Understanding Middle School Teachers’ Levels of Efficacy to Meet the Needs of Young Adolescents

Abstract

Middle school students are in even more need of social and emotional support due to the cognitive, social, and emotional changes occurring at this stage of their development (Caskey & Anfara, 2014), and their teachers are key players in providing what is needed. Unfortunately, there are few Institutions of Higher Education that offer programs or coursework focused on young adolescents’ unique and specific needs (Howell et al., 2016). This contrasts with calls for school contexts that are intentionally designed to support young adolescents (Bishop & Harrison, 2021) and raises questions about whether and how middle school teachers are prepared to meet the wide-ranging needs of their students. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand how middle school teachers feel about their skills and knowledge in terms of supporting students’ cognitive, social, and emotional needs. The teachers’ perspectives shed light on ways educator preparation programs might refine and enhan