scholarly journals Secondary school teachers’ experiences of supporting mental health

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 372-383
Author(s):  
Lucas Shelemy ◽  
Kate Harvey ◽  
Polly Waite

Purpose Teachers are often the first contact for students with mental health difficulties. They are in an ideal position to identify students who are struggling and frequently support them using different approaches and techniques. The purpose of this paper is to investigate secondary school teachers’ experiences of supporting the mental health of their students. Design/methodology/approach Seven secondary school teachers from state-funded schools in the UK participated in face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to understand and structure the data into themes. Findings Five superordinate themes emerged from the data analysis: perceived role of teacher, nature of relationship, barriers to helping the child, amount of training and resource, and helplessness and satisfaction. Participants described the lack of training, resource and clarity about their role to be causes of frustration. Internal and environmental factors often influenced participants’ feelings of helplessness. Research limitations/implications The findings from this study cannot be readily generalised to the wider population due to the nature of qualitative interviews. Practical implications This study has led to a greater understanding of the experiences of teachers within a school setting. It is crucial that mental health training for teachers directly meets their needs and abilities. Originality/value This paper finds value in recognising the lived experience and difficulties faced by teachers supporting students’ mental health problems. A theoretical model is presented based on this analysis that can help inform best practice for schools.

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Anderson ◽  
Aliza Werner-Seidler ◽  
Catherine King ◽  
Aimée Gayed ◽  
Samuel B. Harvey ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Eustache ◽  
M. E. Gerbasi ◽  
M. C. Smith Fawzi ◽  
J. R. Fils-Aimé ◽  
J. Severe ◽  
...  

BackgroundEngagement and training of educators in student mental health holds promise for promoting access to care as a task sharing strategy but has not been well-studied in low-income regions.MethodsWe used a prospective and convergent mixed methods design to evaluate a customized school mental health 2½ day training for teachers in rural Haiti (n = 22) as the initial component of formative research developing a school-based intervention to promote student mental health. Training prepared teachers to respond to student mental health needs by providing psychoeducational and practical support to facilitate access to care. We examined level of participation and evaluated feasibility, acceptability, and perceived effectiveness by calculating mean scores on self-report Likert-style items eliciting participant experience. We examined effectiveness of the training on improving mental health knowledge and attitudes by comparing mean scores on an assessment administered pre- and post-training. Finally, we examined self-report written open-ended responses and focus group discussion (FGD) interview data bearing on perceived feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness to contextualize participant ratings of training and to identify recommendations for enhancing the utility of mental health training locally for educators.ResultsMean scores of knowledge and attitudes significantly improved between the pre-test and post-tests; e.g., knowledge improved from 58% correct at baseline to 68% correct on the second post-test (p = 0.039). Mean ratings of the training were favorable across all categories and FGD data demonstrated widespread participant endorsement of training acceptability and effectiveness; participants recommended extending the duration and number of training sessions.ConclusionsFindings support feasibility, acceptability, and a limited scope of effectiveness of brief mental health training for secondary school teachers in Haiti. Further development of approaches to engage teachers in promoting school mental health through training is warranted.


2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-119
Author(s):  
P.Pachaiyappan P.Pachaiyappan ◽  
◽  
Dr. D.Ushalaya Raj Dr. D.Ushalaya Raj

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Harkins ◽  
Lisa Garnham ◽  
Aileen Campbell ◽  
Carol Tannahill

