Teachers ' Perceptions of Military-Connected Students in Civilian Public Schools: Implications for School Social Workers & Supportive Schools
Of the nation’s 1.2 million military-connected students, only 86,000 attend Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools. The vast majority of military-connected students attend civilian public schools. While DoDEA teachers and staff are trained to respond to the unique challenges faced by military-connected students (Smrekar & Owens, 2003), civilian public schools struggle to provide adequate supports for these students (De Pedro et al., 2014).
This study set out to answer the questions of how do teachers’ and staff in civilian schools perceive military-connected students? In what areas do they need training to better serve these children and meet student needs? The study explored teacher and staff perceptions of military-connected students’ challenges, availability of school resources specific to the population and areas of professional training and development.
Methods
The study was a cross-sectional study of 1,631 teachers and staff situated within military-connected school districts. Data was derived from a subsample of the California School Climate Survey (2013). Participants provided ratings (1 = almost none to 5 = nearly all) on the extent to which military-connected students face certain challenges (e.g., additional emotional and psychological needs), ratings (1 = not at all true to 4 = usually true) on the extent to which the school provided supports (e.g., school is a welcoming environment to military-connected students), and ratings (1 = not a need to 4 = major need) on the extent to which teachers and staff needed training on specific topics (e.g., understanding military culture).
Results
Teacher and staff participants perceived ‘some’ military-connected students as facing financial difficulties (M = 2.71, SD = .56); as having additional emotional and psychological needs (M = 2.68, SD = .59); and as having additional educational needs (M = 2.59, SD = .65). Respondents also perceived as ‘sometimes true’ that their school provides a welcoming environment to military students and their families (M = 3.31, SD = .79) and has additional services for students who experience loss and trauma (M = 2.97, SD = .76). Finally, participants reported needed training on working with these students who have experienced family loss or trauma (M = 2.22, SD = .95); who have a parent currently deployed (M = 2.10, SD = .93); helping parents deal with additional responsibilities during deployment (M = 2.09, SD = .94); and creating a school climate that is welcoming to military-connected students and families (M = 2.08, SD = .93).
Conclusions
The findings suggest school teachers and staff situated within civilian schools that have military-connected students are relatively unaware of the issues facing this vulnerable subsection of the U.S. population. Although some school resources are perceived as available, teachers and staff are still in need of training to provide greater support to serve military-connected students and their families. The findings should be taken as directives on how these students can be supported in public schools with implications for leadership by school social workers and training for social work students that will be serving this population.