join the school of belief. Within that, we acknowledge the belief that all people can work. We know that work can look different for all people, and in order for anyone to be successful we must consider supports (supports can look different from person to person, iPhones, iPads, sticky notes, task lists, glasses, shoe laces...etc.). If the tune of our song is you cant, you wont, yeah right, yeah but that will probably be the tune of our outcomes. We need to shift our thinking to the tune of belief, Its possible, and what would it take in order to support people to rise to the occasion? When considering Employment for people with disabilities we must remember that not only do we believe people have the right to work, and can work, if there are barriers to employment we must remember to ask, What supports would it take for this person to be successful at work? and to believe in each individual as a worker. OELN Introduction, Discovery, and Employment Planning Trainer Emily Harris
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 00:26:14 +0000
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