Verification or Falsification of Career Ideas Through Internships? Objectives and Expectations of Former Students with Learning Disabilities in Germany

Career choice theories

The choice of a career is a highly complex process, multi-year process extending across life stages. It involves individual personality traits, developmental phases, normative demands, and social contexts (Hallpike et al, 2022; Hirschi, 2011). The theories of Holland (1997) and Super (1980) offer complementary explanatory approaches. Holland’s approach (1997) assumes that people prefer occupations matching their personalities. The fit between personality and work environment (person–environment fit), as well as their interaction, is considered relevant to career choice (Holland, 1997). In contrast, Super’s theory (1980), known as the Life-Span, Life-Space Theory of Career Development, views career choice as a lifelong process. Individuals assume various roles (“life spaces”)—such as student, worker, or parent—that shape career decisions. This approach integrates identity development, life stages, and social conditions into the career path. Despite their relevance, these theories do not fully capture the complex decision-making processes influencing adolescents’ career choices. Considering existing opportunities, career choice in adolescence appears more dynamic, shaped by multiple factors such as experiences in companies, motivation, developmental stage, feedback, and access to information (Hallpike et al., 2022; Hirschi, 2011).

Popper’s (1959) principle of falsification offers a valuable complement. According to this principle, career choices can be viewed as hypotheses that individuals test through professional experience. Following Popper (1959), young people thus engage in a process of verification and falsification. Verification (as we use the term to refer to the empirical level) occurs when a career idea is confirmed by positive experiences – confirmation, in the epistemological sense – whereas falsification takes place when discrepancies or negative experiences arise that indicate the individual or the professional environment does not fit the idea. This aligns with Popper’s principle and complements Super’s theory. A career choice is not definitively proven but is continuously reviewed and adjusted. Career development is thus a dynamic, learnable, and adaptable process, promoted through opportunities for work experience in schools.

Work experience opportunities in school systems

In Germany, the two-to three-week internship is historically one of the oldest programms offered at secondary school level in the context of career choice (Scheffler et al., 2003). As in other European countries (Kettunen et al., 2023), it is now a mandatory part of vocational orientation in all schools (Bergzog, 2011). Additionally, many federal states offer work experience opportunities serving different functions depending on students’ needs and initial situations (Bergzog, 2011; Hübner, 2023).

Most federal states distinguish between one-day insight days, two-to three-week internships, and longer-term work placements (Table 1), although terms, objectives, and organisational details vary (KMK, 2017; Ministry of Labor, Health & Social Affairs of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia [MAGS], 2020).

Due to Germany’s federal structures, there are various forms of work experience opportunities, whose curricular contexts and specifications differ (Greiten et al., 2024). Nevertheless, all federal states agree that practical phases should familiarise students with the world of work and allow them to compare their interests, skills, and information with professional realities (Alliance for education & training, 2023; Hochmuth, 2023). Curriculum-related modules support continuous and early career orientation (Greiten et al., 2024; MAGS, 2020).

Longer-term placements and offers such as “Girls’ Day” and “Boys’ Day” address individual needs and raise awareness of diverse occupational fields, including those affected by skills shortages (KMK, 2017; MAGS, 2020). In the context of inclusion, extended practical phases have been introduced in secondary schools, especially for students with SEN or at risk of disengagement (Greiten et al., 2024; Hübner, 2023; MAGS, 2020). Given Germany’s shortage of skilled workers, companies increasingly view work experience as an opportunity for early recruitment (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, 2024). One possibility for acquisition is to utilise the work experience opportunities to attract students to a future apprenticeship in a company at an early stage of their vocational orientation.

However, work experience opportunities are associated with different objectives, which schools and companies must consider when preparing and supporting students during a practical work phase (see Table 1).

Perspective of students with special educational needs on internships

Studies from German-speaking countries show that students with SEN in particular make use of the range of work experience opportunities and complete a considerable number of them during lower secondary school (Greiten et al., 2024; Hübner, 2023). Students prefer to complete several internships to orientate themselves professionally (Hübner, 2023). Longer practical phases are particularly relevant here. The large number of practical experiences appears to influence career aspirations (Bergzog, 2011). Findings also indicate that students benefit above all from the experience of everyday working life (Bindl & Thielen, 2013; Hofmann-Lun, 2011). Regarding longer-term work placements, reference is made to the so-called sticking effect: these enable companies to get to know interns and their requirements, increasing the chances of subsequent training for both sides (Bindl & Thielen, 2013; Hofmann-Lun, 2011).

