FROM SURVIVING TO THRIVING: A FRAMEWORK TO MITIGATE THE EMOTIONAL CHALLENGES FACED BY INTERNATIONAL TEACHERS IN THE US.

Abstract

The United States of America has been relying for the last couple of decades on international teachers to fill instructional vacancies caused by an increasing teacher shortage. North Carolina is one of the states that attracts the highest number of international teachers due to the existing teacher shortage and an uptick in the number of dual language immersion programs. Researchers agree that upon arrival teachers face numerous barriers and challenges caused by the intricate uprooting process, cultural differences and limited support received throughout the initial stages of the transitional period. No previous studies explored the effects of improvement-based interventions to assist international teachers emotionally to successfully navigate the relocation process. This inquiry employed an explanatory sequential mixed method design and revolved around the experiences of 13 international teachers. It identified the challenges faced by international teachers and measured the impact of two improvement-based interventions: the question of the day and restaurant outings. It unveiled that international teachers experience logistical challenges during the relocation process but are receiving no support as they navigate these challenges; a lack of emotional support from either the recruiting agencies or school districts is detrimental for international teachers during the transition period; and that there is a lack of personal and professional development support related to cultural, interpersonal, or soft skills that make the transition to the U.S. classroom challenging. The results also revealed that participants in the present inquiry benefitted from the exposure to both interventions. Finally, planning and leading the implementation of an emotional support program for transitioning international teachers impacted the scholarly practitioners’ leadership development since he found that interventions do not need to be large in scale to have a meaningful effect. All these findings should inform future human resources and onboarding protocols for international teachers to ensure that they successfully adjust to the new setting in a timely manner. Additional longitudinal studies are recommended to better identify other interventions to ease international teachers’ transitions and to find the correlation between teacher support systems and their impact on self-efficacy, success, and retention rates.