The Lack of Qualified Teachers in Special Education
The Lack of Qualified Teachers in Special Education
Our education system is continuously faced with a considerable amount of legal and ethical issues each year, especially in special education students/parents. However, one specific issue that is both legal and ethical that is currently on the rise is the shortage of qualified special educators and minimal preparation for general educators that are instructing diverse populations of students. The integration of exceptional students into general education classrooms is becoming more common throughout education systems across the nation, though, what many of them lack is the proper and appropriate preparation for the educators that are teaching them daily.
There are also many special education organizations that continue to advocate for the integration of our exceptional students into these classrooms which has put pressure on various school systems to modify their programs whether they are ready or not. While doing so, instead of hiring more highly trained and qualified special educators, these systems are simply creating accelerated programs for these educators to provide basic professional developments and workshops about working with exceptional students. There are a substantial number of educators that enter teaching as second careers or without preparation and experience in SPED. Even educators like myself that came through full teacher preparation programs only take minimal or basic entry courses covering special education to graduate.
Thus, is this truly fair to us as classroom teachers and most importantly fair to our exceptional students we work with? The SPED populations and departments in most schools are very often overlooked and feared by most people in those buildings due to the challenging, strenuous, and fervent labor that is required from those that work with that group of students. Some special and general educators are being forced to learn how to work and accommodate these students through trial and error. Although many people may be capable of learning from experience, when that happens, our exceptional students are missing out on something that is specific and important to their academic, behavioral or social growth that particular year, sometimes that begins a domino effect that cause students to fall behind. As we strive to continue to modify our schools and programs focusing on the particular needs of our student, we should consider the effects it may have on the educators and make sure we are placing the correct people in positions so that the needs of the students can be best met.
