Resumen de Spanish Teacher Resilience in the U.S. South: Understanding K–12 Teacher Professional Satisfaction and Burnout

Kelly Moser, Tianlan Wei, Amber Crenshaw, Kenneth V. Anthony

• Efforts to support Spanish teachers are critical to the sustainability of K–12 WL programs. In the U.S. South, administrators struggle to fill school vacancies, and teachers report the highest levels of dissatisfaction. WL teachers specifically in this region of the country face additional hardships: teaching disengaged learners, challenging stereotypes, and confronting professional insularity. One way to reduce high levels of Spanish teacher attrition is to examine teacher resilience, or teachers’ capacity to overcome obstacles inherent in teaching to remain committed to the profession. This mixed-methods investigation draws upon Bronfenbrenner’s (1979, 2005) ecological perspectives as a framework for understanding the interactional factors that influence WL teachers’ resilience. The six Spanish teachers, all working in middle or high schools in the U.S. South, shared stories about their professional lives that contributed to satisfaction and burnout. The findings underscore the importance of strong school leadership and/or interpersonal relationships in school as critical to sustaining resilience. Additionally, implications for reducing teacher burnout are provided.