Credit: Santi Vedrí / Unsplash.com
Teacher retention and burnout with heavy workloads seem to lead in reasons for the workforce shortfall.
Gwynedd Mercy University recently announced that it received a $20,000 grant to support its special education program.
In November, it hosted its first ever event using those funds where high school students from Wissahickon, Norristown, and Methacton attended an event in which they were encouraged to pursue a career in special education, such as speech pathologists, occupational therapists, or teacher.
The funds come at a much-needed time as the Commonwealth is grappling with a severe statewide shortage of educators, specifically in special education. Many local school districts are seeing its fair share of struggles in this department.
Vacancies in special education departments can be found on many job boards. For example, Wissahickon School District currently has four job openings: three literacy training services teachers and one emotional support teacher; Abington School District has four openings, as well (for paraprofessionals); though Hatboro-Horsham’s 11 vacancies are not in the field.
“The shortages seem to come from a combination of low pay and extra work,” said Ambrocia Martin, M.S., LPC, counselor at Cheltenham School District. “The education field is already overworked and underpaid, but there is an additional level of work that is required for special education teachers that creates a quicker burnout period.”
Can staffing meet the demands of this growing dilemma?
“Staffing is a serious challenge for districts across the Commonwealth,” said Charles Johnson, Director of Student Services at Pennridge School District. “Most schools have multiple open positions and the number of qualified candidates that apply for both teaching and aide positions is shrinking. Additionally, when we have a leave (e.g., maternity, FMLA, etc.) the chances of anyone applying for a short-term position is minimal.
“This challenge contributes to burnout for those that are working because they are being asked to do more (e.g., the case management / paperwork side of the position),” Johnson added. “It is also important to recognize the number of students who qualify for special education services are increasing, which leads to higher caseloads for the teachers.”
According to Johnson, special education teachers must balance planning, grading, teaching, and IEP paperwork (progress monitoring, reevaluation reports, and helping to support with behavior and discipline). These all could be contributing factors to hiring and retaining special education teachers.
Burnout occurs in just about every profession, but there are ways for administrators to make sure they keep their staff on board.
“We are trying to combat this issue by offering comparative pay for teachers, with a stipend given for special education teachers,” Martin said. “Our new contract proposal also gives additional IEP writing days, where teachers can have a day to dedicate to progress monitoring, IEP writing, etc.”
The situation in the Philadelphia School District is even worse.
Arthur Steinberg, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT), in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, summarized the shortage as “horrific.”
“It was bad last year,” Steinberg said, “and it’s grown this year.” Some schools have or have had double-digit shortages: George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Sciences in November had 17 vacant jobs, Roxborough High School had 16, Richmond Elementary had 14, Dobson Elementary had 11, and Emlen Elementary had 9, according to the PFT.
According to USA Today, for the 2024-2025 school year, 72% of public schools have “experienced difficulty” filling the special education positions, according to the Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics. Some of those reasons include the nature of the work (working with “unpredictability of human behavior”), the workload, fewer people in general are pursuing careers in this field and, of course, the pay.
On a national level, there were 20,000 teacher certifications issued each year approximately 10 years ago, compared to only 6,000 in 2021, according to the latest data.
Local colleges like Gwynedd Mercy University, hope that recruiting events can help to change this trend.
“We welcome this opportunity to work with local K-12 partners and other agencies to promote careers in special education to secondary students, so that Pennsylvania schools have a full pipeline of qualified and certified teachers and specialists to work with our neediest students,” said Dr. Patrick McAleer, Gwynedd Mercy’s Certification and Placement Specialist, in a press release. “Beyond this, we also want to share the ‘joy’ of working with children who have special needs with the next generation of college students,”
The 2024-2026 Developing Future Special Educators (DFSE) Grant was awarded to local education agencies and institutions of higher education seeking to develop or expand upon experiential learning opportunities designed to prepare the next generation of special educators.
