Special Education Teachers & Burnout

The teaching profession in general and the field of Special Education teaching in particular is in trouble. One out of every three teachers in the United States leaves the teaching profession for another career (U.S. Department of Education, 1992). In addition, fewer individuals are choosing to become teachers (Chapman & Green, 1986). Also, increasing numbers of Special Education teachers are changing to regular education classrooms or leaving the teaching profession entirely (U.S. Department of Education, 1992).

In 1986, it was predicted that more than one million teachers would leave the profession in less than a decade, with the majority of these being sincerely dedicated to teaching (McLaughlin, Pfeifer, Owens-Swanson & Yee, 1986). In the cases of Special Education teachers in particular, the primary reason cited for their exodus from the field was burnout defined by Bishop (1980) as emotional and mental exhaustion arising from job pressures and stresses. This drop in Special Education teachers owing to burnout as well as the evidence of present and future teacher shortages in the field of Special Education have contributed to the concern of many educational administrators to identify factors that contribute to the problem.

Gold and Roth (1993) have stated that there is a need to better understand teacher burnout and how it contributes to the decline of teachers in the Special Education field. The problem examined in this study focus

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e formulation of research questions or hypothesis formulation and testing. Since the primary statistical analyses performed on data were descriptive rather than inferential in nature, research questions rather than research hypotheses were formulated. Descriptive research also uses the logical methods of inductive-deductive reasoning in order to arrive at generalizations. Further it often (although not always) employs methods of randomization so that error can be estimated when inferring population characteristics from observations of samples. The final characteristic distinguishing descriptive research from other forms of research is that all variables and procedures in such studies are described as accurately and completely as possible so that the study can be replicated by future researchers. With respect to the foregoing, while random procedures were not used due to certain constraints on the researcher, logical methods were used to interpret and better understand findings. Further, all methods and procedures are described in detail so that they can serve as a foundation for future work in the field. Subjects Sixty-five current and former Special Education teachers served as subjects in the study. All of these tea

Category: Psychology - S