The Care and Keeping of Teachers: A Phenomenological Study of Educator Self-Care

Abstract

Being an educator can be both challenging and rewarding. Teaching requires skill, commitment, relationship, and stamina. Occupational standards within education consistently set high expectations for teachers without concretely promoting self-care. When a teacher’s stress and burdens continuously outweigh their ability to care for themselves, burnout, compassion fatigue, and chronic stress symptoms arise while wellbeing and teacher functioning are diminished. Although studies on educator wellness and resilience have increased over the past several years, more must be known about the needs and struggles educators face when practicing and developing self-care. This qualitative phenomenological study explored the phenomenon of self-care as it related to the lived experiences of K-12 educators in the U.S. The study sample consisted of 13 teachers representing the states of Montana, Idaho, Wisconsin, and Florida. The data collected was coded and analyzed using thematic analysis. Data analysis resulted in six major themes and three sub-themes describing contextual and education system impacts on teacher stress and self-care, multidimensional educator self-care, self-care as a relational construct, the significant effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on teacher self-care, the most prevalent barriers, and creating cultures of self-care in schools. The findings offer six key insights regarding educator self-care and inform the identified solution – the Cultures of Self-Care Roadmap. The Roadmap provides six guideposts with tangible practices that administrators, educators, and leaders can implement to better support holistic and teacher-centered self-care initiatives that care for the whole teacher.

Keywords: Educator Self-Care, Resilience, Multidimensional Self-Care, Occupational Stress in Education, Cultures of Self-Care