Retention of Special Education

The interviews conducted with the former and present special education teachers regarding low retention of them have presented the following results. The respondents were asked about the barriers posed to the stable retention of special education teachers and they suggest that such obstacles as poor working conditions, paperwork, and low salaries are the main issues that cause increasing teacher attrition in special education. Approximately 65% of respondents mention hard working conditions, 40% point out paperwork, and 40% complain about low image1.emfsalaries. The graph demonstrates the tendency, which will be further explained.

The interviewees were also asked to describe what facilitators of special education teacher retention they observe and consider as strong boosters. The respondents admit alternative certification, professional education and development, and school communities. Surprisingly, the majority of respondents mention alternative certification to be the central facilitator of teacher retention even though school communities were described as informal support for novice teachers in adverse environments of special education. At any rate, the results for this part of the interview are the following: alternative certification - 95%, professional development - 70%, and school communities - 55%.

Eventually, the respondents were asked to provide their advice concerning the improvement of low retention among teachers in schools of special education. The interviewees suggest that an organizational reform, reconsideration of the scope of special education, and the enrichment of resources are the main dimensions of change concerning the discussed issue. Statistically, 80% of respondents suggest the organizational reform, 60% stick to the scope of special education, and 30% argue that the supply of all needed resources is pivotal for the retention of teachers. The graph below visually depicts these results. Still, all these results, as well as all their present implications, should and will be explained in detail further.

Barriers

Working Conditions

The interviewees mention hard working conditions as the strongest cause of low teacher retention because of stressful environments at work and low job satisfaction. First of all, the majority of interviewees confirmed that low job satisfaction poses a considerable obstacle to the retention of them as special education teachers. As the respondents also describe, such teachers often lose the sense and aim of their work because of the multiple strains placed on them at school. It is mainly working with students who need special education which is commonly believed to be very stressful owing to the nature of special education. At the same time, the enormous workloads and amounts of paperwork related to the process make special education teachers less focused on their primary duties hence they lose the incentive and reasoning of working as special education teachers. In the same way, special education teachers often feel that their job is predominantly done in vain owing to organizational, political, economic and other constraints that prevent special needs students from integrating easily into society. The majority of these insights were confirmed by the interviewees, thus the related literature has provided reliable information. However, the organizational aspect of this problem is also persistent.

That is why another important constraint of poor working conditions as implied by many respondents. It is a great degree of dissatisfaction with the administration of special education schools and thus the entire governance within these institutions. The administrations are reported to mismanage the scheduling and annual planning of schools, thereby placing special education teachers in adverse working environments when classes and paperwork should take place at the same time and thus both suffer (Boyd et al., 2010). Again, inadequate workloads and the absence of common ideas in decision-making made many special education teachers feel stressed and even depressed (Nance & Calabrese, 2009). Additionally, the attempts to demonstrate resentment or any evidence of dissatisfaction are generally ignored as school administrations normally do not participate in day-to-day instructing of special needs students (Boyd et al., 2010). Overall, this aspect of poor working conditions is supplemented with a respectively poor organizational leadership and human resource management, so much that such evidence is becoming a distinct trend. This situation is worsened with an aggressive legal pressure, which is also worth discussion.

Actually, many of the respondents make complaints about the aggression of legal pressure. The majority of policies are considered as irrelevant by the respondents and other special education professionals (Boyd et al., 2010). Students with special needs evidently require better public care and sufficient educational, psychological, and social support, but their educators can barely render these benefits to them under the circumstances of inadequately formulated workloads and increased requirements to double-loop education (Boyd et al., 2010). It is becoming apparent that the federal law puts special education teachers in the environments which do not lead to their improved retention (Nance & Calabrese, 2009). In such a way, many teachers leave their job positions because of the impossibility to keep updated to legal requirements (Boyd et al., 2010). At the same time, professional education underpins a special education teacher resilience and expertise regarding recently implemented policy, so that many teachers find it stressful to follow all legal requirements and law amendments. They respectively reflect on the amounts of paperwork to be reported, which is an inseparable cause of low teacher retention.

