From School to Life: Pathways for Key Competencies and Career Guidance(PKCC) for Students with Disabilities

The inclusion of people with disabilities is a topic that deeply touches upon the principles of justice, equity, and dignity. Citizenship rights and self-determination are fun-damental values that must be guaranteed to all individuals, regardless of their disability, cul-tural, or religious background. In this context, education and vocational training play a crucial role. The school-work alternation programs or PCTO (Pathways for TransversalSkills and Orientation) are tools that can facilitate the entry into the workforce for students with disa-bilities, ensuring them the opportunity to acquire practical skills while promoting their active participation in society. The introduction of the reform in technical-professional education, which introduces the 4+2 model, foresees a new organization of post-diploma training paths, opening new scenarios for all students and opportunities for people with disabilities. This model, which integrates higher education and vocational training, aims to make learning more responsive to the needs of the labor market, keeping pace with the new technologies in the fields of computing and artificial intelligence, while addressing critical issues and new inclu-sive challenges.