Understanding the Role of Classroom Teachers in Issues of Student Health and Well-Being

• In Event: What Students and Teachers Know About Health: Implications for School and Community Partnerships

Abstract

Health and well-being impact a child’s education in both direct and indirect ways by influencing school readiness, behavior in learning environments, levels of concentration, and overall cognitive functioning (Curie, 2005). According to NCLB, teachers must be “highly qualified” in order to teach in public classrooms; yet, the policy does not include an expectation for teachers’ preparation or responsibilities with regard to student health needs. Darling-Hammond (2010) argues the uneven distribution of quality teachers undermines U.S. education, and therefore advocates an increased focus on investing in all educators. The unaddressed question is how are issues of health and well-being taken up in this investment? Although teachers often have the most direct interaction with students, their awareness of the health issues that students confront or the ways in which these problems are situated in their homes and communities may be limited. In other words, we know relatively little about their roles in engaging students in discussions of health and well-being or their understanding of students’ needs and health experiences.

The field study upon which the proposed commentary will be based considers how the role of educators is conceptualized with regard to student well-being by districts, teacher preparation programs, and new teachers themselves. It raises two questions: (1) is student health understood as a part of teachers’ responsibility in the classroom, and (2), in what ways might districts and teacher education programs support teachers in understanding the relationship between their practice and student physical and mental well-being?

Qualitative data for this study were collected over the course of a semester in a large, Northeastern urban school district. The first source of data was surveys administered to 29 teachers who were certified through alternative certification programs. Teachers were asked to rate their comfort level on a likert-type scale for both identifying and addressing student health needs. They were also asked to identify with whom they are most likely to consult regarding student health, as well as how many hours of health-related professional development training they receive. The second source of data consists of written responses to a set of open-ended questions asking the teachers to elaborate on their survey responses. Third, the study consists of a review of student health topics distributed to these teachers during their respective training programs. The final source of data was field notes recorded during an internship with the school district’s Office of Specialized Services; these observations examine the resources and materials available to in-service teachers concerning student health needs.

Initial findings suggest that while student health is often an expressed concern for new teachers, there is wide variation in the expectations of teachers and the support they receive from their training programs and school districts. Three patterns emerged from the analysis: (1) teachers’ lack of clarity about their responsibility to identify and address student health needs, (2) the relationship between teachers’ life experiences and the ways they conceive of and respond to health issues, and (3) teachers’ relative unawareness of resources provided by the district to support them.

Author

• Mary Elizabeth Del Savio, University of Pennsylvania