Teacher perceptions of their abilities to teach coping skills to struggling students: A case study

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore seventh and eighth-grade teachers' perceptions of teaching coping skills in the classroom. This study used purposeful sampling to select nine teachers who taught at the junior high school for a minimum of five years. The teachers represented courses across the curriculum. Data were collected through nine interviews, seven classroom observations, and an informational brochure. Teacher self-efficacy as defined by Bandura's (1997) Self Efficacy Theory provided the lens through which to introduce and analyze the teachers' perceptions. Findings confirmed that teacher self-efficacy is tied to the comfortability of the teacher to incorporate coping skills into the classroom. Also, teachers understand the importance of the teacher to student relationship before coping skills can be incorporated into the classroom. Findings all revealed that teachers of all self-efficacy levels prefer to have formal training on applying coping skills instruction to the daily classroom activities. Additional research could focus on providing teachers specific coping skill techniques, the connection of building a positive school culture to teacher self-efficacy of learning these new techniques, and what types of professional development will help teachers build the capacity to teach active coping skills.