Beginning Teachers in Special Education: A Model For Providing Individualized Support

Abstract

In the face of acute personnel shortages, large numbers of beginning special education teachers are abandoning their chosen careers. Under the best of conditions, novice special educators are both a valuable and fragile resource with even the most motivated and best prepared experiencing frustration, stress, and disillusionment. In this article we describe a model for providing individualized and comprehensive support for beginning special educators. The underlying assumption of the model is that support for beginning teachers must take into account the full series of dynamic interacting factors that are (a) specific to the individual and (b) specific to the teaching environment and tasks that are to be accomplished. After describing the interacting factors in the model, we provide recommendations for implementation of the beginning teacher support model.