Professional Identity and Integrity: SETs' Perspectives on Pedagogy and Practice

Through a series of interviews of three special educators, conducted over 18 months during the COVID-19 pandemic, we gathered information about their experiences, their sense of integrity, and its relationship to the ethics of the profession at the personal, school, and district level at a crisis time of shifting service provision between online, hybrid and in-person learning. Interview data offered insight on the dynamic professional special educator teacher identity as it relates to a systems model of identity/role development. The interviewees were selected from special educators who had responded to a survey about their practices during the COVID pandemic. Findings indicate adjustments in identity based on values and experiences related to online, hybrid, and in person learning shifts, educator motivations and agency to recognize these has implications for teacher resilience and retention in the face of challenge, professional development, teacher preparation, and policy in special and inclusive education.