Supporting teachers with psychologically diverse populations

While the issue of mental health management in education settings has been a focus for research for decades now, much of what is missing from these examinations is direct accounts from educators themselves on how they may be better supported as they navigate teaching psychologically diverse populations. In this study, 20 public-school teachers across the Oxford-Lafayette school district were surveyed through the use of semi-structured interviews in order to understand how they may be better equipped to manage psychological disorders in their classrooms. Each participant was asked the same prompt, and after the interviews were administered, their answers were then placed in four categories based on the responses received. 55% of the respondents indicated that a psychoeducation program would be beneficial, 45% advocated for training on psychological disorders, 15% recommended that an increase of mental-health professionals in schools would serve as a solution, and 35% provided responses that were not associated with the first three specific categories. The results of this study were consistent with the literature review in that teachers do not perceive themselves as receiving sufficient support in dealing with psychological disorders in the classroom, while also providing their personal insights about how these problems could be resolved