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Critical Issues Paper

Carsyn Guitrau

Louisiana State Univeristy

EDCI 4382
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Introduction

What is the critical issue?

Mental health amongst early childhood educators is the critical issue that I have chosen.

Mental health is a critical issue because it affects our purpose, identity, and responsibility. It

involves stakeholders such as children, families, colleagues, and society. There are many things

that influence the mental health of educators, such a stress, expectations, and workload. These

things, among many more, highly affect educators on a daily basis and it is only getting worse. I

am in an early childhood setting and have experienced first-hand the stress that teachers are

dealing with. A quote that I have heard from multiple teachers at my placement is “It is just not

okay.” Another quote that I got from a teacher at my placement was “We are constantly worried

about the social/emotional learning of each student in our class, but no one is worried about our

own mental health.”

How is it a critical issue in ECE?

Purpose is what we do as educators. When thinking about our purpose, we cannot fulfill

it if our mental health is wavering. Teachers will not be able to give their all to each child. It

affects identity because as qualified teachers leave the field due to their mental health, less

qualified teachers will take their place. This will cause educators to become people who are not

qualified just to fill open positions. When thinking about responsibility and what educators are

responsible for, this is a lot on their mental health. Once educators begin to struggle, they cannot

uphold all that they are responsible for. Responsibility is a major cause of the issue of mental

health. Educators are responsible for so many things in the classroom, one of those things being

anti-bias education. This is a topic we have been talking a lot about in class. A quote from the
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book Anti-Bias Education in the Early Childhood Classroom states, “Doing anti-bias work with

children is challenging…Less joyous, but, I have to say, equally liberating, is doing anti-bias

work on ourselves and the other adults in the lives of young children (parents, co-workers, and

colleagues)” (Kissinger, pg. 3). Although everything educators are responsible for are very

important, like doing anti-bias work on the children, ourselves, parents, and colleagues, it can all

become overwhelming and lead to a decline in mental health. These abundances of

responsibilities can lead to stress and burnout.

Learning More About the Issue

What questions are related to the issue?

The first question that comes to mind is “Why is more not being done to help teachers with stress

and mental health?” In an article, alarming statistics about educator’s mental health was shown

through a 2021 U.S. teacher survey that stated, “More than 75 percent of teachers reported

frequent job-related stress, compared to 40 percent of other working adults. Even worse, 27

percent of teachers reported symptoms of depression, compared to 10 percent of other adults.

And, nearly 25 percent of teachers said that they were likely to leave their jobs by the end of the

2020-2021 school year, compared with one in six teachers who were likely to leave, on average,

prior to the pandemic” (WeAreTeachers). In a survey conducted over this past summer,

“Seventy-five percent of survey responders reported that their mental health was worse this year.

Only six percent of the teachers surveyed received counseling support from their school or

district this past year. And only 22 percent reported that they received emotional support”

(WeAreTeachers). Based on these statistics, the number of teachers struggling with their mental

health is increasing, and they are receiving little to no support. So, this makes me wonder, why is
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more not being done to help teachers with stress and mental health. “According to several studies

and reports, teaching is one of the most stressful jobs in the country” (Teachers). Another

question that is related to this issue is “How does the mental health of teachers affect student

learning?” Teachers are constantly helping children to develop in all areas and to become the

best version of themselves, but if their mental health is compromised, how does this affect the

learning of the children? “The evidence suggests that teacher stress can interfere with positive

teacher-child relationships and effective social-emotional teaching” (Early care). Another

question that relates to the issue is “Why are teachers required to do so much extra work that is

not helping student growth?” Teachers have to deals with so much paperwork and workload that

that isn’t directly related to student growth, and this causes more stress. For example, “this issue

is not limited just to new teachers; many experienced teachers leave the profession because they

feel unable to deal with the myriad challenges of modern teaching” (Lever, N., Mathis, E., &

Mayworm, A.). Lastly, what should be expected of teachers? Teachers are expected to do a lot of

different things by a lot of different people. Society expects educators to do one thing, families

expect another, colleagues expect another, etc. Educators are the only people who are qualified

to decide what should be expected of them, but this seems to be something that everyone else

wants to decide. Therefore, educators have to listen to the expectations of other and put that on

their shoulders along with everything else. The expectations of educators directly relate to how

they are struggling with their mental health.

