We all know that being seen, heard, and understood is the foundation for well-being among educators.1 We also understand how important educator well-being is to create a healthy school environment. But did you know that educator well-being is directly related to equity?
Equity is not the same as equality.
Equality is providing equal access to the same opportunities and conditions. It does not ensure that everyone has the same chance for success.
Equity acknowledges that everyone has unique needs and may require different accommodations to achieve their fullest potential.
Educators of color or from traditionally nonmajority groups bring unique perspectives and experiences to the classroom. However, educators in these groups often have marginalized identities and unique stressors. For example, three quarters of educators of color work in highly diverse schools, which are more often under resourced, with lower salaries, and less administrative support (Garcia and Weiss 2019), making them difficult places to work.
Both educators and students want to feel a sense of belonging and connectedness, which increases their feelings of well-being. Improving well-being among educators of color creates a healthier workplace and can improve their retention rates, which in turn improves school climate and students’ educational attainment (Begeman and Bolourian 2023). Increasing equity among educators helps them create equitable learning environments for their students. “Increasing equity helps educators create . . . the leaders of tomorrow” (National University 2024).
Although it is essential to support the well-being of all educators, it is important to understand that strategies to promote wellness cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach. Schools and districts must consider how to address the experiences and concerns of staff of color and other nonmajority groups by viewing well-being through an equity lens.
1 We use the term “educators” in this blog to be more inclusive of the adults who work with students; however, most research on well-being focuses on classroom teachers.
The Research to Practice Roundtables
We turn again to the research to practice (R2P) roundtables, composed of researchers and practitioners with expertise on equity issues as they relate to educator well-being from across the United States and convened by the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE) and the U.S. Department of Education. Since 2021, R2P roundtable participants have shared their expertise, feedback, and recommendations to promote well-being among diverse school staff.
This is the second blog in our educator well-being series. The first blog discussed what we learned from the R2P roundtables about educator well-being overall and provided recommendations for schools and districts to promote well-being. This blog builds on that theme, specifically focusing on equity considerations to promote educator well-being.
R2P Roundtable Insights on Addressing Equity to Improve Educator Well-Being
Just as there is no one-size-fits-all approach to increasing equity in schools, there is no one program, training, or event to improve equity. Instead, the R2P experts told us that equitable practice should be woven into the fabric of schools.
"Unfortunately, our staff has had trauma put on them just with . . . bias and unawareness of their culture and of their reality."
Initially, we discussed with the R2P roundtable participants what school staff are saying about equity in their schools. The experts shared that educators cite racial inequality as a barrier to their sense of well-being at work. And when educators do not feel represented and respected, they do not feel safe. Such feelings can result in high rates of turnover among educators, who may leave their current positions in search of more supportive environments.
Next, we heard that equity is not easy to address in schools. Depending on local contexts, some school boards do not allow schools and districts to even talk about equity. In addition, misunderstandings and controversy about critical race theory tend to pit people against one another.
The R2P roundtable participants stressed that culture is part of the school environment, and equity should be an ongoing part of every conversation related to educator well-being. Dr. Anne Gregory, a professor and researcher from Rutger University’s Department of School Psychology, recommends that districts and schools “Use . . . a robust equity model of thinking through what well-being means in terms . . . of seeking to strive for just systems.”
R2P Roundtable Recommendations for Addressing Equity to Improve Educator Well-Being
As a first step to improving educator equity, Nancy Guerra, professor emerita from the University of California–Irvine’s Department of Psychological Sciences, suggests that everyone working in a school or district find common ground and understand that equity concerns everyone. “Social justice and systems change is not just for urban schools,” she says.
Specifics strategies the R2P roundtable participants recommend for improving equity among educators are as follows.
Enact systemic change to create conditions in schools that support equity and well-being.
- School districts must support educators and promote equity as part of a safe and inclusive environment. To do this, districts can . . .
- Create a “culture of equity.”
- Instead of treating equity as a separate initiative or focus, it should be part of an overall high-quality learning and working environment.
- Tie in equity work with educator well-being initiatives in a sustained way.
- Fit wellness within the district’s philosophical framework and environment of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA), instead of focusing on punitive zero tolerance measures for racist or culturally insensitive language and actions.
- Integrate well-being into DEIA and social-emotional learning curricula currently being implemented in schools.
- Offer schools help with self-assessment, with the potential outcome of creating equity guidelines.
- Provide opportunities for principals to share with their colleagues what they are doing to promote equity.
- Create a “culture of equity.”
Establish affinity groups within districts for diverse racial and cultural educators.
These groups can
- foster a sense of community and kinship,
- support and celebrate diversity,
- offer feedback and make recommendations to administrators on ways to better support equity, and
- have members serve on committees focused on mental wellness and overall well-being.
"One of the most critical issues right now is finding some kind of a bridge where some of the issues that are being raised in these spaces can be really listened to by school administrators and by district administrators, in a way that educators and staff actually feel like it has an impact."
Offer DEIA training and professional development opportunities.
- Create these opportunities for people who identify with various cultural identities.
- Offer these opportunities for all staff to understand their role in promoting equity.
- Provide formal or informal DEIA training and coaching to principals and other leaders.
Conduct relational work to help every educator feel seen and heard.
- Understand that school culture affects educators as well as students.
- Model equitable practices.
- Initiate “courageous and critical conversations” about equity with educators.
- Discuss what fosters and threatens equity and how every individual can use equitable practices with other educators and their students.
- Support communication from the ground up. Listen to educators in a way that helps them feel seen and heard.
- Acknowledge all educators as individuals and honor their cultural and racial identities and contexts.
- Examine the unintentional things that you and others might be doing that can negatively affect equity.
- Support culturally relevant teaching practices as an exemplar of equity within your school; culturally responsive social-emotional learning works for adults as well as students!
- “Teach educators practices and foster deeper emotional awareness that makes them more aware of their relationship with others and how they can be more culturally responsive,” says Tasha Joyner.
- Hire and retain diverse educators, and especially administrators and other school and district leaders.
Other Voices from the Field
We want to hear from you! Has your school or district implemented any practices or programs to support equity via educator well-being improvement efforts? What has worked well and what has not been so effective? What are your suggestions for addressing this issue? Contact us at NCSSLE@air.org to share your thoughts and experiences!
