Section four of the survey, specifically asked respondents to rate the factors that influenced their decision to accept a job offer. These factors related to financial issues, personal issues, working conditions, and support. The results are broken down by level of experience and whether the respondent was from Oregon or out of state. The results are broken down further by urban-suburban positions, small city positions and rural/isolated positions.
Previous Strategy Briefings have focused on findings related to administrative support, financial considerations, interactions with potential colleagues, perception of staff rapport, and agreement with program philosophy. The February issue will report on other factors that while not necessarily deemed very or critically important by a large percentage of respondents from an overall perspective, there were significant differences that emerged both by level of experience and agency size/geographical location. Being aware of these differences may prove useful to agencies in recruiting and hiring special education staff.
While this was not rated nearly as important as relationships with special education staff it is still a significant consideration. It was much more important to experienced special educators than beginning special educators - especially so for respondents from Oregon. Additionally, it was viewed as much more important to those employed in a rural or isolated setting than other settings. It was cited as least important by experienced career changers.
Overall, roughly half of the respondents indicated that support with paperwork was very or critically important in their decision to accept a job offer. This jumped to over 60% for experience Oregon special educators. Paperwork support considerations were again much more important to respondents employed in rural/isolated settings than other settings.
While location was not an overly important factor from an overall perspective, it was significantly more important to respondents who had come from out-of-state. This was especially true for proximity to recreational opportunities. For example, approximately 20% of respondents who were previously from Oregon rated proximity to recreation as very or critically important, compared to 50% - 60% of those from out-of-state who rated it as very or critically important.
Developing programs and resources to address the items listed above will likely enhance success in recruiting and hiring quality special educators. If your agency already has such programs and resources in place - promote them.