Factors influencing the employability of people who grew up in children's homes - Does education play an important role?

Factors influencing the employability of people who grew up in children's homes - Does education play an important role?

Mynaříková Lenka, Dobrucká Lucia, Fanta Petr

Abstract: This paper presents partial results from a retrospective study on factors that positively affect the employability of young adults who grew up in children´s homes in the Czech Republic. The presented results focus on the impact of education on the number of employment opportunities which young adults were offered, their ability to take advantage of those opportunities and successfully adapt to labour market. The research was qualitative. With the use of semi-structured questionnaires, 15 respondents who left children´s homes 10 or more years ago were interviewed about their personal history, growing up in the children´s home, formal and informal education, and employment history. The responses were analysed through the content analysis and led to the following hypotheses: 1) respondents with vocational training have better access to employment opportunities after finishing their studies, and 2) respondents with a more positive attitude towards education reach a higher education level. These hypotheses will be further tested on a sample of approx. 400 respondents, who will be addressed by questionnaires. This paper discusses the partial results, the forthcoming quantitative analysis, and possible consequences of the research.

Key words: employability, education, children´s homes, retrospective study.