Paperwork

It is informative, and the majority of respondents confirm this, that paperwork takes a considerable amount of time. The educators are then unable to concentrate on instructing special needs students properly. Moreover, the interviewees also stress that this paperwork is often unrelated to student instructing and classroom management but bears statistical character. Therefore, much of the paperwork should have been done by other personnel or even assigned to schools' administrators (Patterson & Vega, 2011). Paperwork is undoubtedly important in the organizational sense, thwarts teachers from their primary duties. It is possible to pinpoint that bureaucracy is fiercely persistent in the system of special education. The paperwork done is ideally designated to be the reflection of teacher performance, meanwhile, the real gaps of teacher performance caused by it are neglected (Patterson & Vega, 2011). As a result, the expected outcomes of special education in the United States differ from the actual ones and are insufficient for the integration of students with special needs into a competitive social life. Paperwork plays such a significant role in that regard that many teachers are even willing to leave this type of job.

As a consequence, much of paperwork is missed or reported with delays, since special education teachers may spend up to 5 hours for paperwork only. It is becoming abundantly clear that work under the conditions of large amounts of documentation, poor time management, and inadequate workloads fast make the teaching almost impossible and even lead to physical and psychological burnouts (Patterson & Vega, 2011). Thus, special education teachers either leave their jobs or neglect some of their duties. For the same reason, the loss of teaching scope can be observed and the quality of special education generally decreases (Patterson & Vega, 2011). All these issues arise again from poor administrational management, aggressive policy-making, and irrelevant scoping of special education in the United States. It is therefore arguable that special education presupposes challenging environments without the sufficient favorable conditions for working under the psychological pressure when primary duties of a teacher cannot be efficiently fulfilled.

On a separate note, although special education preparation for lessons requires less paperwork than other formal issues, teachers still conduct lessons unprepared very often because they have to complete their primary excessive paperwork. Besides, the preparation procedure for special education lessons involves certain bureaucratic elements which do not facilitate a teacher’s readiness for instructing special needs students but rather distract him or her (Patterson & Vega, 2011). Such a tendency is often confirmed by the interviewees, as they feel sceptic regarding their success in educating special needs children under such complicated circumstances. Therefore, an immediate reaction of the government is much expected for initiating complex reforms not only in relation to a normal ability for lesson preparations but also to the salary, which is also a different cause of low teacher retention.

Salary

In order to discuss the aspect of salary in regards to the retention of special education teachers, an opinion of the interviewees should be explained. The respondents generally admit that their salary leaves much to be desired. What is more, taking into account the aforementioned issues, they would not stay at their working positions unless the salary is higher. At present, many respondents complain that salaries are insufficient for making an appropriate living and covering all bills. However, some interviewees still suggest that a high salary is not the main but an additional factor that made them leave a special education career. In other words, high salaries being a significant factor will not guarantee or boost the retention of special education teachers but just prolong a teacher's stay at a current working position for an unidentified period. At the same time, some of the respondents claim that a well-paid job may be a preexisting factor of a stable special education teachers’ retention at least on the initial stage of the career growth. Nonetheless, the majority of related literature reports about a different trend.

As a matter of fact, the other researches support a view that low salaries are not the primary reasons of a respectively low level of special education teacher retention. Rather, psychologically challenging environments and the absence of job satisfaction are the main reasons, meanwhile low salaries are often reported to be an additional reason that resolves teachers' doubts concerning leaving the job (McLeskey, Tyler, & Flippin, 2004). That is why many teachers place the emphasis on better-mentoring programs and working conditions as long as they estimate their work value and not according to a present level of salaries. Nevertheless, obstacles such as paperwork or large workloads make this value extremely low and obviously dissatisfactory for teachers. Special education teachers are often willing to demonstrate their devotion to students, related community, and job as a whole if hard working conditions and low salaries do not make them quit the occupation (McLeskey, Tyler, & Flippin, 2004). Hence, a more profound approach to special education financing should be designed by the government.

Taking these points into account, sufficient financing of special education for the provision of better salaries can be a good but not the primary strategy for reducing special education teachers' attrition (McLeskey, Tyler, & Flippin, 2004). Provided that the government issues a respective policy, the work of special education teachers will have a better value, even though stressful working conditions are still present (Billignsley, 2004). Eventually, it is fair to note that all these obstacles are closely attached to each other and manifest a complex of problems, which should be resolved on the federal level. These issues, however, can be also addressed with the help of the active participation of special education school communities.

Facilitators

School Community

Besides numerous barriers contributing to the increase of retention among special education teachers, the respondents also noted several factors that potentially facilitate the process of retention. One of these elements is a large presence of friendly school community members. The interviewees accentuate that the school community becomes supportive very often, especially to new teachers. Except for moral support and a good psychological contact, school communities may extend their powers on certain organizational issues. (Cohen et al., 2009). Such tendency can be explained with the fact that many teachers opt for special education owing to their devotion, so not to ward them off at the start of their career such moral and practical support becomes a strong stimulus within school communities, thus forming a profound expertise base in the long run.

