The FuelEd Blog

After a year of teaching and living through a pandemic, educator mental health is at risk and yet, we desperately need to avoid further school disruptions. Teacher burnout and turnover — already cause for concern long before pandemic life — have increased, with an additional 11 percent of teachers saying they may leave the classroom even though they weren't planning to do so before. As it is, 40-50% of teachers leave the classroom within their first five years, and 40% of teachers in the three-county area have five or fewer years of experience, which has major implications on student achievement.

Trauma-informed teaching creates safe, supportive classrooms that counter the effects of childhood adversity and toxic stress, helping students thrive emotionally and academically. By fostering empathy, predictable routines, and inclusive practices, educators promote resilience and secure connections, benefiting all students while rewiring stress responses. Training programs like the Whole Educator Collective empower teachers with tools to build self-awareness, improve communication, and model healthy coping strategies for a stronger, more connected classroom.

FuelEd was founded to bridge the gap in new teacher preparation.

FuelEd trainer, HyoYoung Minna Kim, shares powerful insights on the inextricable link between self-care and community care.

FuelEd trainer, HyoYoung Minna Kim, shares important reflections on the centrality of educator well-being in healing fractured systems.

FuelEd partner, Sheila Whittle, shares vulnerable reflections on burnout and hope.

Our work at FuelEd is based on the principle that relationships drive learning. This first in a series of foundational articles outlining the scientific basis for FuelEd's program, how relationships drives learning, and why this knowledge matters to educators.

In this second of four foundational posts, we explore the skills needed for educators to serve as “secure attachment figures,” and point to the potential for all educators to heal trauma, transform attachment styles, and catalyze academic, social, and emotional learning.

In this third of four foundational posts, we take a look at an essential ingredient in an educator’s ability to build secure relationships: their own self-awareness.

In our final foundational article of the 4-part series, we take a look “under the hood” to explore just how FuelEd goes about growing emotionally intelligent educators that build relationship-driven schools. Surprise, surprise — it happens through the experience of a secure relationship.

By adopting co-regulation tactics and secure attachment behaviors, educators can both acknowledge the chronic stress many children are prone to and be a source of healing so students can learn and live with freedom and joy.