특수교육지원센터 초임교사가 순회교육 과정에서 경험하는 어려움과 지원요구

Abstract

Objectives The purpose of this study was to conduct a qualitative study and deeply examine the challenges and support needs experienced by beginning teachers in special education support centers during itinerant education. Methods To this end, snowball sampling was conducted to target 5 beginning teachers working in special education support centers in Jeollabuk-do Province as the research participants. This study intended to closely investigate the experience of beginning teachers that implement itinerant education in special education support centers, so a semi-structured interview was developed with 3 domains and 12 components about the ‘operation status of itinerant education,’ ‘challenges of itinerant education,’ and ‘support needs for itinerant education.’ Based on the semi-structured interview, 1-2 sessions of in-depth interview, which is a qualitative study, were conducted and the collected data were analyzed with inductive analysis through the three coding processes that consisted of transcription, coding, and meaning generation. Results The analysis result showed that the struggles of the beginning teachers can be classified into 4 upper categories and 13 sub-categories. The first upper category is ‘a lack of expertise’ and recognized the lack of expertise as a teacher such as establishing itinerant education activity plans, classes, and interventions for behavior problems. The second upper category is ‘psychological conflicts from relationships’ and beginning teachers experienced challenges in their relationships with inclusive teachers, guardians, and the students during the itinerant education. The third upper category was the ‘barren road for self-development’ as there were limits in the training for itinerant education or human resource. The fourth upper category is the ‘poor environment and administrative⋅financial support’ and there were insufficient environmental conditions for itinerant education and administrative⋅financial support. The support needs of the beginning teachers can be categorized into 3 upper categories and 6 sub-categories. The first upper category is for ‘teachers to develop’ through efforts for the growth of teachers' expertise such as training and professional learning community. The second upper category is ‘a school that collaborates and communicates.’ The beginning teachers emphasized the need to cooperate and communicate with the inclusive teachers and the school parents. The third upper category is ‘effective administrative⋅financial support’ as there were demands of appropriate administrative⋅financial support to perform the duties effectively. Conclusions The study results can be applied as the base data of policy support plans for the itinerant education of the beginning teachers in special education support centers and also to examine the measures required for the beginning teachers to develop into professional itinerant teachers.