Know What You Need: A Special Educator’s Guide to Locating and Asking for Classroom Curricular Resources

As a special education teacher, there are many factors that can affect one’s intent to continue in the profession or find a new career. In a recent study, Bettini, Gilmour, et al. (2020) used the theory of conservation of resources to explain how educators balance access to resources and the demands of their job. In teaching, these resources manifest in the form of administrative support; colleague support; access to materials, such as curricular resources; and increased teaching experience. These factors help to balance out the stressful demands of increased work hours, student behaviors, teaching a wide range of grades and content areas, and lack of teaching experience. They found teachers with access to supportive resources intend to stay at their schools, as these resources balanced out the stressors of teaching special education (Bettini, Gilmour, et al., 2020).