Perceptions of Teachers as Armed Personnel
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2020-06-02
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Abstract
In response to the 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, President Donald Trump recommended arming teachers as a method of protecting students and staff on school campuses. While the practice of arming teachers is already practiced in numerous school districts throughout the country, the idea was new for the national audience. The problem was the perceptions of teachers towards policies asking or allowing educators to serve as armed personnel is unknown. A basic qualitative study was used to identify the perceptions of teachers as armed personnel and close the gap in literature because the perceptions of school administrators, students, and parents are known, but the perceptions of teachers are not. The theoretical framework of the research was based on Maslow’s theory of motivation and the participative leadership theory. The research questions sought to identify teachers’ perceptions of carrying firearms, of colleagues carrying guns, and any experiences with educators serving as armed personnel. Data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews with participants working in a public charter school district in Texas. The school district was selected for the research because several districts throughout Texas already allow teachers to carry firearms in schools, but the research site did not. The interviews were conducted through a video chat program. Data was analyzed to determine if a general theme existed within the population and responses were hand coded into categories.
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