Furthermore, the availability of professional expertise shared by the member of school communities make many novice teachers feel more confident. This aspect is especially significant in relation to job-related stresses and a constant need for continuing professional education. The exchange of experience makes this task more feasible and hence more teachers decide to proceed with their professional development (Jones, Youngs, & Frank, 2013). Thus, new teachers are taught by their colleagues to manage all paperwork, deal with student instructing, and organizational behavior with less challenges. The role of school communities is quite significant from that perspective and evidently facilitates teacher experience without ruining the devotion (Jones, Youngs, & Frank, 2013). Anyway, meaningful moral support does not substitute all hardships and challenges but enables the teachers to cope with them and consult colleagues in case any complications emerge (Cohen et al., 2009). That is why it is more accurate to say that professional commitment is a foundational component of retention among special education teachers, but its formal perspective is also valuable.

Returning to the subject of organizational reforms, the significance of school communities should be not underestimated as well. Many schools create their own internal policies under the influence of their communities for the sake of the optimized and favorable performance of their special education teachers. Forming an extensive community agenda for the promotion of specific policies, however, still has more informal features rather than a well-institutionalized instrument of school self-governance (Cohen et al., 2009). Whereas such an approach can become a reasonable solution to numerous problems, this evidence should be reviewed by the government to create a new legal mechanism for governance and regulation in the schools of this type (Cohen et al., 2009). Needless to say, these drastic changes will boost the retention of special education teachers and initiate a complex reform of the entire system of special education. However, this tendency is general and other boosters of retention are also present.

Alternative Certification

All interviewees admit that the presence of alternative certification is evidently a positive aspect. First of all, the respondents state that certification is important to raise the professional expertise of teachers. If a teacher is acknowledged about multiple dimensions of teaching, education, pedagogy, psychology, or event management, it is always a benefit for both them and their students (Quigney, 2010). Thus, better resistance to challenging working environments and psychological burnouts can be observed among the teachers who possess additional knowledge and can view professional issues in a more global context. Besides, additional certification increases the job satisfaction of special education teachers as extra knowledge enables them to perform beyond the frameworks outlined by the government and school administrations and be more interesting to their students in terms of new solutions related to special education issues such as lesson preparation, classroom management, etc. (Quigney, 2010).

As it has been already discussed, many teachers simply do not have enough time for appropriate preparation to lessons. That is why additional expertise in education provides them with the knowledge which helps to manage time and a factual lesson with less flaws and stresses. In such a way, teachers with additional certification feel less challenged during their performance in special education schools (Quigney, 2010). Additionally, alternative certification suggests not only managerial skill but also sufficient confidence and resilience in relation to instructing special needs students (Quigney, 2010).

In the same vein, alternative certification among special education teachers promotes a more adequate formulation of teaching curriculums. Teachers with a diverse expertise see a situation in a broader more creative way, which is why they are able to consider specific gaps and aspects of instructing students with special needs more effectively. This aspect not only simplifies the complicated setting of special education but also renders better education outcomes, so that teachers can get more satisfaction from their job because they see the distinct results of their work (Quigney, 2010). Similarly, the recognition of a value of primary professional education plays a significant role in the increase of teacher retention.

Professional Development

The interviewees also confirmed that constant and high-quality professional development facilitates the retention of teaching professionals in special education. The respondents, however, also note that poor professional education and absence of any growth result in the opposite effect (Darling-Hammond et al., 2009). Novice special education teachers with a poor professional knowledge usually leave the job within the first year, therefore the presence of quality professional education is pivotal (Darling-Hammond et al., 2009). It is worth saying, however, that this tendency is applicable to the system of education in general, as long as the same pattern would be traceable in spite all present problems with organizational, legal, and administrative aspects of special education. In such a way, the interviewees admit that professional development is a determining factor of further retention among special education teachers and shapes the basis of future achievements.

