Abstract
Research problem. Purpose of study. To describe differences in burnout, absences, accidents, requests for transfer, desire to leave special education or teaching and practice of functional skills concepts among teachers of the severely handicapped. Research methodology. All 434 teachers of the severely handicapped in the Division of Special Education, Los Angeles County were given the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and 11 questions concerning practice of functional skills concepts, absence rates, requests for transfer, desire to leave teaching. 303 surveys were returned (71%). Means and frequency of occurrence of dependent variables were noted. Chi square procedures established dependencies between levels of functional skills practice and subscales of the MBI and 6 work related variables. Pearson correlations were computed to verify statistical significance. Findings. The implementation of functional skills concepts is statistically significant for Personal Accomplishment; not for Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, absences, accidents, requests for transfer, and desire to leave special education or teaching. Selected elements of this curriculum analyzed separately are statistically significant for one or more of the variables. Conclusions. The majority of teachers of severely handicapped in Los Angeles County do not use functional skills concepts fully. 16% can be considered to be experiencing burnout. All teachers experience moderate to high rates of Emotional Exhaustion, low to moderate rates of Depersonalization and moderate to high rates of Personal Accomplishment. Absence rates, requests for transfer, desire to leave special education or teaching are related separately to one or more functional skills elements. Years teaching, gender are statistically significant for one or more of the 5 elements of a functional curriculum. Recommendations. Further research is needed to determine practice of functional skills concepts among teachers of the Severely Handicapped, using the CBAM Model; Peer Coaching needs to be initiated for teachers so that the stress characteristic of special education, and the need to train teachers in functional skills concepts can both be addressed by allowing teachers to meet regularly, share problems, solutions and coach each other in instructional strategies that will bring greater work satisfaction and success to students.