Special Education Teacher Preparation Pathways and Job Design

Retention of special education teachers is a widespread and chronic issue in the United States. In response to retention issues and other demands, alternative approaches to teacher preparation have developed and expanded. This study, which utilized semi-structured qualitative interviews, explored beginning special education teachers’ intentions to enter the special education field, these teachers’ intentions to select a particular teacher education pathway, the factors that supported and constrained these teachers in their work environments, and these teachers’ subsequent satisfaction with their professor and how that affected their intentions to stay or to leave the profession. Using a job design theory lens, I explored participants’ perceptions of their preparation for and structure of their roles as teachers and how they perceived the ways that programs affected their teaching abilities, satisfaction, and career intentions. Participants were six beginning elementary special education teachers from one large urban district in the western U.S. who entered the profession through various preparation pathways. These pathways included in-person, university-based pathways (three teachers), an alternative preparation program aimed at people changing careers (one teacher), and programs that were predominately online (two teachers). The data revealed five main themes, which included: teacher education structure and content, teacher education perceptions, prior experiences, job complexity, and job impacts and outcomes. Implications for teachers, teacher educators and administrators are included