Special Education ETDs

Publication Date

Fall 10-23-2020

Abstract

Special educators' self-efficacy and retention may be negatively impacted due to many factors related to work conditions and internal factors related to teachers themselves. In this qualitative methodology, I aimed to explore factors that influence teachers of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to stay in their careers and factors affecting their self-efficacy to teach students with autism in Tabuk-Saudi Arabia. This study was based upon Bandura's theoretical construct of self-efficacy and conceptual models of special educators' retention. Six participants: four male and two female special educators participated in semi-structured interviews. After using the qualitative data analysis program Dedoose to analyze data, six themes emerged that described the self-efficacy and retention of teachers of students with ASD's. These themes are educators’ stress, educators’ positive relationships with others, educators’ motivations, personal qualities of effective special educators, educators’ expertise, and occupational decisions. This study recommending future research should study the topics that emerged from this current research with a larger sample that includes males and females from different regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabi.

Keywords

special educators’ self-efficacy, special educators’ retention, in-services teachers of ASD

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Special Education

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Special Education

First Committee Member (Chair)

Julia Scherba de Valenzuela

Second Committee Member

Ruth Luckasson

Third Committee Member

Jan Armstrong

Fourth Committee Member

Allison Nannemann

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