First-Year Elementary School Teachers Coping with Strain: A Heuristic Inquiry

The research presented here is a qualitative heuristic inquiry, sparked and driven by the following research question: How do first-year elementary teachers experience coping with strain? This inquiry investigated the experiences of six first-year elementary school teachers coping with strain working in a southwestern state of the United States. To begin this study, the researcher’s frame of reference and purpose for the inquiry were discussed. Foundational theories were offered as a grounding of the researcher’s frame of reference and provided a starting point for the research. A review of the literature was conducted followed by a discussion behind the choice of heuristic inquiry as the research design. By implementing a heuristic inquiry approach, this study aimed to better understand how first-year teachers were experiencing strain and coping from the teachers themselves. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to induce an awareness of perceptions around the phenomena of being a first-year teacher coping with strain from the teachers. Following the interviews, the researcher spent time processing the data. Written portraits of the participants’ experiences were written and shared with them. After the participants acknowledged the written portraits accurately represented their experiences of being first-year teachers coping with strain, analysis was focused on the interview transcripts to generate categories and themes of experience. This study found three overarching themes operating in the first-year teachers’ experiences of coping with strain. These themes were 1) the teachers being in a position of “newness”, 2) developmental modes of experience, and 3) the use of coping responses in reaction to strain. Implications of the findings were presented. The primary implication of this study was a better understanding and appreciation of what first-year elementary school teachers are experiencing regarding strain and coping. Finally, the researcher offered sugges