The purpose of this section of the tutorial is to acquaint readers with the Recruitment & Retention Project surveys and compare some results from Oregon to those at the national level.
This will be accomplished by describing the Recruitment & Retention Project survey and summarizing what we know about the state of special education in Oregon. You will again be asked to make special note of those things that seem especially applicable to your context.
By the conclusion of this section readers will have a sense of how Oregon stacks up against the national picture in those areas related to people leaving Special Education, or a specific job. Readers will be aware that Oregon looks about the same as the nation in some areas, better in others, and not so good in others.
Background
While the studies that have been conducted at the national level are both interesting and useful, we also have some fairly recent data from Oregon Special Educators. The results from these studies are available on our Recruitment and Retention website and have been also been made available on CDs in the form of reports and Pivot Tables.
As background you should know that the survey was developed to explore issues related to both the recruitment and retention of Special Educators. We will focus only on retention and support in this tutorial. You can read about the development of the survey and how representative the sample is in the reports on the CD. The bottom line is that it is does provide a valid and reliable look at Oregon.
The next few sections share how Oregon Special Educators viewed their job situation and issues related to attrition. We will share what Oregon Special Educators have said brings them greatest satisfaction in their jobs, what their greatest challenges are, the major reasons they left their previous job, and reasons they would leave their current job.
Rewards of Being a Special Educator
We turn now to what Oregon survey respondents indicated gave them their greatest rewards as a Special Educator. This is very important, because if we can do things that allow Special Educators to experience these positive aspects of their jobs, they are going to be much more likely to stay. Respondents were asked to list three things about their current job that brought them the most satisfaction. While there was a long list of responses generated, the most frequent fell into three categories: Having a positive impact on kids; relationships with co-workers; and professionalism.
Making a positive difference with students was by far the most often cited reward. While respondents most often mentioned their own relationships and influence on students, they also mentioned the satisfaction they got from working with parents and/or Regular Education teachers.
Positive relationships, support, and climate were mentioned by nearly two-thirds of respondents. The dominant response was around good relationships with co- workers. A large number also identified the support they received from their Special Educator administrator as well as their building principal.
Professionalism and challenge were mentioned by a fairly large number of respondents as well. Opportunities to learn and creatively solve problems as a professional were highly valued.
We can view these three items as a basis for providing job satisfaction to Special Educators. These are the things we want to support and nourish as best we can to combat dissatisfaction with the job and increase the likelihood of educators remaining in their positions.
Challenges of Being a Special Educator
On the flip-side we also asked respondents to identify the three greatest challenges or frustrations in their current job. Not surprisingly, many of these things are the mirror of those items that bring satisfaction. Other things identified as challenges tended to be related to lack of resources, job design or job demands.
The following results may seem inconsistent with national findings presented in Section II. They are relative results for Oregon and even though they might be the most common responses in Oregon, they do not reach the level of significance as at the national level.
- The most commonly identified frustrations or challenges were related to Job Demands. Key among specifics mentioned here are the amount of paperwork required and high and challenging case loads.
- While not as frequent, issues related to poor relationships and work climate did get mentioned by a significant number of respondents. While lack of parental support was the most often mentioned challenge, poor relations with other Special Education staff and the lack of understanding and support for Special Educators from Regular Educators were also cited frequently.
- Lack of Resources, both materials and time, were also cited as frustrations or challenges faced by a number of respondents.
These are the things that bring stress, dissatisfaction with the job and ultimately a loss of commitment and leaving. The items under 'job demands' are all tied to legal requirements and funding and are thus difficult to address directly. However, the area under 'relationships and climate' contains many items that can be addressed. Many of these things ARE under the control of a school, district or ESD.
Reasons for Leaving Previous Jobs
A smaller group of respondents (about 90) left one job in Special Education to move to another job in Oregon also in Special Education. The responses from these individuals give us the most direct indication of what causes educators in Oregon to leave a position.
- Location/Family. The most often cited reasons were related to location. Either the individual's family had moved (usually due to a spouse's new job), or the individual had found a similar position closer to home so that they could reduce commuting time/distance.
- Building Administrator. The second most often cited reason was described as unsupportive regular education administrators.
- Case Load. Finding a similar position with a lower case/work load and what was described as unsupportive special education administrators were cited equally often.
- Conflicts with co-workers and a lack (or loss) of resources were also mentioned equally often.
Clearly, some of the reasons individuals move from one Oregon agency to another are beyond your control. However, a number of things mentioned, to a greater or lesser extent, can be addressed.
Reasons for Leaving Current Position
Finally, we asked respondents to tell us what might cause them to leave their current job. This provides us a picture of the stressors and causes for job dissatisfaction these individuals were currently experiencing. The most often cited reason clustered into three groups: resources; working conditions; and family.
- Specifics related to resources included: higher case loads resulting in lower quality of services; continued budget cuts resulting in fewer resources, job loss; and, pay related issues, including FTE cuts, no increases, ½ time, etc.
- Specifics cited that might be considered working conditions include: lack of administrative support (either Regular or Special Education); poor relationships with co-workers; and, Districts Special Educator policies and programs.
- Finally, a significant portion of respondents cited moving/family related issues as reasons they might leave their current position.
At the time this survey was conducted funding for education and resulting losses in resources were weighing heavily on the minds of respondents. Lack of aministrative support, poor co-worker relations, and relocating to another area were also cited fairly frequently as reasons these individuals might leave their current jobs.
ACTIVITY
This activity provides an opportunity for you to identify important issues you currently face or may have faced in the past as an administrator. Include as a starting point some of the major areas (Job Design, School Climate, Personal Factors) summarized in previous sections.
DIRECTIONS: Note any of the factors from Oregon studies that are of particular relevance to your school/district. Also write down any additional factors you feel are related to your specific context.
Although school climate issues are less significant in Oregon than at the national level, special educators face the same challenges as do special educators elsewhere. Job design demands, in terms case load, paperwork, etc. are universal issues. In addition, as Oregon does not have a well supported statewide effort around mentoring, initial supports may be lacking.
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