Dr Stella Laletas of the Faculty of Education at Monash University in Australia sees that teachers and the school system are critical in identifying and supporting children at risk of not meeting their developmental and academic potential. Through their day-to-day work, teachers are uniquely placed to provide rich insights into each child’s development and overall wellbeing as well as their interactions with other children and their parents.

Nonetheless, there is an important gap in the literature regarding teachers’ experiences of working with children in high-conflict divorce contexts. Dr Laletas sought to address this by exploring the experiences of five primary school teachers working with children exposed to high levels of parental conflict before, during and after divorce/separation using semi-structured interviews.

The responses from the teachers were analysed using a qualitative approach known as Interpretative Phenomenology Analysis, which allows researchers to explore how individuals make sense of their experiences through personal stories.

Dr Laletas and her team uncovered valuable insights into some of the personal and professional challenges experienced by teachers and also their professional concerns about the impact of high-conflict divorce on children. For example, the teachers discussed how differences in approaches to parenting between parents can lead to children being confused and lacking confidence in how they approach activities in the classroom, and other behavioural and social difficulties.

Dr Laletas notes that for children who are ill-equipped to regulate and express their emotions and fears, the teachers reported the confident use of strategies to help children respond more appropriately. This is consistent with an overall increase in focus on social and emotional learning in schoolchildren and an appreciation of the impact of this on academic outcomes and general wellbeing.

But despite the heartfelt compassion and informed strategies offered by the teachers, they also reported feeling not being adequately trained to teach children experiencing these types of difficulties. The personally negative consequences of working with children in these situations included feeling distress, guilt, and at times, even a sense of failure.

The emotional intensity of caring for, and caring about children can be immense. Dr Laletas points out that this can place teachers at risk of burnout and she makes critical recommendations targeting different levels of the school system to better support teachers involved in the education of vulnerable children.