Peer Mentoring Future Special Educators to “Fight the Fight Worth Fighting”

• In Event: Beyond Survival toward Thriving: Emerging Research on Fostering Holistic Teacher Wellbeing

Abstract

Purpose:
New special education teachers (SETs) of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) face a high risk of burnout and attrition (Gilmour & Wehby, 2020). SETs have historically faced rigorous responsibilities and poor working conditions (Billingsley & Bettini, 2019); one way to prevent teacher stress or burnout despite these conditions is through developing teachers’ sense of collective responsibility and enhancing their support systems (Billingsley et al., 2020). To prepare preservice SETs who work with students with EBD for a sustainable career, we implemented a biweekly virtual seminar based on peer support and mentoring. With a facilitator, preservice SETs met biweekly online during the 2024-2025 school year to offer each other peer support in a seminar format. In this case study, we explore how participating in a virtual peer mentorship program affected future SETs’ sense of wellbeing and commitment to the profession.

Perspectives:
Social commitments and responsibilities create strong relational ties that help teachers access the resources they need to meet job demands (Pogodzinski, 2012). We used collective wellbeing as a guiding framework to design the peer mentoring program because, by centering wellbeing on the collective, the responsibility for wellness falls on the community and the strength of social ties rather than the individual (Herrera et al., 2018).

Methods & Data Sources:
Using an instrumental case study approach, we gathered and analyzed brief exit ticket surveys immediately following each seminar (n=10), researcher field notes, and transcripts from a semi-structured focus group. Participants included seven graduate students studying to become SETs: one identified as American Indian, one identified as Hispanic, and six participants identified as White; two participants disclosed they have a disability. All participants signed informed consent forms approved by our IRB. The focus group was conducted, recorded, and transcribed on Microsoft Teams. All data were uploaded and analyzed using NVivo. Data analysis was ongoing and recursive throughout the year, and the research team read and discussed the focus group data to discuss emerging themes. We used these discussions to create a codebook and adjust it as coded the data (Saldaña, 2025).
Results:
The bi-weekly collective wellbeing seminars presented rich opportunities for peer mentorship and collective wellbeing through relationships with fellow students and the facilitator in navigating the challenges and joys of graduate school and early careers as SETs. Specifically, the peer mentoring seminars provided future teachers with opportunities to debrief day-to-day challenges, address difficult interpersonal dynamics, ask for feedback on decision making, and find joy and laughter together—all of which enhanced participants’ wellbeing.

Scholarly Significance:

Our study contributes to the field of positive interventions in fighting against novice SET attrition, highest amongst teachers of students with EBD (Gilmour & Wehby, 2020). There is ample research around the working conditions (Billingsley & Bettini, 2019), effects of burnout (Brunsting et al., 2023; Tan & Patrick, 2024), and novice teacher attrition (Hagaman & Casey, 2017), but limited research on promoting teacher wellbeing, especially for teachers of students with EBD. Our study demonstrates that an innovative peer mentorship program, grounded in collective wellbeing as a lever of change, is a promising pathway to prepare future SETs to thrive in the profession.

Authors

• Shana J. Haines, University of Vermont

• Kristabel Stark, University of Vermont

• Parker Goss, University of Vermont