Special Educators’ Experiences Navigating Tensions When Serving Students Labeled With Emotional/Behavioral Disorders

Abstract

Special educators often work in school contexts that are not oriented toward their students’ strengths and needs, resulting in tension–misalignment between their responsibility to students and their schools’ resources and expectations. Using grounded theory, we explored five U.S. teachers’ experiences of tension when serving students labeled with emotional/behavioral disorders in self-contained classes. We found teachers experienced tensions regarding students’ belonging, their academic instructional roles, and their roles supporting students’ behavior. Tensions reflected ways schools were not oriented toward students’ strengths and support needs. Yet, teachers’ perspectives on tensions varied greatly. Grounded in humanizing perspectives on students, some teachers experienced tension with colleagues who resisted including students and honoring students’ support needs. Other teachers held deficit-based, legalistic views of students, which underlay their acceptance of (or even advocacy for) exclusion. Findings indicate the centrality of educators’ conceptions of disability for how they conceptualize and fulfill their roles in serving students with disabilities.