Before the Burnout: Faculty Perspectives on Integrating Self-Care into Educator Preparation Programs
Keywords:
Educator Preparation Programs, Preservice Teachers, self-care, burnout preventionAbstract
Educator preparation programs (EPPs) play a critical role in equipping preservice teachers (PSTs) not only with pedagogical knowledge and skills and professional dispositions, but also with the emotional resilience and self-care strategies needed for long-term success. Nationwide, in order to retain qualified, passionate educators, we must begin by reconceptualizing educator preparation as a holistic endeavor that has longevity in the field as a foundational goal. Equipping teachers to anticipate, navigate, and recover from the emotional and psychological demands of the job is not a luxury; it is a necessity. This study used the first phase of a fixed explanatory sequential mixed methods model to explore how EPP faculty perceive and approach self-care and burnout prevention in their own lives and with their students. A 19-question electronic survey to assess faculty understanding of value of burnout prevention, barriers to classroom integration, and personal practices related to self-care and burnout prevention, along with demographic data collection. The majority of respondents (85%) strongly agree that burnout is a serious issue for classroom teachers, and over 91% believe that self-care practice should be a part of the EPP curriculum. 76% either agree or strongly agree that EPP faculty have the responsibility for teaching self-care strategies while 24% believe that individuals should oversee their own self-care, not the education program. A variety of classroom strategies are utilized to address burnout and self-care in the classroom. Barriers to teaching self-care and burnout identified were lack of time, knowledge and resources, among others. Write-in responses highlighted that EPP faculty feel burnout is a structural/systemic issue, they don't feel qualified to teach mental health techniques, and there is a tension between holding space for idealism and being upfront about the realities of teaching. These findings suggest that more work must be done to support those entering and, hopefully, staying, in the profession.
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