Special Education Teachers' Perspective on Burnout When Legal Counsel Is Part of the IEP Team: A Phenomenological Study

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand teacher perceptions of special education teacher burnout rates when legal counsel or parent advocates are Individualized Education Program (IEP) team members in public schools in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The two theories guiding this study are the social cognitive theory and the job demands-resources model. Special education teachers are leaving the field at an alarming rate. It is essential to understand burnout specifically related to special education teachers. This study determined how fourteen special educators with varying years of teaching experience described their experience when an advocate or legal counsel was part of the IEP team. Snowball sampling was used to identify participants. Participants were special education teachers from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia who have experienced legal counsel or advocates as part of the IEP team. Interviews, a survey, and focus groups were used to gather data. Data analysis revealed multiple themes to help answer each of the five sub-questions. The themes identified were understanding perceptions of job performance, guiding teams through difficult meetings, reflecting on emotional responses, exploring different attributes of legal counsel and advocates, addressing both personal and professional needs of staff, and meeting staff needs.