Abstract:
An ethnographic study was conducted on the transition out of segregated special school into the early stages of community life. Informants with high influence on transition decisions were observed and interviewed in conjunction with gaining the perspectives of three students with significant disability experiencing transition in Aotearoa New Zealand. Thematic analysis theoretically framed by the capability approach (Nussbaum, 2006) generated an unexpected outcome; teachers were excluded from the transition planning of their students. Teachers’ absence from collaborative transition planning inhibited the voice of vulnerable students to establish their future citizenship through dignified life plans. Unpacking background conditions for teachers’ absence provides understandings of contemporary issues, such as impacts upon transition policies undergoing pilot testing.