Professional Development Needs of Principals and Sub-Principals of Special Education Schools

Abstract

The present study seeks to investigate and highlight the professional development needs of principals and sub-principals, of primary and secondary Special Education Schools in the country. The theoretical-scientific background basis of our study for the analysis of research data in the field is the theory of Symbolic Interaction. The quantitative method of collecting research findings was used to conduct the research and the sample was selected by using the convenience sampling method. The survey was conducted in 2020, using a mixed design electronic questionnaire.The descriptive analysis of the results showed that more than half of the participants were interested in training from “very” to “very much” in the following topic areas: first of all, mental disorders followed by, good teaching practices, crisis management / internal conflicts /dysfunctional behaviors, school-family cooperation, organization and administration of Special Education Schools, education legislation and educational policy in Special Education and special issues of disability. From the inductive analysis of the results, it emerged that the issue of training in Intellectual Disability, on one hand was more preferred by men and on the other hand was the least popular in the preferences of participants. Finally, it was found that holders of a Master's or Doctoral degree, compared to holders of a Bachelor’s degree, were more interested in training in the field of behavioral management.