C. Oregon Survey on Supporting and Retaining Special Educators - Findings Related to Orientation Activities
We asked these recently hired special educators to tell us about their experiences in terms of different types of orientation activities they experienced and how helpful they were in transitioning into their new job and becoming comfortable.
Three orientation activities were identified as most helpful. These included: being paired with an experienced staff member to 'learn the ropes'; one-on-one meeting time with their supervisor to ask questions and clarify issues; and, as part of this, helping new staff members understand their roles and responsibilities.
- While not a common strategy, being pairing with an experienced staff member was rated as the single most helpful orientation activity by survey respondents.
- Providing time for newly hired special educators to meet one-on-one with their supervisors was found to be both a common and relatively effective means of orienting new staff.
- Clarifying the role(s) of newly hired special education staff is a fairly common activity and is found to be especially helpful for beginning special educators and career changers.
A much smaller percentage of respondents found formal orientation meetings to be helpful (though experienced Special Educators found them more helpful than beginning Special Educators) only about ½ of beginning Special Educators found their paperwork orientations very helpful.
Reviewing paperwork requirements at the beginning of the year might be viewed as less helpful than if they were to occur later when new staff have had a chance develop/update plans.
Additional information and resources related to providing effective orientation can be found at the Bridges to Success website, specifically, guidelines on orientations, printed materials, and Resource Inventory)
