On the Relationship Between Swedish Special Educators’ Work Absenteeism, Job Satisfaction, and Self-Efficacy for Inclusive Education

Abstract

ittle is known about the working conditions for Swedish special educators who teach students with an intellectual disability. Consequently, the overall aim of this research is to describe special educators’ job satisfaction, self-efficacy, and work absenteeism in Swedish special needs comprehensive schools (Grundsärskolan). We surveyed 148 special educators from Sweden (111 were eligible for the analysis). For measurement validation, we used principal axis factoring. For analysis, we estimated a linear regression (job satisfaction as the outcome) and negative binomial regression (work absenteeism as the outcome). The special educators in the study like their jobs, but some desire more resources. Our analysis suggests that higher levels of self-efficacy for inclusive education are associated with higher levels of expected job satisfaction, whereas a higher level of job satisfaction is associated with lower expected work absenteeism.