Teachers are taking on a bigger role in the classroom, according to district leaders across Central Florida. Whether it’s the national teacher shortage adding more work or struggles leftover from the pandemic, their own mental health in many cases has been put on a back burner to take care of their students and that’s something leaders are trying to fix.
“These are tumultuous times for all of our employees, not just our teachers,” said Rachel Hazel, Deputy Superintendent of Volusia County Schools.
District leaders are having to get creative to bring in more support for their teachers and staff than ever before.
In Volusia, Hazel said they’re taking a hands-on approach.
“Our superintendent has made it a priority to host, listen and learn so that she can be aware of those issues that are on the front line and that are teachers are facing,” she said. “To find out what those issues are to get to the root of the problem and solve those problems.”
Teachers and other district personnel had to reformat the entire education system during the pandemic which leaders say added stress.
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“They might have had 15 to 20 years of experience and felt like they were a brand-new teacher again,” said Mike Alba, Director of Professional Learning and Development at Brevard Public Schools.
Now, many are taking on more work or students while districts struggle to hire during a national shortage.
Lisa Stanley, a specialist with Brevard’s Professional Development team, said many teachers they’re hiring now are brand new to the classroom as districts hire teachers on temporary and alternative certificates, meaning they haven’t had to manage a classroom of 25 to 30 students before on top of the curriculum.
“Some of our schools have 15 to 20 new teachers on a temp, and they have no education experience so it’s a whole new avenue and perspective for them,” she said.
Brevard is one of four districts in the state to bring in a program called Educators Thriving. Polk, Duval, and Miami-Dade have started using it, too.
Tyler Hester, the founder of Educators Thriving, said it gives teachers tools to help their own well-being and district leaders tools to measure the well-being of their workforce.
“Teachers who are themselves, well are more likely to facilitate improvement in well-being among their kids and that’s true of academic achievement as well,” he said.
Hester said he developed the program as a doctoral student at Harvard after seeing the burn-out rates among teachers nationally.
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“We’re seeing teachers with a desire to leave the profession at an unprecedented rate,” he said.
Brevard’s Professional Development team told News 6 they tested the program last year with teachers In three schools and expanded it to 13 schools this year.
They said the teachers learn the different tools during sessions throughout the year. Then, at the end of the year, the district surveys those teachers and teachers who aren’t in the program to measure its success.
“We had higher levels of positive emotion, engagement, relationships and meaning that was shown to be associated with work. So, once we saw that, between our schools that we work with and comparison schools, it was data to say ‘hey, we’re making a difference here,’” Linda Buffum said.
They said it’s also proven to help with retention.
“Last year, one of the schools that we piloted had the highest number of new teachers on staff and they had 100 percent retention of their teachers. This year, we did not do the program at that school, and they’ve had a rotating door,” Stanley said.
It also gave teachers tools to bring into the classroom to help their students.
“Looking at each other and recognizing those skills, strengths, and characteristics in their peers and how does that affect our classroom community,” Tracy Seibert said.
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