Study On The Relationship Between Special Education Teachers’ Professional Development And Their Training Needs

The Seventeenth CPC National Congress proposed "concern for special education", and the Eighteenth CPC National Congress required "support special education". The government has mentioned supporting for special education explicitly in the national policy level. Comrade Jiang Zemin once said,"The attitude toward disabled people shows the social civilization and progress level of a country". Special education presents that the disabled have the right to enjoy a fair education, and special education teachers are direct practitioners. Teachers’professional development is related to the educational quality of special education schools, it is also related to their abilities to serve disabled students better. The Ministry of Education clearly put forward to strengthen the special education teachers’professional development and training with Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Teacher Group in Special Education and Special Education Enhancement Program (2014-2016) in December2012and January2014.Through literature method, we analyzed previous literatures, and based on the Medium (Small) School Teachers’ Professional Standards issued by the Ministry of Education, combined with the inherent characteristics of special education teachers, Special Education Teachers’Professional Development Questionnaire and Special Education Teachers’Training Needs Questionnaire are compiled. By confirming the dimension, project analysis, selection and exploratory factor analysis to determine the questionnaires’final dimensions and their corresponding questions; then accomplish the formal questionnaire by testing its validity and reliability.Using random sampling, self-drawn questionnaires are distributed in special education schools of Shandong, Tianjin, Zhejiang and Yunnan province and so on. Teachers are experimental subjects. Through interviewing school teachers and principals, the study found the most direct reason that hinder teachers’ professional development and training. Through analyzing the data of teachers’ professional development and their training needs, empirical research of teachers’ professional development and training needs, combined with the contents of the interview, the relationship between teachers’ professional development and training needs and the mutual influence are analyzed.The results showed that:1Special Education Teachers’Professional Development Questionnaire contains three dimensions:teachers’ professional philosophy and ethics, professional knowledge and professional competence; Special Education Teachers’Training Needs Questionnaire includes four analysis categories:training cognition, training contents, training methods and training evaluation. Statistical analysis shows good reliability and validity and meets the education measurement requirements. The questionnaire can be used as a tool for the measurement of special education teachers’professional development and their training needs.2Teachers’ professional development is at a high level, indicating that teacher group in special education schools continues to improve. Specifically, teachers’ professional philosophy and ethics are at a high level and there are no differences among the variables; on teachers’ professional knowledge, female teachers are significantly better than male teachers and teachers aged31-40years with11-20years of teaching experience are in the highest level of teachers’ professional knowledge development; professional capacity of female teachers is also significantly higher than male teachers.3The training for special education teacher is aimless; teachers have an urgent need for a high level professional training. As to training cognition, the elder and with longer school age teachers have a comprehensive understanding of the training a teacher has; Experts’ formal classroom training lectures are not welcome; On the training contents, teachers also prefer the latest theoretical and practical training methods, students specialty and other contents; On training evaluation, most teachers think that most of the special education trainings are less targeted. From principals’ perspective, they like multi-school-based training, which can protect the basic order of school teaching.4Analyzing the relationship between special education teachers’ professional development and their training needs, we found they are significantly correlative. The higher level of teachers’ professional development, the higher demand for training and also the more corresponding requirements follow. Professional knowledge and competence have significant impact on training methods and its effect.Therefore, the study puts forward to the support and security system of special education teachers’ professional development and their training which includes self-support, school support, administrative support and community support system:the teachers must be adamant and take the initiative to improve themselves; schools should create a good school learning atmosphere, develop appropriate policies to meet teachers’ training needs and at the same time strengthen training monitoring and evaluation; the society should create a series of comprehensive supporting systems, including the general public and the community, and establish partnerships with universities to support teachers’ professional development and training effectively; the government should improve relevant laws and regulations, take training for special education teachers seriously, increase the intensity of the training and support for special education teachers.