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(Steiner, E. D., & Woo, A)

Who are the stakeholders?

The stakeholders in the critical issue of mental health in educators are educators,

children, families, colleagues, and society. Mental health effects that educators most of all

because it is their own health that is at stake. Educators are struggling and not much is being

done to help them. Mental health of educators affects the students because it affects how well

they are learning. If a teacher displays signs of stress or depression, the students will pick up on

those feelings and will display those emotions as well. How the students act and feel in the

classroom setting depends on how the teacher is feeling. It will also affect how the lessons are

delivered. The mental health of educators will affect how they teach the lesson to the children,

which will affect how well they retain the information. It will also affect the patience of teachers.
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If a teacher’s mental health is suffering, their patience level will most likely be different. All of

these things will affect the classroom environment and affect the development of each child.

Mental health of educators affects families because they will not be able to connect with the

families on the level they should be. Also, this will cause family involvement to decrease,

causing the family to not feel like a part of the classroom. Colleagues are influenced because if

the teacher is stressed then they cannot put their focus into their families and will be taking work

home with them and their stress will be transferred to their families. Struggling teachers can’t

collaborate on student learning with the best of their ability. Also, when one teacher becomes

stressed, these feelings rub off on their colleagues and they might begin to feel the same way.

School administrators have a stake in this issue because if they lose teachers based on mental

health issues then they will have less qualified people fill the positions, which goes back to the

issue of identity. Society has a place in this issue because it will cause educators to leave the

field and will increase the teacher shortage. The teacher shortage is a major issue in education,

and one if the causes of it is mental health.

Influences/Approaches to the Issue

What Biases Are often present when discussing the issue (my own/the field’s)?

Biases that teachers face every day in their field is that they can’t possibly be having

mental health issues because their job is easy, and they get a whole summer break and a

Christmas break. Because of these things, they should not have any mental health issues or have

to deal with stress. Another bias I see often is that all early childhood educators do is play with

children so how could they have any kind of stress. These biases come from a lack of

understanding of what we actually do on a daily basis and what is expected of us. Biases that
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educators tend to have on the issue is that they, sadly, cannot worry about their own mental

health. “Teachers are attuned to the social-emotional wellbeing of our students and trained to

monitor for signs such as trauma, anxiety, bullying, or microaggressions, yet we are still just

learning how to discuss a huge, lurking threat to our work: our own mental health”

(Safeguarding the mental health of teachers). Teachers are trained and equipped to help children

with their social-emotional development and spend so much time working on that, that they have

none left over for themselves. I have seen my mentor teacher struggling with stress and she has

said “I do not have time to worry about myself”. This shows that educators have their own bias

that their mental health is not important. “Teachers are often focused on taking care of and

supporting others, but without prioritizing your wellbeing, those stress levels won’t level”

(Teachers).

How has the issue been addressed in the past (historic approaches)?

In the past this issue has not really been addressed. As I researched historic approaches to

address the issue of the mental health of educators, I could not find much. I found that most of

the time, the mental health of educators is left unchecked. “Stress in America survey stated that

their employers provide the resources they need to effectively manage their work-related stress”

(Lever, N., et. al.).

How is the issue addressed today (contemporary approaches)?

Along with what I said about historic approaches, there are no contemporary approaches

that I could find that is addressing the issue at hand. In one of the statistics, I addressed earlier, it

said “Seventy-five percent of survey responders reported that their mental health was worse this

year. Only six percent of the teachers surveyed received counseling support from their school or

district this past year. And only 22 percent reported that they received emotional support”
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(WeAreTeachers). Six percent of teachers receiving counseling support is barely anything

compared to the number of teachers. After the pandemic, teacher mental health became worse

and people are becoming more aware of this, however, little to nothing is being done to address

this issue.