Purpose – Previous research emphasises the need for preventative interventions to reduce mental health problems among disadvantaged children and adolescents. There is however little consensus concerning the delivery and impacts of such interventions particularly non-clinical, arts-based models delivered within community settings. The purpose of this paper is to begin to address this deficit through a qualitative assessment of the short- to medium-term impacts to participants’ mental and emotional wellbeing within Sistema Scotland’s Big Noise orchestral programme. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews, observation, participant drawing exercise, participatory filmmaking, focus group and analysis of programme engagement were undertaken to examine the mental and emotional wellbeing impacts of the programme which are observable at this early stage of programme delivery and participants’ lives. Findings – The qualitative findings indicate that participation in the Big Noise programme enhances participant mental and emotional wellbeing in three ways; first, the happiness and enjoyment of taking part in the programme and orchestra, particularly from music making; second, the security, belonging and relationships fostered through participation; the quality of musician/participant relationship is important here as is programme design which enables support, routine and structure; and third, increased pride, confidence and self-esteem, as a result of acquiring difficult musical skills, receiving regular praise and having frequent opportunities to demonstrate these acquired skills through regular orchestral performances. Originality/value – There is little evidence or understanding of community-based, preventative, arts interventions like Big Noise: their delivery, their life-course impacts and their potential contribution to mental health and to addressing social and health inequalities. The causal pathways in the field are under-theorised. These early findings are important as they serve as an important basis from which to consider the programme’s wider and longer term impacts, which will be assessed through an on-going longitudinal, mixed method summative evaluation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 864-886
Author(s):  
Yuen Onn Choong ◽  
Lee Peng Ng ◽  
Seow Ai Na ◽  
Chun Eng Tan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of teachers’ perception on trust over their willingness to exercise organisational citizenship behaviours (OCB) using self-efficacy as a mediator. Design/methodology/approach Usable questionnaires were collected from 411 teachers in secondary schools. A two-stage analytic approach was used to analyse the data. Findings The results indicated that trust and teachers’ self-efficacy dimensions (general teaching and personal teaching) are positively related to OCB. Additionally, trust in the principal, colleagues and clients are predicted to have indirect influence on OCB through self-efficacy. Practical implications Teachers’ personal sense of efficacy is largely dependent on the amount of efforts devoted in their teaching, their decision-making ability and the degree of persistency in solving problematic issues. School management and policy makers are urged to develop effective human resources initiatives and programmes that can create a trusting relationship in the organisation and enhance teachers’ self-efficacy. These may include the socialisation programmes that can inculcate teachers’ inner natures, confidence and interpersonal skills when directed towards perceived abilities in given specific tasks and responsibilities to make a significant impact on OCB. Apart from this, the school administrator is advised to offer relevant training and workshops that able to enhance the efficacy level of teachers. Originality/value This study explored how teachers’ self-efficacy was related to trust and OCB. Teachers’ positive behaviours enable them to have greater belief in their capability of handling pressures and crises. The study contributes to the current body of literature and creates a comprehensive theoretical framework for teachers to be involved in OCB. Besides, these unique findings served as a reference to management of any school to better understand the importance of trust in the school and how it relates to teacher self-efficacy, which, in turn nurture the citizenship behaviour in workplace.


ExELL ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-80
Author(s):  
Dino Dumančić

Abstract The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate boredom among Croatian primary and secondary school teachers of English. The data was gathered by means of an open-ended survey that focused on the teachers’ experiences with classroom boredom. The findings pointed to different causes of boredom in the Croatian FLT context, such as grammar tasks and uninteresting subject matter. Croatian teachers reported various manifestations of boredom, i.e. cognitive and motivational, as well as diverse emotion regulation strategies employed, such as introducing new content or engaging in physical activity. Majority of the teachers stated that boredom did not affect their instructional quality, however there were those who reported having observed adverse effects in their classrooms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-46
Author(s):  
Lorna Hepburn ◽  
Wendi Beamish

Proactive classroom management is associated with increased teacher wellbeing and improved student learning outcomes. Yet research indicates that many teachers over-report and underuse practices associated with this approach. The research findings reported here were drawn from semi-structured interviews conducted with 26 government secondary school teachers in Queensland, Australia. These teachers favoured a classroom management approach based on establishing positive relationships with students, but they raised challenges related to cultivating student engagement, meeting the diverse needs of learners and adherence to school disciplinary procedures. Although they felt generally confident with classroom management and were relatively satisfied with student behaviour, they identified a need for better initial teacher preparation, improved induction support and opportunities for ongoing professional development for classroom management.


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