Teachers as first responders in marginalized, urban communities: Stress and coping during unprecedented times for public education

Abstract

The present study examines workplace priorities, challenges, and experiences of burnout and coping among teachers in marginalized urban communities, where structural barriers elevate job demands and minimize job resources. Specifically, we amplify the voices of public elementary school teachers in an urban hub of Florida during a time of unprecedented stressors (COVID-19, staff shortages, racial injustice, school shootings) to identify possible avenues of support. Participants (N = 12) were teachers in grades 3 through 5 from one large urban district; six participants served predominately Black or African American students, and six participants served predominately Hispanic students. All teachers self-identified as female and from a racially and/or ethnically minoritized background themselves. Semi-structured interviews (conducted remotely by the first author) were organized around five questions. Qualitative content analysis highlighted two core priorities (support students holistically and address interconnecting social emotional skills and academic success) and two core challenges (mismatch between administration expectations/supports and teacher needs/values, and difficulty managing student behavior). Teachers attributed the ubiquitous experience of burnout to factors at levels of work (e.g., responding to student stressors and traumas on top of curriculum demands), organization (e.g., poor compensation, excessive work demands), and society (e.g., school shootings, COVID-19), and they offered concrete recommendations for improving their work conditions. Altogether findings inspire opportunities to reevaluate supports for teachers serving as first responders for youth in marginalized urban communities.