Special education teachers tend to have hefty workloads that can lead to stress and burnout. Principals may not be able to solve all their problems, but they can offer an important relief—emotional and practical support.
Special education staffing shortages are a perennial challenge for schools—research shows that 21% of public schools were not fully staffed with special education teachers at the start of the 2023-24 academic year. A big reason why is that special education teachers are leaving their roles at higher rates than other teachers, either for general education teaching jobs or for a job outside of education.
Special education teachers often experience burnout because they lack resources and support while juggling complex workloads. Many feel like their peers or school leaders do not always understand their jobs, and they might feel isolated in their school communities.
Natasha Veale, the dean of the School of Social Sciences and Education at Greensboro College in North Carolina, has studied how principals can better support special education teachers. In her book, How to Retain Special Education Teachers: A Transformational Leadership Guide for School Administrators, she writes about a framework she developed for principals to build and strengthen their special education leadership capacity.
While principals might not know the specifics about special education, they most likely learned about transformational leadership—an educational model that focuses on inspiring and empowering all members of a school community—during their principal-training program, said Veale.
“I use the transformational leadership behaviors—inspirational motivation, itemized influence, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration—to flesh out the areas of emotional support that teachers, in the research and the ones that I’ve spoken to, have expressed across decades,” she said.
Here are four tips from Veale’s Transforming Special Education Leadership framework.
1. Put special ed. teachers on the M.A.P.
Principals should motivate special education teachers, articulate a shared vision, and promote a good culture.
To do so, principals should include special education teachers in school-wide conversations and initiatives. One example is to take their insights into consideration regarding school improvement planning. This inclusion promotes a positive school culture and models how special education teachers can participate in a shared decisionmaking process.
2. B.U.M.P. special ed. teachers up on the priority list
Principals should focus on building relationships, understanding special education beyond compliance, modeling best practices, and promoting ethical behavior.
According to EdWeek reporting, many principals struggle with where and how to start supporting special education staff. Veale says it can begin with relationship building.
“Special education is fully led by laws and procedures and really strict guidelines,” she said. “Administrators sometimes focus so much on compliance, they may not focus on the teacher and what they’re experiencing and how they’re dealing and managing with everything in the situation beyond the IEP meeting.”
Strong relationships can also lead to an environment where principals can ask questions to better understand the perspectives of special education teachers.
3. S.E.E. special educators
Principals should specify supervision and evaluation specific to special education, encourage problem-solving, and encourage innovative solutions.
While principals often evaluate special education teachers, they don’t always possess enough background knowledge to provide proper feedback, Veale said.
Principals can get a better understanding of the different tools and strategies for students with different disabilities by meeting with special education teachers more often, outside of mandatory evaluations.
4. Give special ed. teachers their R.O.S.E.
Finally, principals working with special education teachers should recognize cultural differences, offer personalized feedback, share decisionmaking, and empower teachers.
To give more emotional support to special education teachers, Veale suggests principals think about recognition and increased communication.
For example, principals can have frequent check-ins or more casual conversations to see how a teacher is doing each week. The principal could also announce to the broader school community a specific accomplishment by the special education department to shine on a light on the team’s work.
“Outside of all the technical things and the problems that the teachers experience, they also want to know that they matter and that they’re important,” Veale said.
