Is it better to get a ms in teaching or special ed?

Question

Is it better to get a ms in teaching or special ed?

Answer 1

Teaching.

Here's why:

The policy for special education now has a stipulation that children should have "the least restrictive environment", meaning, kids with ADHD or dyslexia, or other minor and non-social disabilities will be placed into normal classes (aka mainsteaming).  This results in Special Education jobs being downsized, and classroom sizes increasing.

With a degree in special education, it will be harder to find a job.  Although states differ on the speed that they are mainstreaming students, in states like mine (Texas), it is happening very rapidly.

My education professor told me several principals have told Special Ed teachers to get their degree or certification in another field because their jobs won't be there the next school year... now just 6 months away.

Best career choice:

major in education, with a minor or at least some focus on special ed, because it impresses employers that you are able to help disabilities students more the average teacher.

Answer 2

teaching

Answer 3

I am a speech-language pathologist (SLP) working in a public school. Only go into special ed if you are passionate about working with special needs children. There is no greater feeling than helping a child who is struggling and feels like a failure, to learn a skill and see the happiness in their eyes and the gratefulness of their parents. It is great to earn the respect of your peers for the work that you do. But the work is very hard. It requires determination, curiosity, detective work, experimentation, and extensive data collection to "prove" that you are being effective.

The other poster is correct about the changes taking place. Classroom teachers are being given more and more responsibility for implementing special ed interventions to help children with learning disabilities and behavioral issues. Special ed teachers, reading specialists, and SLPs are co-teaching with teachers in the regular ed classroom to integrate services into the regular ed curriculum. This requires planning time and collaboration as a team.

It is a very exciting time in education right now and requires a great deal of flexibility. The school districts are constantly changing course in midstream and we all are having to learn to adapt.

We have 2 special ed teachers and they've been told only one will be needed for next year. But the following year, we know that there will be a huge number of children coming into our kindergarten from our early childhood (preschool) program with special needs and they will have to hire another special ed teacher.