Phenomenological Study of the Lived Experiences of Teachers of Traumatized Students

Abstract

Teacher retention has long been a problem, but recent escalations in retention rates across the country have districts scrambling to correct the problem through incentives such as increased pay and teacher workdays. However, the problem seems to be much deeper and goes beyond compensation. Research has suggested that teachers are inadequately prepared for the classroom upon completion of teacher preparation programs (Berzin et al., 2011; Kim et al., 2021; Rahimi et al., 2021) resulting in the mass exodus of teaching staff. The purpose of this study was to illuminate the lived experiences of teachers of traumatized students. Individual interviews of six teaching professionals were analyzed. The results of this study revealed that secondary traumatic stress was indeed observed through the participants retelling of their experiences. Themes were observed and easily identified to include self-doubt, fear, uncertainty, and lack of preparation, to name a few. The results of this study were clear; without proper training, the education system will continue to struggle under the current emotional weight that educational professionals carry with them each day.