In summary, the federal states offer a wide range of work experience opportunities at lower secondary level. Companies support them in finding students interested in vocational training and counteracting the shortage of skilled labour. Numerous quantitative findings show that internships are important. In addition, initial quantitative studies show that, from the perspective of students with special educational needs, various practical phases are also important for their career orientation. However, it is unclear, and little research has been carried out internationally into what objectives and expectations this group of students has for work experience opportunities. It is also unclear what challenges students see in the internship opportunities and how, or to what extent, these experiences influence their educational pathways after leaving school. The following questions are examined in the interview study presented here:

The qualitative approach was chosen because it allows for an in-depth understanding of individual perspectives on internships from the viewpoint of former students. It provides space to better capture complex and personal factors that contributed to vocational orientation process. Additionally, it is assumed that interviews can flexibly address the individual needs of this target group. As this was an educational study with adults, no ethics vote was required. However, the study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Participants were informed about the study, the handling of their data, and gave consent to participate in the qualitative survey. They were able to drop out of the survey at any time without giving reasons. They could withdraw at any time without giving reasons. Following a consultation with the university’s data protection department, personal data were pseudonymised after all surveys, transferred to an external hard drive, and stored in a locked location.

Sampling

Interview partners were recruited using theoretical sampling from a previous questionnaire study (Hübner, 2023) (n_t2 = 80). The interview study started four years after graduation from a special needs school focusing on learning. From the earlier sample, individuals who had completed at least two types of work experience opportunities were selected (Table 1). This resulted in 53 identified individuals. Contact attempts succeeded with 32, of whom 14 agreed to be interviewed via video conference. The sample therefore consists of 14 former students (participants = P) from special needs schools focusing on learning, who are in various phases of vocational training or orientation four years after leaving school. It includes six females and eight males with an average age of 20 years. Nine participants obtained a school-leaving certificate in education for students with LD, while five attained a secondary general school certificate (Hauptschulabschluss) at the special needs school (Eurydice, 2025; Hübner, 2023).

After special needs school, six participants from this sample (four males, two females) gained further qualifications at a vocational college to obtain apprenticeships (P3; P4; P5; P14; P11; P12). One from this group was completing a vocational diploma at the time of the survey (P4).

Of the 14 participants, nine were in company-based training. Six were completing a three-year full apprenticeship (P2; P5; P8; P11; P12; P13). Three of them were in two-year, theory-reduced apprenticeships they planned to extend by one year in summer 2021 to become full apprenticeships (P6; P10; P14).

One participant had discontinued training as an undertaker shortly before the survey and intended to complete it in another company from 2021 (P3). One worked in a workshop for people with disabilities (P1) and another in a vocational training facility (P9); both wanted to start theory-reduced apprenticeships in summer 2021.

One participant was in full-time employment without training and not seeking further training (P7). The semi-structured interview approach enabled topic-related impulses through question composition, which participants could answer freely with narrative components (Brinkmann, 2020). This foregrounded subjective relevance (Helfferich, 2019) and allowed individual perspectives to be analysed. The method also enabled individual follow-up questions and additions. The interview guideline was developed by the research team and piloted with two participants meeting the sampling criteria. Interviews were conducted and transcribed between January and March 2021.

Data analysis with qualitative content analysis

The strength of qualitative content analysis lies in its systematic, rule-based, category-oriented evaluation of data, enabling comparisons between interviews. The category system was developed deductively by deriving topics from the guidelines and inductively through further interpretations (Kuckartz & Rädiker, 2023; Mayring, 2014). The categories were transferred to a coding guide (Kuckartz & Rädiker, 2023) and provided with coding rules. The development of the coding guide and the testing of the analysis of selected transcripts were validated by consensus within the research team. The entire data set was then analysed by category using MAXQDA22, focusing on content-structuring qualitative content analysis.

The coding guide includes four main categories (1) importance of work experience, (2) specific importance of work experience (3) process of verifying and falsifying professional ideas, (4) comparison of different work experience opportunities regarding the duration and six sub-categories (e.g. 1.1 promotion of motivation and willingness to exert effort; 2.3 promotes understanding of working and professional life; 3.1 fun). The deductive categories are based on theoretical insights regarding the importance of internships and provide a structured framework for data analysis. The inductive categories emerged during analysis from the data itself to capture new or unforeseen aspects.

Process of verifying and falsifying career ideas

A central finding regarding the first question is that the interviewees retrospectively describe the succession of several work experience opportunities as an individual process of their vocational orientation, from which they derived later career choices. This process can be characterised as the verification and falsification of their own career ideas. These processes can be seen in the data both in the use of expressions and in argumentation patterns as we will explain below.

Many interview passages from the interviewees regarding this process experience are frequently associated with terms linked to decisions and evaluations, such as “confirmed” (P2, 65; P4, 19), “established” (P3, 30), “decide” (P10, 51), “…I realised” (P5, 56; P7, 33; P9, 46; P14, 38), “I knew” (P2, 107; P12, 76), “…I decided” (P3, 32; P6, 78; P13, 34), “…I was sure” (P13, 76), “…I ruled it out” (P12, 24). In addition, the experiences are often arranged in temporal or causal clauses (P12, 76; P13, 34) or a list of experiences (P5, 11; P6, 78), which weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of the profession and suggest a clear and precise description of the decision-making process and reflection.

