Examining teachers\u27 perceptions on working with immigrant and refugee students exhibiting signs of mental health issues

The research questions addressed in this study were: What are teachers\u27 knowledge and awareness of mental health issues and how to recognize students struggling with mental health problems, what are their perceptions of their role in fostering sound student mental health and do teachers believe they have had the necessary training needed to assist students with mental health issues? Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected through an online survey of fifty participants some of the questions in the survey relate to questions from the studies done by Reinke, W.M., Stormont, M., Herman, K.C., Puri, R., & Goel, N.. (2011) and Roeser and Midgley (1997). While the participants of Reinke et al.\u27s and Roeser and Midgley\u27s studies were mainstream classroom teachers, the participants of this study were all teachers who worked primarily with immigrant and refugee learners. The findings of this study suggest that most teachers believe that they have a significant role in helping their students receive assistance when they are showing signs of mental health problems. The data suggest teachers would benefit from additional training at both the licensure/preservice stage and post-licensure stage of their professional development. This study found that teachers want specific knowledge and skills that would enable them to effectively address their students\u27 mental health problems and to foster maximal learning