This article presents a profile of early career special educators' (n = 1,153) working conditions, induction support, and career plans using data from the Study of Personnel Needs in Special Education (SPeNSE). The majority of respondents are Caucasion and female, and 80% are certified for their main assignments. Most respondents reported receiving informal support from other teachers and viewed this informal support as more valuable than other forms of support. Approximately 60% of respondents participated in formal mentoring, although one third did not find this support helpful. Those who reported higher levels of induction support reported greater job manageability and success in getting through to difficult students. School climate was related to teachers' intent to remain in special education.

Maintaining an adequate supply of qualified special education personnel is a major challenge. In particular, serious shortages of teachers of children with emotional disturbance (ED) jeopardize delivery of appropriate special education and services to this population. This article reports data from the national Study of Personnel Needs in Special Education on the quality of personnel who teach children with ED. Teachers of children with ED are compared with other special education teachers in terms of experience, working conditions, credentials, preservice preparation, instructional skill, and future plans. Teachers of children with ED are less experienced and worked in more restrictive settings than their special education teacher colleagues. They were less credentialed and more likely to have been credentialed via alternate certification programs. Teachers of children with ED judged themselves to be more skilled in assessing and addressing behavior but less skilled in other instructional tasks.

Current practices in teacher education are standards-driven and place a great deal of emphases on micro-analyzing practices and reflecting on technical problems in teaching. Processes that are attributed to one's inner life, and that are associated with the artistic/aesthetic domains, such as, intuition, contemplation, visualization, and imagination are largely ignored in teacher education programs. Many educators, however, believe that the cultivation of the inner life, in particular, the imagination, is critical for teacher development and reshaping professional practices. This paper focuses on how teacher education can support holistic teacher professional development through acknowledging and fostering the inner life. A model for teacher reflection and professional development based on the Native American/First Nations Medicine Wheel developed by the author will be discussed as a methodology for prospective and practicing teachers to explore self, the inner life, and connections to practice.

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