Special Education Coordinators' Use of Transformational Leadership and Its Relationship with Special Education Teachers' Self-Efficacy and Burnout

In the State of Connecticut, 79000 students are serviced through Special Education. There has been little research examining leadership of the Special Education Coordinator role. As burnout continues to be a theme, overlooked is how the leadership provided correlates. This study investigated how Transformational Leadership (TL) is related to self-efficacy. It explored the components of TL correlation with self-efficacy. Lastly, it determined whether self-efficacy is a mediating variable of Transformational Leadership and teacher burnout. Using the survey results of 367 Connecticut Special Education Teachers the research demonstrated the relationship between the above variables. The survey contained questions from Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, the Teaching Students with Disabilities Efficacy Scale, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. A total score for each of the variables was obtained and placed into SPSS to determine their correlation and relationship. The results demonstrated there to be a statistically significant relationship between Connecticut Special Education Coordinators use of Transformational Leadership and the teachers' self-efficacy, with a moderately strong correlation of r = 0.629. It also demonstrated a moderate correlation between the use of Transformational Leadership and burnout. When delving into the components of TL, the five factors ranged from a moderate to moderately strong correlation with self-efficacy. Finally, self-efficacy did not prove to be statistically significant as a mediating variable between Coordinators' use of TL and Teacher Burnout. The study's findings are valuable insights for District and Policy Leaders regarding Special Education Leadership. It also provides awareness of the importance of Special Education Leadership in its role of reducing burnout and increasing self-efficacy. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]