Leiter, Jackson, and Maslach define burnout as “a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment.” (Gong et al., 2013). Attrition refers to leaving teaching altogether, either to take another job outside of teaching, for personal reasons as child rearing, health problems, family moves, and retirement (Cooper and Alvarado, 2006). As early as the 1970s, a shortage in special education teachers have been nationally recognized. Researchers have conducted many studies to identify the causes of teacher burnout and attrition in hopes of identifying ways to reduce teacher attrition and burnout. Many case studies have attributed work-related burnout in special educators to substantial paperwork,
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Leadership should work diligently to support and keep effective special education teachers in this critical time Administrators as well as other special education leaders need to implement the following practices to reduce special education teacher burnout and lower the rate of special education attritions. School leaders need provide constant and frequent support to their teachers as well as create a positive school climate that nurtures staff. Professional development should be aligned with the needs of students and staff (Conley & You, 2017). Training is vital in promoting teacher well-being and longevity in the profession (De Stasio et al., 2017). One area of professional development that special education teachers would benefit from are classroom management techniques. New special education teachers need more training than what is provided in college to meet the diverse behavioral and academic needs of students with disabilities such as autism and emotional disabilities (Hoglund et al., …show more content…
Policies should be created that will more closely target the recruitment of new special education teachers as well as keep current special educations. This can be done using incentives such as bonuses, increased compensation, extra planning period(s), and increasing the amount of money given for loan forgiveness. Policies should also push for more mentoring beyond the first year of teaching for special educators. Not only should mentoring go beyond the first year, mentors should be matched based on similarity of students on a caseload. For example, a special educator of inclusion students with learning disabilities may not be the best mentor of a teacher working with students in the self-contained setting diagnosed with autism. Lastly, policies should be created that require schools to have mental health professionals to come support all teachers. Strategies can be given throughout the year for teachers to use when they are feeling burnt out. Also, the mental health provider can spend one day a week or bi-weekly at a school. Instructional and support staff can make appointments to meet with the professional to seek
Leadership should work diligently to support and keep effective special education teachers in this critical time Administrators as well as other special education leaders need to implement the following practices to reduce special education teacher burnout and lower the rate of special education attritions. School leaders need provide constant and frequent support to their teachers as well as create a positive school climate that nurtures staff. Professional development should be aligned with the needs of students and staff (Conley & You, 2017). Training is vital in promoting teacher well-being and longevity in the profession (De Stasio et al., 2017). One area of professional development that special education teachers would benefit from are classroom management techniques. New special education teachers need more training than what is provided in college to meet the diverse behavioral and academic needs of students with disabilities such as autism and emotional disabilities (Hoglund et al., …show more content…
Policies should be created that will more closely target the recruitment of new special education teachers as well as keep current special educations. This can be done using incentives such as bonuses, increased compensation, extra planning period(s), and increasing the amount of money given for loan forgiveness. Policies should also push for more mentoring beyond the first year of teaching for special educators. Not only should mentoring go beyond the first year, mentors should be matched based on similarity of students on a caseload. For example, a special educator of inclusion students with learning disabilities may not be the best mentor of a teacher working with students in the self-contained setting diagnosed with autism. Lastly, policies should be created that require schools to have mental health professionals to come support all teachers. Strategies can be given throughout the year for teachers to use when they are feeling burnt out. Also, the mental health provider can spend one day a week or bi-weekly at a school. Instructional and support staff can make appointments to meet with the professional to seek