Moral Distress Among Teachers, Counselors, and School Administrators in the Aftermath of Neighborhood Gun Violence

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 4:15 pm - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Leading, Belonging, and Bearing the Weight of Teaching

Abstract

School staff are often called on to support students who have witnessed violence or lost friends and family to shootings, and yet little attention is paid to how these adults navigate this role and the strain it puts on them. This study brings together two distinct qualitative data sets to show the way high levels of neighborhood gun violence and the extent of student grief create contexts of extreme moral distress for school staff members who often struggle to balance the multiple roles and demands of their jobs.

Authors

• Nora Gross, Barnard College

• Alexander Pereira, Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence

• Anika Lanser, Columbia University

• Kelly Yoshimura, Columbia University