Ask any dedicated teacher, and they’ll tell you teaching is a vibrant career where you can implement tangible skills.
Those who teach special education have a specific skill set and an exceptional impact. Special education teachers dedicate their careers to empowering and supporting students with disabilities or unique learning needs. Below, we take a conclusive look at the many rewarding outcomes of choosing to teach special education, both personally and professionally.
The Unique Role of a Special Education Teacher
Special education teachers have a powerful impact in their classrooms and beyond. The following areas are common ways that they influence and empower their students with special needs:
- Student self-esteem: Special education teachers inspire their students toward academic goals, and they have a major impact on their personal growth as well.
- Student professional development: Those teaching special education are closely involved with their students’ career plans and skill-building from day one.
- Student academic success: Special education teachers personally oversee their students' academic progress, setting them up for success in their educational journey.
- Student socialization: Special education teachers support students in developing their social communities and have an essential role in creating a healthy social environment for their students.
What Are the Benefits of Being a Special Education Teacher?
Being a special education teacher has a host of in-classroom and career benefits to explore.
Create Individual Learning Plans for Special Needs Students
Students with disabilities or special learning needs often thrive outside typical classroom structures. Unique situations and abilities mean that special education teachers can take time to craft a lesson plan for their student’s specific needs. Teaching lessons in a way tailored to your students’ needs gives them the support and accessibility they need and empowers them to succeed academically and holistically. Educators who choose to specialize in special education take time in their graduate programs to invest in the specific and impactful skills that equip them to build effective lesson plans, tailor lessons to individual students and more.
Become an Expert in Inclusivity in Education
Students with special needs deserve to excel in inclusive classrooms. Special education teachers have the training, education and skills necessary to help these students receive the accommodations they need in the classroom and beyond.
Spending time investing in your special education master’s degree means you’ll be looked to as an expert in the field. You will be able to answer real-world questions, help parents navigate the education system and enhance student experiences.
Awareness of critical resources helps special needs students by fostering inclusive education and removing some barriers to accessing these resources. Your specialization and understanding of students’ unique needs can lead to greater advocacy in your school and the education system as a whole.
Engage With Students and Build Special Connections
Special education teachers build significant connections through one-on-one student engagement.
Asynchronous classroom structures mean more individual time for each student, and you may spend multiple years with the same students. This gives you more time to establish meaningful connections and make a real impact. Special education is about empowering and educating students, but you might just find that your life will change, too.
Career Benefits of Being a Special Education Teacher
Working in the field of special education provides valuable career experience. The complex situations and specialized skills help you become a more effective teacher for all of your students, not just students with special needs.
There is a high demand for special education teachers, so choosing this degree equips you to help meet schools’ needs. Due to the current special education teacher shortage, your education may be funded through U.S. Department of Education grants.
How to Become a Special Education Teacher
- Get a Master’s Degree in Education. Becoming a special education teacher starts with a Bachelor's or Master’s Degree in Education (M.Ed.) from an accredited institution.
- Get a specialization or certification in special education. Your specialization allows you to receive training to help you meet standards and develop effective curricula, preparing you for a dynamic career.
- Complete the relevant student teaching and supervision requirements. All education students must complete a certain number of student-teacher hours under supervision before they enter the workforce.
Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College: M.Ed., Special Education
Peabody College’s M.Ed. in Special Education is the nation’s top special education graduate program, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. Our master's degree allows you to collaborate with faculty and other students on important initiatives and gain wisdom from experts with experts from various disciplines through courses, fieldwork and research. The program advocates inclusion and equity regardless of student background, needs or skill level.
Peabody College at a Glance: Special Education Career Opportunities
Of Peabody’s Special Education job-seeking graduates, 100 percent were employed or pursuing further education within four months of graduation.
One of the program’s distinguished alumni, Noel Ifeanyi Alumona, recently traveled to visit the Dalai Lama as one of 26 young leaders from conflict-torn regions across the globe. In 2022, Alumona won the AFS Award for Young Global Citizens for his project, Boys Champions.
“As someone who works to end violence against women and girls in Nigeria, I was inspired by meeting His Holiness and these incredible changemakers,” Alumona said. “I was reminded that gender-based violence in Nigeria is gender-based violence in Colombia, climate change in Uganda is climate [change] in America, and injustice in Syria and Libya is injustice in South Sudan and Turkey. The hope is that we can use compassion and dialogue to end bloodshed, conflicts, violence and extremism.”
At Peabody, Alumona studied interventions for children and young adults with reading and math disabilities, and he hopes to use his education to create resources for children with disabilities in his home country of Nigeria and influence education policy across Africa.
Interested In Learning More?
For more information about Peabody College’s M.Ed. in Special Education, download our eBook, Teaching for Impact: Empowering the Next Generation with a Master of Education.
