Collaboration Between Special Education Teachers.

¶ … collaboration between special education teachers.

Many people would assume that the difficulties that arise from teaching in the special education arena arise solely from the obvious difficulty that is associated with dealing with the needs of children many consider to be inherently difficult to manage. This is a very narrow view, as for many special education teachers the challenge of these students is the main reason why they enter into the specialty and remain there. The real difficulties, or those which could potentially create a disconnect between the special education educator and the field, are far deeper and more important than managing learning disabilities and possibly behavior problems in children.

The hours are extreme, as many work overtime, on salary to help meet the needs of a varied and individual group of students with special needs. The environment can be challenging, as allocated resources rarely if ever meet the structural or educational resource needs in special education. Pay can be challenging to accept in an environment where inflation is far outstripping the average salary and benefits are getting leaner and all of these things contribute to the shortage of special education teachers, another obstacle for those in the field as well as for all schools, (Billingsley, 2004, p. 39) but this is not the core problem. The core problem is empowerment and isolation. Special education teachers by virtue of work load and the diversity of curriculum and schedule often work in isolation of other teachers and staff, and this feeling of being out there on the fringes of the school and the system is unsettling and destructive to moral and is one of the main reasons why special education teachers leave or never enter the profession. Just like the children they teach have lived in relative isolation from society for most of history, teachers live in elative isolation in the work place. (Armstrong, 2004, p. 10)

Support has been shown to be critical to teacher retention, particularly administrative support. However, the relationship between collaboration and attrition has received only scant attention in the attrition literature. Given the different cultures in general and special education (Pugach, 1992) and the isolation that many special educators experience (Council for Exceptional Children, 2000), collaborative environments have the potential to help cultivate better understanding between general and special educators and foster a sense of belonging for special educators. (Billingsley, 2004, p. 39)

It is clear that the development of collaborative systems that address this feeling of isolation among special education teachers would make great strides toward addressing the problem not only of attrition but also overall satisfaction when a teacher remains in the profession, despite the obstacles.