The purpose of this section of the tutorial is to acquaint readers with recent research and information at the national level regarding the state of special education and attrition. This will be accomplished through a presentation of recent national studies and directions for self-study. Readers will be asked to make special note of those things that seem especially applicable to their own context. By the conclusion of this section, readers will have a broad understanding of the factors related to attrition (at the national level) and will have identified those things that seem especially applicable to their own situation.
While the focus is primarily on solutions in this tutorial, we are going to spend some time identifying the challenges that are related to attrition and retention of special educators. There have been numerous studies conducted over the past 15 years that have tried to identify the reasons people leave special education, or leave a particular job in special education.
One finding of this research is that while regular and special educators leave the profession at about the same rate, special educators are twice as likely to leave a specific job and seek employment elsewhere than are regular educators.
Two new (or maybe old) findings seem to be emerging from some of the most recent studies that add to our understanding of "why people leave." These are the notion of job design and school climate.
- Job design factors (resources, paper work, lack of time) impact teacher retention and attrition. The design of the educator's role affects whether or not Special Educators feel that what they are asked to do makes a difference with kids. Is their role feasible? Is it manageable? Job design is emerging as a concept that encompasses a lot of the specific challenges facing Special Educators and why they leave.
- School climate encompass many of the specific reasons that Special Educators leave their jobs. It is re-emerging as an important factor in retention in that teachers who view their school climate in a positive light are more likely to stay.
