Supporting Teacher Wellness: Administrator Insights on Protecting Teacher Vocal Health

Studies show that significantly more teachers experience voice complaints than individuals in other professions. In order to better understand voice complaints, the researchers interviewed 30 administrators (elementary, middle, and high schools) from five school districts. Researchers analyzed the principals' responses through a series of coding, resulting in four emerging themes: (1) the impacts of teacher voice complaints, (2) administrators' responses to teacher voice complaints, (3) a lack of policy and infrastructure around teacher vocal health, and (4) voice enhancement systems as a type of policy. The results include citations of principals' responses and analysis of literature that provide possible implications and suggestions for administrators. Researchers conclude that administrators have various perspectives of teacher voice complaints, but generally administrators feel they need more awareness and information to support and inform their teachers on this health issue.