Elementary Education Online, 6(2), 213-225, 2007. İlköğretim Online, 6(2), 213-225, 2007. [Online]: http://ilkogretim-online.org.tr Opinions and suggestions of employers on employment of individuals with mental retardation Nimet BARAN * Atilla CAVKAYTAR ** ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study was to determine employers’ opinions and suggestions on the employment of individuals with mental retardation (MR). This descriptive study was conducted with 20 employers who hired individuals with MR. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed that employers valued technological, adaptive, co-operative, communicative, academic, and responsibility skills while hiring individuals with MR. Moreover, results yielded that increasing work experience of individuals with MR, training them according to the job, and informing activities directed towards both the society and the families of these individuals were considered highly important by employers. This study puts forward, as for the employers, what skills are necessary and what kind of educational activities should be prioritized in the employment of individuals with MR. Key words: Individuals with Mental Retardation, Vocational Education, Employment, Employability, Employer Opinions. SUMMARY Purpose and significance: Teaching occupational skills and employing individuals with Mental Retardation (MR) are the last phase of making these individuals independent; hence the most important ones. However, some major problems may occur during the employment of individuals with MR and while keeping them at work. Illinois Workplace Skills Evaluation Scale based on the skills determined as six main areas. These areas are; (1) communication, (2) adapting and coping with changes, (3) problem solving and critical thinking, (4) professional ethic, (5) technological information, (6) co-operative skills. Future research clearly is needed to operationally define the construct of employability and to test our theoretical propositions. Future research can determine whether employability is a differential predictor of voluntary exit within a given organization or industry, regardless of economic or labor market conditions. The purpose of this study was to determine the opinions and suggestions of employers about the skills that they find crucial in the employment of individuals with MR. Method: Participants of the study included 20 employers who had workers with MR and who worked in five different occupational fields (automobile industry, textile, metal, catering-cleaning, and packaging). All workers with MR graduated from vocational school. Research data were collected through semi- structured interviews, which allowed the researcher to prepare the main questions of inquiry and extending questions in advance, and to ask these questions during the interview, and to ask some other questions about some details in order to specify some points if necessary. Answers to each question on the interview coding key were compared to check the consistency between coding done by two researchers. Inter-rater reliability was 84%. Results: Employers generally think that workers should have self-managing skills, and they place special importance on being punctual and complying with the rules. Besides, employers tend to assign intermediate duties to workers with MR in the production of goods and services. Moreover, they always designate duties that workers with MR can fulfill and duties that have highly safe. According to employers, the qualifications that a worker with MR should have are as follows: taking the responsibility of a duty personally; displaying congruous and compromising attitude; working effectively and harmoniously in a team; expressing one’s feelings and thoughts appropriately; and behaving in accordance with the reactions of the other party in conversation. Very few employers made suggestions about the employment of MR and about the ways to keep these individuals at work. Among the suggestions, preparing these individuals according to the work and informing activities by schools are the most prominent ones. Discussion and Conclusions: The results of this study are thought to have crucial information about working life of individuals with MR, about their employment, and about keeping them at work regularly. Thus, it may be suggested for the practitioners to design educational programs according to the expectations of employers. Further research may be conducted on the opinions of a working MR and/or his/her colleagues. * Uzman, Özel İlkadımlar Özel Eğitim ve Rehabilitasyon Merkezi, serbaran@mynet.com ** Yard.Doç.Dr., Anadolu Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Özel Eğitim Bölümü, acavkayt@anadolu.edu.tr