Furthermore, patterns of reasoning emerge regarding the relevance of the variety and quality of experiences with different work experience opportunities. These make it possible to try out and test and thus verify and falsify career ideas and/or future professional development. The following explanation illustrates this connection. This is how one interviewee describes it:

This statement describes the decision-making process. As a result of the large number of internships, he was able to develop an idea of his career choice, which he then tested in further work experience opportunities. Popper’s approaches (1959) are thus also reflected in the career choice process. However, Holland’s theory (1997) is also evident in the fact that it was apparently necessary to first identify the inclinations through many internships. This enabled him to narrow down and refine his choice of career field. Some interviewees completed several work experience opportunities in the same occupational field, but in different companies, to make sure that the occupation appealed to them in principle and regardless of the company. It is therefore a matter of repeatedly reviewing a particular profession, a career choice hypothesis, which Popper’s principle (1959) also recognizes as “confirmation”. This is how one interviewee explains it:

Other interviewees described how they had a career idea which they checked with the help of the internship and then ruled out for themselves, as the following interviewee describes:

This statement shows that original career ideas of working in the social care (e.g. kindergarten) sector could not be confirmed despite several internships in this occupational field. Instead, the later decision to train as a bakery sales assistant is justified as the better option. Falsification is evident here.

Comparison of different work experience opportunities

The second research question covers the differences in experience in the various work experience opportunities, considering the duration of an internship (based on category CD, Table 2).

Across all interviews, it shows that longer practical phases in a company (internship and longer-term work placement) are favoured over shorter experiences. The reason given for this is that one gets to know an occupation, an occupational field, or the company better. Shorter internship, like one-day insight days, phases are valued as supplementary modules, but according to the interviewees, they only provide a “small glimpse” (P12, 149), enable a “taste” (P3, 42), but do not provide orientation compared to longer practical phases. According to Holland (1997) and Super’s theory (1980), choosing a career involves, among other things, comparing one’s abilities with external requirements and recognising role changes. It seems conceivable that the time allocated for these possibilities is too short for these students and that getting to know and trying out a profession is more feasible in longer phases.

All interviewees completed the one-day insight days in eighth grade at an external vocational training facility (Table 1), which they initially compared to a school day or a school trip, as the following statement shows: “I didn’t think CJD and Nestor were that great, because for me it was more like school, you didn’t really do much. Yes, I thought it was a waste of time” (P5, 48). “We went there as a class” (P6, 131). In addition, the interviewees rated this experience as less significant in their process because these days were not spent in a real company, which is highlighted by the following statements: “…and then I think we played a few games, did some tasks. In the hairdressing salon, I think we presented something on the mannequins” (P14, 62).

The interviewees experienced these work-related situations in a vocational training facility more as a game than as a re-enacted scene of working life, which does not allow for a more intensive experience.

Limitation and outlook

This study examined the perspectives of former students with LD regarding the importance of different types of work experience for their vocational orientation. The results of this study apply to this group of interviewees, who are characterised by the fact that they were satisfied with their post-school careers and were, therefore, presumably willing to be interviewed. The limitation of the sampling is that people who have no qualifications in their professional careers and have been able to develop little or no professional vision are not included (self-selection bias; Heckman, 2010). As revealed in the preliminary discussions with people who were contacted for the study, they justified their non-participation with the precarious careers they described. They depicted themselves as former special needs students whose post-school educational processes were rather unfavourable, which they considered a failure, so they did not want to report on it.

In future studies, it would be interesting to survey other perspectives (companies, trainers, etc.) in addition to the internal perspective. It remains unclear to what extent the interviewees consciously remembered their experiences during the internship or whether they responded in a socially desirable way. It is known that students with special needs regarding learning have difficulties in situations that require their cognitive, social, and emotional skills (Gebhardt et al., 2011; Versnel et al., 2008). In this respect, limited self-awareness could have a repercussion on the evaluation of the experience.

From a theoretical perspective, Popper’s principles (1959) offer an interesting and important approach that complements existing theories in the context of career guidance. Not only confirmation leads to successful orientation during internships by further differentiating individual strengths and interests, but also falsification is used to (correct or) reject inaccurate assumptions about the chosen field of work.

Fun, enjoyment, and motivation are important influencing factors that require further research in the context of career guidance for students with SEN. Current educational policy discussions in vocational orientation are increasingly focusing on inclusive vocational orientation and labour market development. It is, therefore, doubtful whether students with SEN can even be offered such accumulated practical experiences and work experience opportunities in inclusive learning, as these are not provided for in the regular school system (Greiten et al., 2019, 2024). Inclusive schools would have to integrate these options and concepts (MAGS, 2020), which is likely to involve a great deal of effort in terms of school organisational processes and timetabling. In this respect, it would be interesting for further research to investigate the processes described explicitly for students with SEN in inclusive schools.

To summarise, it is particularly important for students with SEN to have many numbers of longer practical phases in their vocational orientation. With this perspective on the internship experience, it is not only the variety that is important for the verification and falsification process, but also the experience of fun and enjoyment, so that this experience can have a long-term effect on the vocational orientation of students with SEN.