The Context of the Demand for Special Education Faculty

Understanding the context of the demand for special education (SE) teacher education (TE) faculty is important because it can provide faculty at doctoral-granting universities with useful information for program planning. Knowing more about SE teacher preparation programs currently in place and program revisions being planned allows doctoral programs to be more responsive to their consumers. Doctoral students seeking careers in academe will be better able to prepare for the jobs they fill in the future. With this intent in mind, in fall of 2009, the Special Education Faculty Needs Assessment (SEFNA) surveyed a sample of SE TE coordinators. The survey requested information about past, present, and future concentrations or programmatic offerings. It also asked questions about projected need for new faculty resulting from attrition, program expansion, and expanded faculty roles. In addition, the survey gathered information about current staffing patterns at these college and university preparation programs. A two-phased, nonprobability, purposeful sampling approach was employed. Programs in small and large states were sampled, and the survey obtained a 78.1% response rate ( n = 57). Results indicate that SE teacher preparation programs are not closing. Rather, the roles of SE faculty and the programs they offer will expand greatly in the upcoming 5 years. This expansion is expected at a time of significant attrition, some 21% annually due to retirements alone, making it clear that demand for new faculty will far outstrip the supply in the next few years.