Special Education Jobs and Information

This section provides information on special education jobs and resources including training requirements, types of jobs available in the field and associated organizations.

What is Special Education ?

Special Education is considered the instructional teaching and activities designed for students who are identified as requiring special learning needs. These types of students may include:

Gifted Children

Mentally Retarded Children

Sensory handicapped children

Neurological and orthopaedic handicapped Children

Children with emotional and social behaviour issues

Adults and Adolescences who have similar issues as above

Special Education Teachers and their role

Special education teachers work with people who require a variety of special needs. They are trained specifically to meet the needs of students (who include both adults and children) who require special attention.

It is common that a majority of special education teachers tend to work with children with mild to moderate disabilities. By modifying the general education curriculum they are able to meet the child’s individual needs. However each scenario will vary as some children cannot cope with the general curriculum or modification of it, such as special education teachers working with mental retardation or autism. For the most part these teachers educate children with basic literacy and life skills.

An important part of a special education teacher’s job is the early identification of a child with special needs, intervention is vital in educating children with special needs because as time goes on children who are not coping or who struggle in the general curriculum can be negatively affected.

Special education teachers may undertake any of the following activities in their occupation:

Assess identified children who have long or short-term learning difficulties

Assessing able children when necessary to check if they may require special needs

Teach individual pupils or small groups of pupils within a class

Developing and adapting materials and teaching strategies and using special equipment and facilities to teach small groups or classes of children with special educational needs

Liase with other members of staff within a school to identify individual pupils' special needs including monitoring them

Work with a school to develop school an action plan and policies relating to special needs issues

Liaise with parents and other agencies such as social workers, speech and language therapists (Speech Pathologists) and psychologists

Qualifications in Special Education

In the United States it require special education teachers to be licensed. These licenses can be attained by college studies in special education. Many Colleges and universities in the USA offer programs in special education, at the undergraduate, masters, and doctorate degree levels. Some of the bachelor degree are 4-year programs include general and specialized courses in special education.

Some the specializations may include:

Behavioural disorders

Learning disabilities

Generally the last year of the program is usually spent teaching students supervised by a qualified teacher.

Jobs in Special Education

In the field of special education there is a variety of employment options available including:

Elementary schools

High Schools

Community agencies

Local Government Authorities

Research Centres

Health Centres

Universities and Colleges

Career development and advancement in Special Education

Getting into a career in special education is not limited and there are opportunities for advancement, these may include but are not limited to:

Earn advanced degrees such as doctorate and teach special education to others at college and university level.

Progress to management roles include manager of a special needs team, subject teacher or co-ordinator.

Become a special needs officer in government departments assisting in creation of recommendations and policies in special education field.

Become a Special education co-ordinator and work with a range of agencies and parents within a school environment.

National Association for Gifted Children - NAGC is a non-profit organization of parents, teachers, educators who address the unique needs of children and youth with demonstrated gifts and talents