A Study On Teachers’ Professional Identity And Work Stress At Private Special Education Institutions In Wu Han

Private special education is an important component of the education system in China. However, according to the literature review, we found that there was little systematic study on teachers’professional identity and work stress in domestic private education institutions.Research on this issue is beneficial to both the special children and the development of special education. This study provided some empirical data for the private special education institutions and additionally put forward some recommendations for the managers and decision-makers to improve the quality of teachers at private special education institutions.This study using documentary study, interviews and survey method investigated eighty special education teachers in three private special education institutions (Qihui,Aite and Linjie) in Wuhan, Hubei Province to explore the possible problems and difficulties in their professional identity and work stress. The main conclusions were as follows:(1)The teachers thought that their social status was low, and female teacher’stress is larger than the male.The teachers thought that the job was unstable and the wage was low, so their life was lack of security.Teachers with comparatively high level of education background tend to change their jobs if possible.(2) The evaluation system is a main source of stress, and the female teacher’stress is larger than the male. Other important sources of stress included deficiency of necessary teaching resources,working overtime,the students’individual difference, difficulty in training, students’slow progress and safety responsibility.what’s more, lack of learning opportunities and the teachers’self evaluation of work gave them a lot of pressure.In "meditations and suggestions" part, the author concluded main problems of private special education institutions in Wuhan and put forward some suggestions for them to solve the problems in terms of teachers’wage, teaching materials and teachers’ in-service training.