Returning student anxiety, COVID-restrictions, budget cuts, low pay, stress, and balancing academic curriculum with social-emotional learning (SEL) are just some of the overwhelming issues educators face as they return to in-person learning. With these looming problems, it is no wonder school districts are facing massive teacher shortages. According to WJZ Baltimore News 13, “Cheryl Bost, a veteran educator and the head of Maryland’s teachers’ union, reveals that every school system in the state is having trouble filling positions, and the pandemic has sent those shortages into overdrive.”
The WJZ article adds, “A recent Frontline Education survey looked at more than 1,000 districts nationwide and found two in three reported having a teacher shortage. In cities, 75 percent of districts reported a shortage, compared with 65 percent in rural areas and 60 percent in the suburbs.” With such alarming statistics, how can school districts retain and support their educators?
Most experts agree, retaining teachers means showing them they are valued, supported, and heard. In addition, offering SEL training and resources can help administrators prioritize educator well-being. We interviewed Rachel Kamb, Director of Product Management at Committee for Children, who oversees the Second Step SEL for Adults program, to discuss how SEL plays a key factor in teachers’ coping strategies and relationships with their peers and students. We also review other adult SEL programs in the nation that are making a difference in the retention of today’s early-career educators.
Interview with Rachel Kamb – Meeting Teachers Where They Are
VS: The Committee for Children’s Second Step SEL for Adults program aims to empower K–12 school leadership and staff to strengthen bonds with colleagues and students as a way to reduce stress and create a positive school climate. Can you give examples of how the program’s “Advancing Equity” and “Managing Stress” modules help achieve these goals?
RK: First, the relationship between managing stress and advancing equity is circular – strengthening bonds with colleagues and students and creating a positive school climate helps reduce stress and helps create equitable learning conditions, but it also works the other way around. Reducing stress and creating fair learning conditions lead to stronger bonds with colleagues and students and a more positive school climate.
One example of how we do this in the Managing Stress module is encouraging educators to capitalize on positive emotional contagions. When there are negative emotions in a room, they tend to spread very quickly. But the same is true for positive emotions! So we provide models of educators implementing simple activities with staff and students that increase positive feelings towards themselves and others. When those activities are practiced on a routine basis, they can help shift the school’s climate.
Our Advancing Equity Module is in development now, so the details are still in flux. However, I can tell you that our focus of this module is on identity safety and belonging at both a classroom and school level as a path towards equitable learning conditions, strengthening bonds with colleagues and students, and creating a positive school climate. We do this by first developing a common language around identity and belonging for learners to understand that they need to think about their own identity and belonging to create identity-safe classrooms and schools. And then, as we do in the previous modules, we provide models of concrete, specific strategies, practice, and skills that educators can implement on a routine basis that focus on classroom and school identity safety and belonging so that real, schoolwide climate shifts are possible.
VS: The Second Step SEL for Adults program was created as an ongoing curriculum that encourages incremental learning over time. Why do you think these spaced-out learning modules are essential for educators?
RK: Teachers are very busy people! The demands and stress on educators have only increased during the pandemic. It’s very important that we meet educators where they are. They have limited time and energy for “one more thing.” Because we are developing this program with practicing educators, we are very sensitive to this! By creating “bite-sized” chunks of learnings, which we call “microlearnings” (approximately 5-10 minutes each), it allows educators to fit the microlearning into their schedules when they are able. Because our microlearning is highly focused and provides concrete strategies that can be applied immediately, by spreading the learning out, it gives educators a chance to immediately apply and practice what they’ve learned before moving on.
SEL and Retaining Early-Career Educators
According to the California Teachers Association (CTA), “New research from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) shows that teachers are more anxious and overwhelmed since the pandemic and in need of SEL more than ever.” Unfortunately, those most affected during these challenging times are early-career teachers. To combat these concerns, The Stockton Teachers Association (STA) received a grant from CTA to develop a free adult SEL program called Educators Thriving (ET) for early-career educators in the Stockton Unified School District. The motto on the ET webpage states, “Teacher misery and burnout are accepted as inevitable. We reject that.”
This research-based personal development program helps teachers to achieve well-being. Participants learn strategies to help them avoid and manage the most common pitfalls of the educator experience, including:
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Personal neglect
- Struggling with a fixed mindset
- Unexpected challenges
- Isolation
Educators attend online sessions about identifying and using their strengths, reflecting and integrating core values, practicing mindfulness, and prioritizing what is important. Teachers participate in asynchronous lessons but are also joined in real-time by a small group of colleagues who promote discussions. Between sessions, they apply strategies to improve well-being and reflect on their actions. They also receive continuing education credits.
Today, 84 percent of ET participants report the adult SEL program has made them feel teaching is “more sustainable.” In addition, teacher retention has increased; 97 percent of teachers in the program returned, compared with 90 percent of another group. The creators of Educators Thriving hope that 20 years from now, programs such as these will be commonplace for teachers.
