Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Derek Schroll

Abstract

Nationally, special education teacher turnover is a significant issue for school districts. The problem addressed in this study was the high special education teacher turnover rate in one local school district in North Carolina. Guided by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, this basic qualitative study explored previous special education teachers’ perceived motives for leaving their workplace in the local school district. Fifteen special education teachers who had separated from the local school district over the prior five years participated in semistructured interviews. Interview data were analyzed using open inductive coding following Yin’s five-phase approach. Themes derived from the analysis included (a) special education is a challenging profession creating dissatisfaction at the workplace, (b) family and personal pressures strongly influenced teachers continuing in the profession, and (c) teachers experienced a desire for change into a less stressful position and/or more fulfilling career. These findings indicate that special education teacher turnover in the district was linked to dissatisfaction with working conditions and lack of administrative support at schools. A professional development project was designed to inform local school administrators about special education teachers’ motivations for leaving the workplace and assist them with identifying strategies to reduce the high teacher turnover rate. By understanding and making efforts to address special education teachers’ motivations for leaving the workplace, special education teachers are more likely to remain the workplace bringing experience and valuable human resources to the classroom which may result in positive social change for students and school communities over time.

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