SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS: QUALIFIED OR UNQUALIFIED?

Running Head: SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS

Special Education Teachers: Qualified or Unqualified?

Gabriela Escobar
UTEP

SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS: QUALIFIED OR UNQUALIFIED?

Are all special education teachers fully qualified and well trained to deal with
students with disabilities and the challenges that come with the job?
The special education program started off small in the early 1960s when the
Princess Elizabeth Special Education School was first established in Penang (Lee,
2014, P, 44). This was the first school that was known for helping deaf children to have
the opportunity to learn. As time went on, the schools began giving opportunities to not
only deaf children but also children with learning disabilities. The point of creating the
special education program and adding it to school systems was to help the children that
wanted to learn but had trouble doing it, since they have either a mental disability or a
physical disability. Furthermore, the students parents began noticing that their childs
teacher was not so effective with the way their child was learning in school. Students
with disabilities are not being treated well by their teachers. The special education
teachers are not able to work well and effectively with the students. Not only is this
wasting the students time, but the special education teachers are getting paid for a task
that they are not performing correctly. Parents began thinking that the teachers were not
well trained enough, in order to deal with the students with disabilities. Non-effective
special education teachers are an issue because all children should have an opportunity
for an effective education.
What possible explanations are there for this issue?
There are many possible reasons for this issue but one of them really stands out,
money. With money school districts can have longer and better trainings for special
education teachers. Money might be a difficult thing to get for certain schools, but more
training can really help the entire special education problem. When the schools are low

SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS: QUALIFIED OR UNQUALIFIED?

budgeted, the pay for special education teachers is very low, causing the teachers to either
quit the position or even quit the field. Because of this issue there are not as many well
experienced special education teachers left in schools, this does not really help when new
special education teachers arrive because they have no way of improving themselves. If
special education teachers were to practice more on challenges that they go through, they
would learn how to deal with it and work more efficiently with the students.
Another reason for this issue is that there are not as many special education
teachers in schools as there are regular education teachers. As Billingsley stated in his
2004 study, The teacher retention is the most promising approach to minimizing teacher
shortages in special education since attrition is the major factor causing the shortage
problem (137). There have been so many uncertified special education teachers, that the
certified teachers have had to leave their jobs to go help at another job (Billingsley, 2004,
P, 137). This shows that certification is very important when looking for a special
education teacher at a school. With more training in this field more special education
teachers will be certified, therefore causing the advent of more effective special education
programs throughout many different schools.
What requirements are needed in order to be a special education teacher?
The requirements that prospective special education teachers need to fulfill in
order to become a special education teacher are a very important part on this issue. The
more a teacher knows, the better the education is for the student. According to Archer,
becoming a special education teacher requires deep compassion and immense patience
(Personal Communication, April 3, 2016). It is very important that special education
teachers complete the requirements needed because they work with children who have

SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS: QUALIFIED OR UNQUALIFIED?

emotional and physical disabilities or learning problems. Special education teachers are
required to have academic knowledge, pass the standardized teacher exam or complete
specific professional development activities in the areas they teach (Courtade, 2010, P,
38). Based on Courtades study, special education teachers are required to take a
standardized teacher exam and this means that the special education teachers are studying
and training to prepare for an exam that is meant for the standard teachers knowledge.
This does not help the students with disabilities because the teachers are trained to deal
with students without disabilities. As parents started noticing that their child was not
learning so well with their teacher, the requirements started getting more enforced and the
training for special education teachers became more advanced.
Are there any well trained special education teachers?
Although this issue is well-known, this does not mean all special education
teachers are not well trained. There are well trained special education teachers that know
how to work well with the students. It has been proven that there are special education
teachers that are very good at their jobs. As stated by Sundeens 2009 study, The four
most frequently used recruitment strategies included: (a) professional development
opportunities, (b) paid education tuition, (c) salary, and (d) opportunities for travel to
conferences. This study shows that not only further education for the special education
teachers would help, but also money. Money can play an important role in this because
everyone wants to earn a good amount of money for the skills they provide, and if money
is what it takes to provide better training then it should be an option to really think about
if it means making the special education program a better learning society for the students
with disabilities.

SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS: QUALIFIED OR UNQUALIFIED?

Why should special education teachers have a different training and preparation
than standard teachers?
Standard teachers do not have enough capabilities to deal with students with
disabilities because it takes patience and certain skills to help these students learn; this is
one of the reasons why special education teachers cannot be trained in the same fashion
as standard teachers. Special education teachers should not have the same training
because then they would not succeed tin helping their students. If students with
disabilities were taught by regular standard teachers, they would not be effective with the
learning process. If the students with disabilities were in a regular classroom with regular
students, the teacher would have to slow down the process of learning because the
students with disabilities would not understand the concepts as quick as regular students
would. This is why the training of special education teachers should be longer and more
intense, so they are prepared for the challenges to come.
Conclusion
In conclusion, after reading these studies and articles the issue of special
education teachers not being well trained is a well-known issue that should be fixed.
Although a few schools have tried fixing this issue, there are still plenty of schools where
the students with disabilities are not getting the opportunity to be more knowledgeable.
Students with disabilities should get the same respect as if they did not have any
disabilities. If the special education teachers have to train harder to get to the students, it
should be easy for them to be okay with the extra work. The training should be harder but
worth the work because the training can prepare them for the rough challenges. Even if a

SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS: QUALIFIED OR UNQUALIFIED?

person had the best book with the best materials and examples, the potential to get the
most out of it is directly proportional to the professor teaching those materials.

SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS: QUALIFIED OR UNQUALIFIED?

References
Archer, N. (2016, April 3). Personal Interview.
Billingsley, B.S.; Mcleskey, J. (2004). Journal of Special Education, 38(1), 2-4.
Courtade, G. R., Servilio, K., Ludlow, B. L., & Anderson, K. (2010). Highly Qualified
Teacher Requirements for Special Educators: Perceptions of West Virginia
Stakeholders. Rural Special Education Quarterly, 29(3), 37-49.
Lee, L. W., & Low, H. M. (2014). The evolution of special education in Malaysia. British
Journal Of Special Education, 41(1), 42-58.
Sundeen, T. H., & Wienke, W. D. (2009). A Model for Recruiting and Preparing New
Rural Special Educators: Mining an Untapped Potential. Rural Special Education
Quarterly, 28(1), 3-10.