Difficulties Experienced by Special Education Novice Teachers in Their Induction Year, At the Various Special Education Frameworks in Israel: Outline of a Research Study

Abstract

The stage of the entry into teaching of the beginning teacher is a distinct stage in the circle of the professional development of teachers and is accompanied by many challenges and difficulties. The classic model of Fuller (1969) and its extension into the model of Fuller and Brown (1975) that addresses the beginning teacher’s concerns, presents three stages in the beginning teacher’s professional development: the stage of survival – concerns about the self, the stage of mastery – concerns about tasks/situations, and the stage of impact – concerns about the impact on students. This article seeks to present a research outline that addresses a population on which the research has not focused extensively, the novice teachers in special education, who work in the different frameworks of special education that present the novice teachers with challenges and difficulties. The research will examine what are the difficulties of the novice teachers in special education, in the different frameworks of special education, during the year of their entry into teaching. In addition, the research will examine whether there is a distinction between the different frameworks in the aspect of the difficulties with which the novice teachers cope, as well as in the solutions provided to them in coping with their difficulties. The importance of this research study is by extension the theoretical academic knowledge about the entry into teaching and the difficulties of beginning teachers in special education, and the possibility to use this knowledge to improve the mechanisms of absorption of the special education novice teachers in the educational field.