On the contrary, the absence of sufficient professional education and development implies a strong pressure on the teachers and their subsequent desire to quit. Obviously, legal requirements, as well as immense factual workloads, also make many teachers leave their jobs because they do not hold sufficient experience and knowledge for working with all the documentation involved in teaching and day-to-day management of the groups with special needs students. That is why the possession of quality professional education is recognized as a factor that significantly boosts the retention of educators in this field (Darling-Hammond et al., 2009). At the same time, however, the government burdens teachers with the constant enhancement of professional expertise, which is almost impossible because of the barriers described above. The problem is surely evident on a large scale but a common practice confirmed by the respondents describes professional education as a means of retention among teachers. The cause of this issue includes numerous factors which are also to be revealed.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the fact that the entire system of special education is mismanaged to a particular extent and this drawback can only be partially compensated by means of quality professional education and development which becomes a strong enhancer of retention among special education teachers. Hence, many teachers would like to see the changes in their mentoring programs and curriculums rather than in terms of higher salaries. Such a trend can be underpinned with a fact that massive deployment of adequately formulated mentoring programs will inspire teachers to work on their professionalism even without any specific policies and regulations (Darling-Hammond et al., 2009). Education and special education mentoring, in particular, are often based on teacher commitment, which is why many teachers would be motivated to keep working under conditions when their recently acquired knowledge can be applied and render clear results with minimal effects of stressful working conditions.

Potential Ways of Improvement

Organizational Reform

In order to speak about the advice given by the respondents concerning the potential improvements of special education teachers’ retention within the target territory, first of all, drastic changes in the organizational management of special education schools are admitted. In such a way, the respondents suggest that the organizational reform should take a direction towards the provision of better working conditions for the teachers. The establishment of effective curriculums, proper time management, and reasonable allocation of workloads can be achieved throughout a considerable organizational change. The interviewees also expect schools' administrators to be more empathic for teachers' requests. The organizational change has to optimize the performance of teachers, ensuring that paperwork and formal issues are not their duty any longer. Instead, focusing on student instructing, preparing for new lessons and enhancing their professional development has to become central activities of teachers within the schools of special education. This process can be facilitated with the participation of local communities that are willing to make drastic changes to the organizational structure of special education schools.

In view of the necessity of the improvement of working conditions, it must be admitted that, unfortunately, contemporary special education does not involve any stress management for teachers. Even though the conditions of work are legally regarded as satisfactory, regular interaction and instructing students with special needs imply strong psychological stress, especially among the devoted teachers. Therefore, teachers' psychological burnout should be mitigated throughout simplified classroom management documentation, lower workloads, and specific facilities enabling teachers to feel relaxed. Also, the provision of additional days-off, vacations, and activities out of the workplace can advance the improvement of the situation with low retention among the teachers in special education institutions.

As a consequence, some respondents also claim that the organizational reform should be directed towards a more profound community-driven decision making not only in an informal but also in a formal sense. School communities are known to establish meaningful support of special education teachers, which is why their active participation in managerial and organizational issues will simplify working conditions for special education teachers. Policy-makers need to recognize the fact that since any other reforms will not resolve a problem of poor teacher retention. Again, it is important to mention that the majority of special education professionals and related communities organize their performance on the basis of devotion to special education and students with special needs. Thus, the provision of communities with an extended authority will positively influence teacher retention and the quality of special education as a whole.

To the greatest extent, the increase of retention among special education teachers is possible with a proactive transformational leadership within a sphere of special education. Transformational leadership holds an informal and easy-to-implement nature, so that all school communities are able to adopt such form of leadership (Horn-Turpin, 2009). It is particularly oriented at making drastic changes to the organizational structure of special education institutions so that a common willingness of separate teachers and school communities is explainable. Therefore, transformational leadership is recognized as a key solution to all problems, including the retention of teachers. That is why it is more sensible to say that organizational changes will improve not only teacher retention but also special education system as a whole (Horn-Turpin, 2009). School communities need strong leaders, who will initiate an informal part of reforms, thereby motivating a special education teacher to keep working at their current positions. This way, the interviewees mention a relevant direction of advancement which has already been traced in other studies.

Reform in Scope of Special Education

By the same token, the interviewees suggest that the amendments to the scope of special education are also required (Emery & Vandenberg, 2010). Furthermore, the respondents often mention that the current scope of practice for special education teachers has become dramatically outdated owing to social, political, and economical changes. The design of curriculums and mentoring programs according to up-to-date researches is believed to be a foundation for the reform in the scope of special education. Teachers feel that their job is pointless and hence they prefer to opt for a more satisfactory job (Emery & Vandenberg, 2010). Changes in the scope of special education will make teachers feel more valued and hence motivated to proceed on their career growth as special education mentors.

