Special Educator Burnout and Fidelity in Implementing Behavior Support Plans: A Call to Action

Abstract

Special education teachers have one of the most challenging and stressful jobs in public education, which often leads to increased burnout. High levels of burnout have, in turn, been related to lower levels of fidelity of implementation in delivery of evidence-based behavior interventions. The purpose of this position paper is to (a) propose exploration of several potential malleable factors related to burnout of special educators serving students with and at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders, (b) link those suggestions to theoretical frameworks, (c) discuss the relation between burnout and fidelity, and (d) suggest measures that may be used to pursue this research, with the ultimate goal of helping the field discover means of intervention to remediate and prevent burnout.