Campus Location

Dallas Campus (Online)

Date of Award

9-2023

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0005-9517-2036

Document Type

Dissertation

Department

Organizational Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

John A. Harrison

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

Laura A. Perry

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Janet Tareilo

Abstract

This study addressed teachers’ perceptions of safety and emergency preparedness. The problem that was addressed in this study is that lockdown drills are regularly being conducted at public high schools, but it was not known how teachers perceive their role in safety and emergency preparedness, which is important to teachers’ sense of security. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how lockdown drills negatively or positively affect high school teachers’ perceptions of emergency preparedness to answer the research questions regarding school safety. This study was grounded in the cognitive mediation processes framework of protection motivation theory. Data were collected from a sample of 24 teachers who worked at the study site, had at least a bachelor’s degree, and had a teaching certificate, by using semistructured interviews and focus groups. The data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis to provide an answer to the research questions. The results of the analysis revealed that lockdown drills negatively impacted teachers’ perceptions of safety and emergency preparedness. The results led to the conclusion that school leaders must prioritize school safety and the recommendation that they must increase communication and mental health services. This study may contribute to positive social change by supporting both the emotional and physical safety needs of staff members responsible for protecting students’ lives.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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