The participation of the federal government as a policy-maker is especially important. Teachers need to feel less pressure from the government in order to deliver quality special education. Hence, the federal government should design a new policy for reform and adoption of the new scope of special education in many ways: organizational, social, economic, etc. The integration of people with special needs into normal social life has changed through the years and the related law has to consider these changes. Teachers feel the lack of governmental support in that sense, which is why many teachers tend to leave their jobs for a better career prospect. This issue may remain unabated provided that the government does not take action for a complex approach of special education and teacher retention in particular (Emery & Vandenberg, 2010). The interviewees confirm that they would suggest less aggressive standardization and requirements for teacher performance. This suggestion is certainly relevant and it should be accepted by the federal government.

All in all, the reform in the scope of special education is also expected to change the positioning of a teacher. Teachers should be rendered more value through the relevant mentoring programs, flexible working environments, and the accurate measurement of performance. The latter component is especially vital because teachers need to be aware of their success in order to get job satisfaction and plan their subsequent professional growth. In terms of the existing special education system, teachers cannot adequately measure their performance, as they perform towards the outdated objectives of special education. The interviewees often mention that they experience a feeling that they barely realize what they teach their students and for what reasons (Emery & Vandenberg, 2010). Besides psychological strain and the lack of awareness can be explained with irrelevant and outdated curriculums and general mentoring programs, which do not address the real issues of special education.

Enrichment of Resources

As it has become abundantly clear, stressful working conditions often arise because of the lack of resources needed for instructing students with special needs. Some interviewees complained about the shortage of textbooks and other study materials and the necessity to invent their own methods to comply with mentoring programs and curriculum. In consequence, the deficit of resources adversely impacts working conditions, job satisfaction, and the psychological state of special education teachers. Therefore, the sufficient supply of special education schools with all necessary resources is a strong need, which can considerably enhance the retention of their teachers. Resources should be examined in their broadest sense, as long as the problem is related not only to study materials but also to facilities, special equipment, and basic utility requirements of such schools. The advancement of these aspects will positively result in teacher retention in special education institutions, as their working conditions will become accordingly better.

Poor labor market also belongs to a category of resources, since the supply of special education schools with human resources also plays a crucial role in the retention of teachers. This relation can be explained with the fact that special education schools involve the participation not only of teachers but also other personnel such as administrators, psychologists, educators, etc. Teachers serve multiple functions, so their physical and psychological exhaustion frequently forces them to leave the job. The creation of effective professional education, sufficient salaries, and proactive promotion of special education agenda to the public will make the labor market stronger in regards to a presence of available and satisfactory job. These issues, however, are also related to the implications on the state economy, which is why reconsidered investment in a sphere of special education can be recognized as a positive action towards the improvement of the resource base and the retention of special education teachers.

Summary

Overall, this chapter presents the results of the interviews conducted with present and former special education teachers. The respondents were put multiple questions concerning the barriers and facilitators of retention of special education teachers. The interviewees were also asked to provide their opinions about how the situation of low retention can be advanced. As a result, the interviews revealed that the main obstacles for low retention of special education teachers are poor working conditions, the excessive presence of paperwork, and low salaries. As for retention boosters, the interviewees generally mention school communities, alternative certification, and professional development. Also, the respondents suggest that the situation can be improved throughout the employment of organizational reforms, reconsideration of special education scope, and the enrichment of resources needed for special education. The chapter mainly relies on the comments provided by the respondents. However, certain comments are taken from the related literature in order to prove or test the credibility of a particular tendency.

Conclusion

It is appropriate to make a general comment on the fact that the study has managed to answer the main research questions, as long as all implications and causes of low retention among special education teachers have been revealed. First of all, the research has identified the main barriers posed to better the retention of special education teachers. As the results of the interviewees suggest, the main obstacles are poor working conditions, large amounts of paperwork, and low salaries as well as the loss of job value. Poor working conditions are described as challenging environments, in which teachers experience psychological pressure because of their job's nature from the schools' administration, enormous workloads, and lack of time.

To be more specific, the essence of special education implies a constant stress while instructing students with special needs hence specific efforts should be made. That is why many teachers feel stressed and even depressed after working long hours with special needs students, as this job requires substantial moral and mental efforts. Moreover, teachers are often exposed to administrative pressures as they are obliged with the duties which do not belong to their scope of practice or required to complete the excessive amounts of job. Classes may include from 15 to 22 special needs students which is an extremely hard job for one teacher supplemented with the duty of filling out a range of documents directly or indirectly related to the process. Working long hours with excessive number of special need students makes teachers leave their jobs largely owing to the inability to have sufficient time for making all necessary paper arrangements for reports and, what is more, for the preparations for shortcoming classes. School administrations mainly do not recognize these problems and ignore any evidence of protest or resentment thereby causing low retention among teachers.

