Leveraging Working Conditions to Improve the Quality and Effectiveness of the Special Education Teacher Workforce

Students with disabilities depend on special education teachers (SETs) to provide skilled, intensive intervention; SETs depend on working conditions that facilitate their capacity to fulfill this charge. In this chapter, we describe mechanisms by which working conditions affect the capacity of the SET workforce to fulfill their responsibilities, and thereby affect educational systems’ capacity to fulfill commitments to students with disabilities. We discuss how working conditions contribute to SETs’ experiences and outcomes (e.g., instruction, attrition). We then consider how working conditions affect the capacity of educational systems (i.e., school, district, state, national) to meet their obligations to students by affecting the size, composition, and distribution of the SET workforce. Finally, we draw conclusions for policy makers, leaders, teachers, and researchers.