The Relationship of Years of Experience and Special Educators' Concerns Regarding Cooperation with Vocational Education

Abstract

This pilot study investigated the stage of secondary special education teachers' concerns about cooperation with vocational education and the relationship between years of teaching experience and the level of those concerns. A random sample of 207 secondary special education teachers was surveyed using the Stages of Concerns Questionnaire (SoCQ); 67 responses were analyzed. Subjects were blocked into three experience groups (1-5, 6-8, 9 + years). All three experience grouops exhibited either no concern or interest in cooperating with vocational education or concern about the effect of this cooperation on themselves rather than on the learner or other professionals. Multiple regression analysis indicated a statistically significant relationship (p ( .01) between the total concern score and years of teaching. The least experienced teachers were the most open to such cooperation, followed closely by the most experienced teachers. Teachers in the middle groups were the least interested in cooperating with vocational edcuation. It was concluded that inservice and preservice efforts need to be aimed at special educators as well as vocational educators if effective cooperation between these two fields is to be achieved. Because of the small sample size, this should be viewed as an initial, pilot investigation.