Audiologists is an individual that has close connection with deaf and hearing impairment students. This research is done to study the perception of the special education teachers on the involvement ...of audiologists in special education school. In this research, quantitative data which is questionnaire is used as the research instrument. The data obtained were analyzed using Microsoft Excel XLstat. The total of 165 teachers that are included in this research through snow-balling sampling. Results shown that 149 (90.8 percent) of the teachers agreed that the role of audiologists is vital to improve the special education quality in Malaysia. In general, the teachers have high comprehency toward the common function of the audiologists but a very worrying understanding on their specific role. It is proven when special education teachers are unsure about whether audiologists only work in hospitals (56 teachers (33.9 percent)), involved in balance problems (65 teachers (39.4 percent)) and vestibular problems (88 teachers (53.3 percent)). The research shown that having an audiologist helps to reduce the impact of hearing loss for the deaf students when 152 (83.8 percent) special education teachers agreed that the involvement of audiologists in the education system benefits many teachers and students thus prepares a better and more condusive environment for them.
Despite increased attention to special education teacher well-being in the past decade, special education teachers continue to leave the field at twice the rate of general education teachers (Boe, ...2014; Fox et al., 2020). The current study investigated special education teachers’ responses to a school-wide professional development series focused on teacher well-being. Although many teachers embraced the opportunity to discuss well-being, some were resistant towards well-being professional development. Thus, researchers explored what drove resistance to well-being professional development and how researchers responded to resistance. Findings suggest that efforts to support special education teacher well-being should be attuned to teachers’ reactions and moments of resistance, offering opportunities for professional growth that are responsive to the needs of adult learners. We discuss how such attentiveness can support the design and implementation of meaningful professional development that is context specific, rooted in community strengths and values, and dynamic and reflective of teacher needs.
This article provides an historical analysis of major reforms in teacher education, beginning in the 1970s, specifically focusing on the opportunities each reform presented to build a shared agenda ...across pre-service general and special education, and the constraints that operated on them. The analysis revealed the existence of several such intersections, each of which created substantive occasions for joint action across general and special education at every stage of teacher education reform. However, four factors—policy, funding, timing, and norms of separation—appear to have operated as constraints upon mining the capacity of these potential intersections. If the promise of a cohesive system of education capable of and committed to supporting struggling students across multiple and intersecting diversities is to be realized, it will be critical to coalesce around a comprehensive equity agenda that builds on the intersections that continue to exist between general and special education.
Serving over 1.1 million students in more than 1,800 public schools, the New York City Department of Education is the largest school district in the nation. When individuals graduate from college ...with a bachelor’s degree in teacher education the New York City Department of Education assign a school-based mentor for one year. The case study examined how a novice special education teacher described his reflective experiences and progress, or lack thereof. The central research question was, “What were the differences, challenges, and successes between novice teachers’ first-year experiences and their third-year mentoring experiences?” Data collection included an individual interview. Data analysis was analyzing themes by manual coding. The findings were a lack of resources and exemplary administrative support. Still, often too late, lack of available materials, qualified mentor-teacher role, impractical standard planning time, meaningful observations, and good work ethics are qualities of mentors and initial dissatisfaction without a mentor. These results can inform school districts what happens when mentors are not assigned and develop improved mentoring programs for new special education teachers. A limitation of this study was one novice teacher was interviewed, and the findings were not generalized to other novice special education teachers. However, the implication was that new teachers, especially special education teachers, need mentors in the first year of teaching and beyond. Social change may include improved mentoring programs for school districts to ensure that novice special education teachers remain in the teaching profession.
Students with emotional disturbance (ED) depend upon special education teachers (SETs) to use evidence-based practices (EBPs) to promote their well-being. SETs, in turn, depend upon school leaders to ...provide working conditions that support learning and implementation of academic and social EBPs. We conducted an integrative narrative review of research examining working conditions SETs experience serving students with ED in self-contained schools and classes, to better understand whether SETs in these settings experience conditions necessary to effectively implement academic and social EBPs. Our findings suggest that conditions necessary for learning and implementing EBPs are seldom present in these settings. In addition, the extant research on SETs’ working conditions in these settings is largely disconnected from research investigating teachers’ use of EBPs.
This study was conducted to reveal the views of special education teachers on digital assessment tools. The researcher collected data from 38 special education teachers through focus group ...interviews. The opinions were coded under two main themes: challenges and opportunities. Under the main theme of challenges, there are sub-themes of knowledge and skills, curriculum, time, integration, collaboration, management and cost. Under the main theme of opportunities, there are sub-themes of virtual classroom, digital bag, new collaborations, paperless classroom, diversity of approaches, individualized exams, active learning and feedback. The themes are discussed within the scope of instructional technologies, current literature on special education and recommendations are included.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of problem-solving coping strategies in the relationship between thinking styles (legislative, executive, and judicial) and teachers' ...attitudes towards distance education (difficulties related to distance education and efficacy in distance education). The study sample consisted of 556 special education teachers, 122 males (21.9%) and 434 females (78.1%), with an average age of 37.90 years (SD = 7.12). The results confirmed the role of problem-solving coping as a mediator for legislative thinking style on difficulties related to distance education. Furthermore, the findings indicated a positive relationship between judicial style and efficacy in distance education. The results of this study highlight the importance of developing specific special education teacher trainings to promote positive attitudes towards distance education.
This study explores the desired future images of an inclusive school. In its policy documents, Finland has been committed to goals of inclusive education for decades; however, there are still ...challenges in its implementation. By utilising futures workshops, our research explores the factors envisioned by special education teacher students regarding the desired future of an inclusive school. The factors form three dimensions: structural, social, and emotional. Additionally, certain factors were assessed to fit into more than one dimension, which results in four overlapping aspects of services, commitment, a meaningful school path, and the school's comprehensive role in the community. Our results emphasise the systemic nature of inclusion in education, which further reinforces the understanding of inclusion as a process.
As society has gotten increasingly digitalized, schools have made extensive efforts to accommodate to that development. With the digitalization of school, the special education practice and the roles ...of special education needs coordinators (SENCOs) and special education teachers (SETs) change. However, there is a lack of research examining this transformation, a gap which this exploratory study opens up for new understandings of. This mixed method study explores the special education practice in a municipality in Sweden, one of the most digitalized countries in the world. The findings show that SENCOs and SETs have highly positive beliefs about digital tools in special education, but at the same time their frequency of use varies greatly. Also, the study identifies special educational activities engaging with digital technology, describing a work practice with complex expectations of the special education professionals also in the area of digital teaching and learning. Furthermore, the competencies considered as necessary for handling the expectations are discussed.