Navigating Uncertainty And Threat: Sources Of Stress And Support Among The Prek-3rd Grade Workforce In New York City

• In Event: 1-160 - ECE Workforce Supports, Experiences, and Wellbeing: Determinants and Consequences for Classroom Processes and Child Outcomes

Integrative Statement

The 2016 presidential election, as well as rapid and far-reaching transformations in immigration policy in the United States (U.S.) have fueled a sense of fear and uncertainty in many households across the nation (Barajas-Gonzalez, Ayón & Torres, in press; Roche, Vaquera, White & Rivera, 2018). Literature documenting the deleterious effects of such hostility and discrimination on Latino children and families’ health and mental health is steadily growing. What is less well known is whether and how anti-immigrant policies and the climate of uncertainty (Szkupinski Quiroga, Medina, & Glick, 2014) spurred by such policies affect the teachers and school personnel who work with immigrant students and families. This study aims to understand the impact of school climate on ECE work force wellbeing, focusing specifically on the role of anti-immigrant rhetoric and uncertainty.
We hypothesize that schools and sites with clear immigration-related communication will have lower-levels of school staff stress and distress, and less uncertainty regarding how to help immigrant students cope with immigration related in comparison to sites without immigration-related communication.
Preliminary findings from a qualitative study with ECE staff, community stakeholders, and immigrant advocates (n=12) in New York City indicate that uncertainty regarding immigration law and immigrant safety is a source of distress for some members of the ECE work force working with Latino immigrant families. These findings are consistent with an emerging body of work that is documenting the polarizing and negative impact of national anti-immigrant rhetoric and immigration enforcement policies on school climate, school personnel, and student well-being (Cervantes, Ullrich, & Matthews, 2018; Gándara & Ee 2018; Sanchez, Freeman & Martin, 2018).
Next steps include interviewing and surveying a greater number of ECE staff members, so as to better understand: (1) how the ECE workforce copes with this distress, (2) what resources (if any) are sought out by the ECE workforce to deal with immigration-related distress, and (3) interviewing ECE site leaders to identify barriers and supports to clearly communicating with ECE staff regarding immigration-related issues (e.g. protocols in place should immigration enforcement officers show up at school). We hypothesize that ECE staff members who are immigrants may be experiencing greater distress in comparison to non-immigrant staff.

Author

• Gabriela Barajas-Gonzalez, NYU School of Medicine
  Presenting Author