5 of 29

Write now Article Tools

Like many areas in the field of education, the area of Special Education is in need of a major overhaul. Unfortunately, due to legal mandates, it is difficult to make necessary changes. This is the source of much frustration for parents, teachers and administrators.
Teaching special education students is both a challenge and a joy! No two days are the same; nothing about it is boring! The kids, for the most part, give back way more than they take. Teachers can look forward to going to work each morning knowing that they will be rewarded in dozens of small ways.

Knowing this to be a fact, then why is there such a shortage of good special education teachers? It's difficult to imagine that in a field where instructional time is so important, so little time is spent on instruction! The massive quantities of paperwork and meetings are unfortunately driving many of the really good special education teachers away! These teachers are retiring in droves, making the switch to regular education, or finding careers outside of education.

Don't all teachers have a lot of paperwork? Are special education teachers just whining? General education teachers do have volumes of paperwork. There's no way to deny that fact! There is one major difference though between the paperwork completed by the general education and the special education teacher. 75% of the paperwork completed by the special education teacher has no meaning to anyone! It is completed and placed in a confidential record somewhere, on the off chance that a due process hearing will one day take place for that student. Imagine what that does to the morale of the special education teacher who works 10-12 hours a day completing this work! What they need to be doing, and what they want to be doing is planning exciting lessons, creating supplemental materials, and researching new ways to help their students.

The "lucky" teachers are sometimes told that due to impending deadlines, assistants will cover their classes so that the paperwork can be completed. Think about that. Educated, talented teachers are doing what amounts to clerical work while paraprofessionals are teaching the children! Which job do you think the teacher would choose if given a choice? On the flip side, the "unlucky" teachers are left on their own to figure out how to find more hours in the day, usually sacrificing their own families in the process.

Because of this nationwide shortage of special education teachers, too many individuals are being given provisional licenses to teach the children. Most people with an education degree can get a provisional license with only two special education courses! Many "career-switchers" with degrees outside the field of education are being given provisional licenses with minimal training! Do the powers that be really think that just anyone can teach? Our system is taking the most challenging students we have and giving them the most inexperienced teachers!

How do we fix this broken system? Unfortunately, this is one that will probably need to start at the top and filter down. Legal mandates need to be reexamined again and they need to be reexamined by experienced educators who still remember the reality of the classroom! School systems need to make it a priority to assign their best teachers to the most challenging students. Teachers need to be spared clerical work and allowed to teach. Necessary paperwork should be completed but unnecessary paperwork should be deleted! These simple steps would go a long way towards improving special education in America, and keeping experienced, qualified teachers in the classroom, where they are so desperately needed.

Learn more about this author, Gail Davis.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Ways to improve American special education?
We want to hear your view. Write now!