CHALLENGES OF NOVICE SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS IN THE FIRST YEAR OF TEACHING

Abstract

Teaching special needs children is inherently a difficult job. Studies have found that special education teachers suffered high level of burnout which often resulted in teachers leaving their profession. In fact, the turnover rate of special education teachers is among the highest as compared to other professions. One of the most sited reasons for leaving is due to the challenges faced in the job. Arising from this finding, this study aimed to investigate the challenges novice special education teachers encountered in the first year of the teaching job. Questionnaires were used to collect data from these teachers who have recently completed their teacher education programme and currently stations in various schools in Malaysia. The results of the findings showed that novice special education teachers faced multiple challenges in the first year of teaching. Among the challenges reported by these teachers were misconception held by mainstream teachers that teaching special needs students is an easy job; school lacking facilities; administrative overload; negative perception from society; varied student disciplinary problems; shortage of special education teachers and lack of parental support. Although they reported that teaching special needs students is challenging, they were quite satisfied with the moral support provided by school administrators and fellow colleagues. Various recommendations on how to overcome the challenges were also included in the study.