As a special education teacher, one of the challenges you will face is trying to work with your school administrators. While there are plenty of great administrators out there who provide a generous amount of support to their special education teachers, there are just as many out there who do not fully understand special education laws or simply dismiss the laws because they feel that implementing these laws is unfair to the other students in their buildings. Regardless of the reasoning, working with an unsupportive administration can be quite challenging and can make your job far more difficult to perform. The following are a few tips for working with administrators more successfully.

Tip #1: Build a Relationship

The first step you need to take to get the administration on your side is to build a relationship with them. Before things get sticky and you need the help of the administration to meet the needs of one of your students, be sure to already have established a working relationship. The more you and the administration feel comfortable with each other and the more you have established a good relationship, the easier it will be for you to get the administration on your side when the time comes.

Tip #2: Be Willing to Give a Little

In order to build a solid relationship with your administration, you will likely need to show that you are willing to give a little. While working as a special education teacher can be quite stressful and you will often feel as if you and your students are not being treated fairly, you need to also look at the situation from the point of view of the administration. In terms of budgeting, it is easy to see why an administrator might have difficulty justifying spending so much more money per student on special needs students than on general education students. Try to be sensitive to the administrator’s point of view and to communicate your understanding of the administrator’s position while still pushing for what is best for your students.

Tip #3: Help Educate Them

In many cases, administrators are surprisingly ignorant regarding special education law as well as the options that are available to them. Therefore, you might have to take on the roll of educating your administrators so they can work with you more effectively, Depending upon the personality of your administrator, this may be a bit tricky. Whereas some will welcome your assistance and will recognize that you are an expert in this area, others will resent that you “think” you know more than they do. Therefore, you might have to focus on slowly helping your administrator gain a better understanding of special education laws.

Tip #4: Value Their Input

Even if you do know more about special education than your administrator, you need to keep the administrator’s pride in mind. Since he or she is your superior, he or she may not like the thought that you know more about special education. As such, you should make an effort to stroke the administrator’s ego and to show that you value his or her input. Be sure to express your understanding and appreciation for the suggestions the administrator makes while still being clear on your thoughts and on what you believe is the right thing to do for your students.

Tip #5: Seek Out Allies

Finally, seeking out allies to help you with pushing for your student’s needs will be beneficial. If you work for a smaller district, you might be part of a special education co-op. In this case, call upon the supervisors of your co-op to assist you with getting across your point of view. If you work for a larger district, on the other hand, there will likely be someone within your district who is responsible for overseeing special education programs within all of the schools. Again, calling upon this person to help you can go a long way toward making your job easier. It can also be beneficial to have general education teachers speak out on your behalf, as this will help your administrators see that this is not just a “special ed” problem, but a building-wide problem that affects the entire building.