“I’ve really become a part of the hospital.” Evolving workplace participation: A template analysis exploring the education-to-work transitions of learners with SEND in the context of NHS-hosted Supported Internships.

Inglis, Fred (2021) “I’ve really become a part of the hospital.” Evolving workplace participation: A template analysis exploring the education-to-work transitions of learners with SEND in the context of NHS-hosted Supported Internships. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Improving outcomes for learners with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) is an ongoing education policy objective in England. Addressing the need for a specialised provision to facilitate transitions to employment for learners with SEND, the Department for Education has endorsed Supported Internships, year-long work-based programmes convened by education providers, based within a host employer’s premises. While Supported Internships have attracted some research attention, the existing evidence base does not offer in-depth first-hand insight into the learner journey both throughout, and beyond completion of these programmes. The current thesis seeks to begin to address this gap.

This interview-based qualitative project engaged participants with SEND connected to one of two partner Supported Internship programmes, each hosted within an NHS hospital. Fourteen individuals took part in the project: nine were currently enrolled as ‘Interns’ on a Supported Internship, and five were ‘Graduates’ who had previously completed the programme and transitioned into paid employment at their host site. Repeat one-to-one interviews were conducted online (via Microsoft Teams) with each participant. Designed to follow an episodic narrative approach, these conversations invited participants to share accounts relating to different stages of their transitions between education and the workplace. An inductively driven Template Analysis was employed to organise and interpret these spatially and temporally disparate accounts.

The analysis indicated that the Supported Internship learner journey entails complex, multiple, and ongoing socially-situated transition experiences as learners negotiate leaving education, entering the workplace and attempting to sustain themselves there. The resultant analytical framework, the model of Supported Internship Learner Participation extends Lave and Wenger’s (1991) theory of situated learning to depict how this workplace participation evolves across four phases: Pre-Participation, Legitimate Peripheral Participation, Full Participation, and Seeking New Participation Opportunities. Presenting evidence that people with SEND continue to learn and develop within the workplace, and hold aspirations for ongoing career progression, the findings offer novel insights that challenge and advance understanding of how people with SEND experience employment. Implications of these findings across theory, methodology, practice and policy are presented.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Education and Lifelong Learning
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	09 Jun 2026 07:20
Last Modified:	09 Jun 2026 07:20
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/103308
DOI:

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