Additional paperwork has been reported to be a strong barrier to sufficient retention among teachers in special education schools. Apart from preparing for instructing, teachers are supposed to complete large amounts of paperwork that is required legally. In such a way, teachers spend approximately half of their working time while the rest should be allocated to lesson preparation, professional growth, and factual instructing of special needs students. Henceforth, teachers feel stressed under a wide range of legal requirements and receive extremely low job satisfaction. It is quite apparent that such circumstances frequently become a reason for leaving a job even at the first year of employment. Aggressive policy-making is focused on the verification of paperwork rather than on a real state of special education quality making teachers feel that their job is useless. These issues arise in special education schools to various extents, but all interviewees confirm that paperwork is an evident problem of special education nowadays preventing them from teaching in a proper way.

In addition, although some of the respondents complain about their salaries, since they consider that they should earn more for such hard work, the majority of special education professions are generally based on commitment and devotion. Of course, as usual, unjustified wages make many teachers seek a well-paid job. Some of respondents even claim that they can hardly pay all their bills with such a low salary. On the other hand, wages are not the primary reason for the low level of teacher retention. A low salary is basically a facilitator and incentive for leaving a special education career. Teachers are experiencing psychological and moral challenges on a daily basis, so a low salary becomes a final reason for leaving the job. However, in case teachers have better salaries that would not resolve the issue as the educators are more burdened with poor working conditions and bureaucratic system of paperwork than with the financial aspect.

As for the facilitators of retention among special education teachers, the respondent's name school communities, alternative certification, and professional development with the devotion being a unifying concept. School communities are comprised of devoted teachers and other special education professionals usually supporting novice teachers in a professional and moral sense. It is also informative to note that school communities are able to make informed changes to organizational issues and mentoring programs, so that special education teachers feel less stressed in such a challenging environment. That is why the interviewees often note that school communities are able to facilitate teacher retention in special education.

Alternative certification is also regarded as an effective way of teacher retention because the respondents generally indicate that additional knowledge and expertise in education broaden teachers' outlooks and they become more flexible in terms of classroom stresses and other challenges related to their professional activity. Alternative certification renders not only professional resilience but also better administrative skills such as classroom management and time planning which are known to be vital for contemporary special education teaching practice. Hence, the interviewees admit that the existence of alternative certification increases work efficiency and thus leads to better retention of special education teachers. In a similar way, the respondents describe professional growth and the quality of professional education as the defining facilitators of retention. Teachers with a good-quality professional education and willingness for further professional growth are more resistant to hard working conditions and psychological burnouts. Nonetheless, these aspects are expected to be present initially regardless of the level of professional preparation. Consequently, the current state of the special education system and related effects on teacher retention depict the presence of professional education and growth as a strong advantage and an obvious booster of it among teachers in schools of special education even though it should be present a priori.

Eventually, the interviewees describe the main ways of resolving the situation of poor special education teacher retention. The respondents outline that such factors as the organizational reform, the reconsideration of special education scope, and the sufficient supply of resources will improve the situation. The organizational reform is expected to render numerous changes regarding workloads, paperwork, and overall governance in all schools of special education. Heavy reliance on school communities in a formal, as well as informal way, is recommended as school communities are based on the devotion to special education practice so that they will serve the best interest of their institutions and students with special needs. Thus, the respondents also suggest reconsideration of special education scope of practice since many objectives are outdated or currently unfeasible under modern social, cultural, and economic circumstances. The redesign of special education scope should initiate amendments to related policies in order to optimize workloads and make requirements for professional growth more adequate. Contemporary American special education is tending to follow irrelevant objectives and real inaccuracies and opportunities of high-quality special education are still unaddressed. The improvement of this constraint will increase job satisfaction among teachers who will respectively opt for proceeding on their career as special educators. These changes should be adopted in combination with the basic improvements that are also noticed and accentuated by the interviewees.

The respondents suggest that enrichment of schools with sufficient financial, material, educational, and human resources is essential since many schools do not possess enough textbooks, facilities, and workforce for an appropriate serving of special needs students' educational expectations. Consequently, the empowerment of labor market and a redesigned financing mechanism of special education are the best ways of enhancing the resource base of special education schools. A large presence of all the needed resources will also positively result in a higher rate of retention among special education teachers within the target area.

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