Conclusion: Moving Forward

Summarize the Issue and Main Points

The critical issue that I have researched about is the mental health of educators.

Educators are struggling with stress, exhaustion, burnout, depression, and many other things.

This is affecting their purpose, identity, and responsibility. Stakeholders of this issue are the

educators, children, families, colleagues, and society. Biases of this issue include society

believing educators do not have any stress and teachers thinking their mental health is not

important. Looking at historic and contemporary approaches, little to nothing is being done to

address the issue.

What Could Be Done to Create Change?

What is Currently Being Done?

Based on my research, nothing is currently being done to address the issue of struggling

mental health of educators. Teachers are struggling with issues like “emotional numbing, feeling

shut down, loss of enjoyment, lack of energy, a sense of cynicism or pessimism, increased illness

or fatigue, aches and pains, increased absenteeism, greater problems with boundaries, and

difficulty making decisions or making poor decisions” (Lever, N., et. al.). Educators are dealing

with a multitude of emotions that are affecting their mental health, and not much is being done to

help them.
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What could each stakeholder do (it might be something that they all work on together – but

address each stakeholder’s part of the advocacy efforts)?

The stakeholders of this issue are the educators, children, families, colleagues, and

society. What the stakeholders could do to help with the advocacy efforts is first, giving teacher

counseling options. “In our dreams, every school would have counseling options for teachers and

students” (WeAreTeachers). Also, they can advocate for teachers to have mental health days.

Teachers have a lot on their plate and it all can get very overwhelming. They need to have access

to a mental health day to cool down and take a break. This can help them recuperate and focus

one day on themselves. Teachers also need principal support. “They need to know that their

admin has their backs, in even the toughest of times” (WeAreTeachers). Teacher also need better

pay. I find that teacher is often looking for second jobs to make ends meet. This leaves even less

time for them to take a break and focus on their mental health. Lastly, teachers need some kind

of work-life boundaries. They need to be able to go home after a long, stressful day of fostering

children, and focus on their own mental health.

What do you want everyone to know/remember about the issue?

I want everyone to know that teachers are struggling, and this is only getting worse.

When educators were asked enthusiasm in the workplace, “Eighty-nine percent said they had

been enthusiastic about teaching when they started the profession, but only 15% reported being

enthusiastic at the time they completed the survey” (Lever, N., et. al.). This shows that more and

more teachers are struggling with mental health every day. After reading this, I want people to do

what they can to help teachers who are struggling.

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Reference Page

Early care and education teacher well-being - NCCP | home. (n.d.). Retrieved November 23,

2021, from http://www.nccp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/text_1224.pdf. 

Kissinger, K. (2017). Anti-bias education in the early childhood classroom hand in hand, step by

step. Routledge. 

Lever, N., Mathis, E., & Mayworm, A. (2017). School Mental Health is not just for students:

Why teacher and School Staff Wellness Matters. Report on emotional & behavioral

disorders in youth. Retrieved November 23, 2021, from

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6350815/. 

Safeguarding the mental health of teachers. Harvard Graduate School of Education. (n.d.).

Retrieved November 23, 2021, from

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/19/12/safeguarding-mental-health-teachers. 

Steiner, E. D., & Woo, A. (2021, June 15). Job-related stress threatens the teacher supply.

RAND Corporation. Retrieved November 23, 2021, from

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1108-1.html. 

Teachers: Protecting your mental health. Mental Health America. (n.d.). Retrieved November

23, 2021, from https://mhanational.org/teachers-protecting-your-mental-health. 

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WeAreTeachers Staff on September 22, 2021 .contest-social .share-links svg. (2021, September

24). We need to do more for teachers who are exhausted, stressed, and burned out .

WeAreTeachers. Retrieved November 23, 2021, from

https://www.weareteachers.com/teacher-mental-health/.