The Impending Special Education Qualifications Crisis in Victoria

Abstract

Given concern about the decreasing numbers of staff with qualifications in special education in Victorian government specialist schools (schools for students with special educational needs), a survey was distributed to all 81 of these schools to gather information about teacher qualifications and age. A very high response rate of 94% was obtained. The results showed a very wide range of numbers of staff possessing a special education qualification in different schools. It is of concern that in 15 schools (almost 20% of respondent schools) fewer than half the staff had special education qualifications, while in a further 33 schools (43%) between 50% and 79% of the staff had special education qualifications. To add to this concern, there was a large proportion of older teachers in the schools, with 70% of principals and 40% of teachers likely to retire over the next five years. The implications of this for the staffing of the specialist schools are discussed, leading to suggestions for the future.