Understanding teacher perceptions of school safety drills: Risk mitigation, preparedness, and response.
Summary
There is a dearth in the research on perceptions of school safety drills (severe weather, fire, and active shooter) from the teachers’ perception. Classroom teachers hold the responsibility of not only educating young minds, but also ensuring their safety during crisis. Little is known about their perceptions of the influence or voice they have on the processes and policies that they are required to implement when crisis present.
Our study presents teachers perspectives from one urban school district located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Utilizing case study as our qualitative methodology, semi-structured interview questions for data collection, and Braun and Clarke’s (2015) thematic analysis to attain our findings, we present to our audience the support needs of these teachers as well as an instrument that they can utilize to assess their own roles and responsibilities during safety drills.
The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model and Social Ecological Model were both utilized to assess teachers’ perceptions of school safety drills and needed actions for altering school and district policy for improvement. Attendees will take away strategies for classroom management, communication with students, parents, administrators, school counselors, and their districts concerning safety drills, and practical suggestions derived from the teacher experience that are important for shaping the administration of future safety drills.
It is our hope that the results of our research can help to better inform teachers, administrators, school counselors, and community members of ways to support each other in times of crisis and give voice to teachers needs and perspectives.
Understanding teacher perceptions of school safety drills: Risk mitigation, preparedness, and response.
There is a dearth in the research on perceptions of school safety drills (severe weather, fire, and active shooter) from the teachers’ perception. Classroom teachers hold the responsibility of not only educating young minds, but also ensuring their safety during crisis. Little is known about their perceptions of the influence or voice they have on the processes and policies that they are required to implement when crisis present.
Our study presents teachers perspectives from one urban school district located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Utilizing case study as our qualitative methodology, semi-structured interview questions for data collection, and Braun and Clarke’s (2015) thematic analysis to attain our findings, we present to our audience the support needs of these teachers as well as an instrument that they can utilize to assess their own roles and responsibilities during safety drills.
The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model and Social Ecological Model were both utilized to assess teachers’ perceptions of school safety drills and needed actions for altering school and district policy for improvement. Attendees will take away strategies for classroom management, communication with students, parents, administrators, school counselors, and their districts concerning safety drills, and practical suggestions derived from the teacher experience that are important for shaping the administration of future safety drills.
It is our hope that the results of our research can help to better inform teachers, administrators, school counselors, and community members of ways to support each other in times of crisis and give voice to teachers needs and perspectives.
