Special Education Teacher Leadership in Jordan: Current State and Constraints

Abstract

Distributed leadership can enhance the professional learning communities of schools. The present study explored the leadership experience of Jordanian special education teachers, and their perceptions of common constraints to leadership. A mixed method design was used, including a survey (n = 136) and an interview (n = 23). Results indicated that special education teachers had little experience of leadership roles. They regarded the provision of cognitive and emotional support to colleagues as their most important leadership role, and participating in interview committees and selecting new teachers as the least important. There were no significant mean differences between male and female special education teachers in their level of enacted leadership. Level of education and years of experience were found to have a significant effect on the level of teachers' leadership.

The leadership roles of Saudi special education teachers from their own perspectives

“…The results showed that special education teachers have a low level of leadership. This result agrees with the findings of previous studies, which found and confirmed that the perceived leadership roles of special education teachers were limited in scope and frequency [14]. The results of this study disagree with the results of a previous study, which stated that special education teachers play leadership roles at high levels, and the perception of special education teachers regarding the practice of classroom management has been positively correlated with the practice of teacher leadership [13].…”

“…There is a consensus in the literature that leadership among general education teachers and the leadership roles of special education teachers are rarely mentioned [14]. This gap is particularly important, not only because the restructuring of education changes the tasks and behaviour of workers in education, but also changes the management of professional relationships.…”

“…If teachers are isolated and marginalized, their students are likely to be so. Teachers-leaders must work collaboratively and expand their knowledge and skills to successfully manage and support their students with special needs [14] .…”

“…The study found that the perceived leadership roles of special education teachers were limited in scope and frequency. Special education teachers realized many barriers to the leadership roles, which are the lack of time to take leadership roles, absence of laws and regulations related to teacher leadership, lack of pre-service training, negative attitudes towards special education teachers, overload of responsibilities and disharmony between roles, and the lack of communication opportunities within the Ministry of Education [14].…”

Student teachers’ perspectives towards teacher leadership

“…Despite the great attention to teacher leadership in Western countries, there is a dearth in studies related to teacher leadership in Arab countries (Al-Taneiji & Ibrahim, 2017;Al-Zboon, 2016;Ramahi & Eltemamy, 2014). This lack of research becomes ever more necessary as several Arab countries have launched educational reforms in their countries in order to improve their educational systems (Alfadala, 2015;El-Baz, 2009;Karami-Akkary, 2014).…”