Special educators who serve students in inclusive educational settings as well as those serving students with severe disabilities are more likely to experience complex and fragmented work lives. While special education has become a major concern for school leaders, too few studies have addressed the supervisory practices or the contributions and roles for teacher leadership in special education (York-Barr, Sommerness, Duke & Ghere., 2005; Bays and Crockett,2007; Billingsley, 2007; Bagley & Tang, 2018). This lack of knowledge related to effective supervision and promotion of teacher leaders may be a contributing factor to why special educators are more likely to depart the educational profession (Ingersoll, 2001) or why students with special needs do not always receive optimal FAPE.
Bays and Crockett
(2007) found principals attempting to balance management, administrative, and
supervisory duties; monitoring legal compliance; and ensuring instructional
quality exhibited minimal level of interactions with teachers regarding the
improvement of teaching and learning for students with special needs. Desiring to contribute knowledge and
strategies that would result in improved support of special educators seeking inclusive,
high quality educational experiences for students with disabilities, York-Barr
et al’s well-grounded qualitative research (2005) aligned with and extended
previous findings by the Council for
Exceptional Children (2001) and yielded eight major findings organized into
three clusters:
·
the
nature of the work of special educators,
·
special
educators demonstrating leadership functions, and
·
differentiated
support realized from others.
Finding
few references to the leadership roles of special educators, Billingsley (2007)
explored potential contributions of teacher leadership for special education by
reviewing select teacher literature from general education-- including the “emergence
of new teacher roles in schools, the roots and meanings of teacher leadership,
and potential benefits of teacher leadership” (p. 164). Conducting a meta-analysis of nearly 50 articles
and studies was conducted in addition to a case-study interview with a special
education teacher who possessed nearly thirty- years of experience during which
time she reviewed the professional literature to develop the Supports with Imagination
and Meaning (SWIM) program, Billingsley (2007) selected and reviewed
teacher leadership literature in general education, including the emergence of
new teacher roles in schools, roots and meanings of teacher leadership, and
possible benefits of teachers as leaders.
After reviewing several examples of teacher leadership in special
education, Billingsley investigated barriers to teacher leadership and ways of
supporting the work of teacher leaders. As
a result, Billingsley found support in the literature for the belief that
serving the needs of students with disabilities requires multiple leaders
across school-wide and district-wide levels.
Teacher leadership can be present in different forms for varied
purposes, including management, instruction, and school reform. Therefore, teacher leadership may be
structured either formally or informally as it evolves through presented opportunities
and explicit needs within schools.
Whenever teachers
are provided on-going opportunities to learn through experiences, experiment
with new ideas, and then creatively implement new programs then they are more
likely to become teacher leaders in both their schools and communities. These opportunities are beneficial by
allowing prospective teacher leaders to develop broader perspectives related to
the identified needs within schools and across the district. This encourages reflection about their own
practices and provides variety in their work and recognition of their
expertise. Therefore, these new roles
and opportunities to influence others serve as critical forms of renewal for
special educators.
Special educators
become leaders by adeptly confronting barriers to the education of students who
have disabilities, rather than accepting the norms and values of the status quo
(Billingsley, 2007, p. 166). Through
focus group interviews with special educators selected based on documented
effectiveness serving students with low-incidence disabilities York-Barr et al.
(2005) found it is better to “understand their realities of practice in
inclusive education and to identify supports for such practice” (p. 193).
Although York-Barr et al did not specifically focus upon teacher leadership, they
did discuss how special educators served as “informal leaders” (p. 200) by
articulating “a sophisticated understanding of how their schools and districts
functioned organizationally and politically” (p. 193). They also suggested that
teacher leaders provided the vision, direction, and plans for special education
and encouraged prospective teacher leaders to collaborate and advocate across
multiple levels within their educational systems, thereby leveraging the
social, structural and fiscal resources beneficial for students with
disabilities. In doing so, prospective
teacher leaders project a concrete understanding that the degree to which they
are connected in a school influences the degree to which students with
disabilities are connected, supported, and provided opportunities for success
within the culture of the school (p. 211).
Analyzed research,
drawn conclusions, and provided implications for future practice or research by
York-Barr, et al, (2005); Bays and Crockett (2007); as well as Billingsley (2007)
were each grounded within the conceptual framework of special education
leadership and the ethical treatment of students with special needs. While each study’s limited sample certainly restricts
the ability to generalize results, the shared references amongst and between
the collective researchers served to narrow the focus of each study while
expanding the implications of individual results to the field of special
education and educational leadership. Clearly further research on teacher
leadership in special education is required to promote the opportunities for teacher
leaders in schools and optimize student learning in the least restrictive
environment. Possible research questions suggested by Billingsley include:
- What
is the nature of teacher leaders’ roles at the school (e.g., elementary,
secondary) and district levels?
- What
factors (e.g., personal, organizational, preparation) influence the exercise of
special education leadership by both special and general educators?
o
How
does the culture of the district and school influence teacher leaders’ work?
o
How
do special education leaders learn to work within the social organization of
their schools?” (173)
Additionally, related to previous research by Anderson (2017), it is not yet known if and to what degree elementary schools that are led by leaders exhibiting high emotional intelligence (EQ) would have teachers exhibiting high EQ. Are such schools more likely to have students receiving education in an inclusive setting? These are all crucial questions that beg for further research on effective teacher leadership in special education.
To
Cite:
Anderson, C.J. (November 30, 2020).
Special education leadership and the
pursuit of ethical
practice. [Web
log post] Retrieved from http://www.ucan-cja.blogspot.com/
References
Anderson,
C. J. (2017). Examining demonstrated emotional intelligence and
perceptions
of inviting schools. Journal of Invitational Theory and Practice,
23, 35-61.
Bagley, S. & Tang, K. (2018) Teacher leadership in special education: Exploring skills, roles,
and perceptions. Journal of Interdisciplinary Teacher Leadership
(JoITL) 2 (1) Dec
Bays, D. A.,
& Crockett, J. B. (2007). Investigating instructional leadership for
special
education. Exceptionality,
15(3), 143-161. doi:10.1080/09362830701503495
Billingsley,
B. S. (2007). Recognizing and supporting the critical roles of teachers in
special
education leadership. Exceptionality,
15(3), 163-176. doi:10.1080/09362830701503503
Crockett, J. B. (2007). INTRODUCTION: The Changing Landscape of Special Education
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Lashley, C.
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Applying theoretical perspectives to
complex dilemmas. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,
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