{"title":"The Role of Teachers' Unions for School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists: Preliminary Findings From Florida.","authors":"Victor A Lugo","doi":"10.1044/2024_LSHSS-24-00064","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of teachers' unions for school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and their perceptions of the benefits and barriers to union membership.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A 44-item survey was used to solicit information about the perceptions of and participation in teachers' unions of 320 school-based SLPs. Directed content analysis of 70 district collective bargaining agreements was also conducted to explore the presence and content of SLP contract provisions.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Results confirm that teachers' unions collectively bargain on behalf of SLPs as they are often recognized as bargaining unit members. SLP provisions pertaining to salary supplements, caseload and workload caps, opportunities for professional development and mentorship, and alternative evaluations were uncovered. However, SLPs' perceptions of teachers' unions and collective bargaining were mixed. Frequently cited benefits of union membership included improved working conditions, legal and professional protections, and collective bargaining. Common barriers were misunderstandings about the role and responsibilities of unions and monetary costs.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The findings of this study suggest that teachers' unions are not a widely used support structure for school-based SLPs. Despite the barriers highlighted by participants, unions can collectively bargain for provisions that could improve the living and working conditions of practitioners, such as salary supplements, caseload caps, and professional development. Although unions could improve outreach to SLPs in the schools, SLPs may benefit from additional training and professional development opportunities to support the degree to which they advocate and engage with their bargaining units.</p><p><strong>Supplemental material: </strong>https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.27947940.</p>","PeriodicalId":54326,"journal":{"name":"Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools","volume":" ","pages":"206-224"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_LSHSS-24-00064","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/12/12 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AUDIOLOGY & SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of teachers' unions for school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and their perceptions of the benefits and barriers to union membership.
Method: A 44-item survey was used to solicit information about the perceptions of and participation in teachers' unions of 320 school-based SLPs. Directed content analysis of 70 district collective bargaining agreements was also conducted to explore the presence and content of SLP contract provisions.
Results: Results confirm that teachers' unions collectively bargain on behalf of SLPs as they are often recognized as bargaining unit members. SLP provisions pertaining to salary supplements, caseload and workload caps, opportunities for professional development and mentorship, and alternative evaluations were uncovered. However, SLPs' perceptions of teachers' unions and collective bargaining were mixed. Frequently cited benefits of union membership included improved working conditions, legal and professional protections, and collective bargaining. Common barriers were misunderstandings about the role and responsibilities of unions and monetary costs.
Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that teachers' unions are not a widely used support structure for school-based SLPs. Despite the barriers highlighted by participants, unions can collectively bargain for provisions that could improve the living and working conditions of practitioners, such as salary supplements, caseload caps, and professional development. Although unions could improve outreach to SLPs in the schools, SLPs may benefit from additional training and professional development opportunities to support the degree to which they advocate and engage with their bargaining units.
期刊介绍：
Mission: LSHSS publishes peer-reviewed research and other scholarly articles pertaining to the practice of audiology and speech-language pathology in the schools, focusing on children and adolescents. The journal is an international outlet for clinical research and is designed to promote development and analysis of approaches concerning the delivery of services to the school-aged population. LSHSS seeks to advance evidence-based practice by disseminating the results of new studies as well as providing a forum for critical reviews and meta-analyses of previously published work.
Scope: The broad field of audiology and speech-language pathology as practiced in schools, including aural rehabilitation; augmentative and alternative communication; childhood apraxia of speech; classroom acoustics; cognitive impairment; craniofacial disorders; fluency disorders; hearing-assistive technology; language disorders; literacy disorders including reading, writing, and spelling; motor speech disorders; speech sound disorders; swallowing, dysphagia, and feeding disorders; voice disorders.
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