The Challenges Of Teachers Working With At- Risk Youth In Israel

A characteristic of dropout from an educational setting

At-risk youth find it difficult to adjust to school, their academic achievement and their behavior is poor, as a result, they leave the educational system, this behavior is called visible dropout. On the other hand, there are students who are enrolled in the educational setting but are often absent due to feelings of alienation, social isolation or behavioural problems and lack of adjustment. This behavior is called hidden dropout. Not being present in normative educational settings intended for their peers puts them at risk. In Israel there is a compulsory education law and even the studies at a recognized educational institution is free. Despite this, there is a substantial case of dropout from the education system, which gave rise to sending delegates to check on them regularly.

Socio-demographic characteristics

a. Gender. There is a large gap between the number of male youths at risk compared to the smaller number of females at risk. b. Ethnic-cultural origin. The number of youth who drop out of the eastern states is greater than the dropout youth from Ashkenazi, as well as the proportion of new immigrants who are at higher risk than the proportion of indigenous people who are at risk. c. Parental education. The lower the level of parental education, the higher the risk of their children. d. Marital status. affiliation of the youth to a family whose parents are divorced, single parent, multi-child family, abnormal parenting relationship, deviant parenting behaviors. e. Socioeconomic status. The lower the socioeconomic status, the higher the risk of being at risk. f. Place of residence. The youth's place of residence is important for examining his behavior. In addition, residence affects the development of the youth. Any familys' problem statistically increases the chance of the youth being detached.

Personal characteristics

a. Personal, Social, Behavioral and Emotional Adaptation. The individual's personal adjustment meets his or her personal and psychological needs. The individual adapts to the conditions of the environment and even welcomes the adaptatiuon. Successful personal adaptation of the individual contributes to self-confidence, self-esteem, sense of independence and coping with difficulties. Lack of adjustment in one of these areas causes deviant behaviors. b. Deviant behaviors. Involvement in criminal activity, drug consumption, criminal cases. c. Mental well-being. the degree of happiness and satisfaction the individual feels. In cases where teens face mental difficulties such as anxiety and depression, their mental well-being is impaired. d. Self-esteem. The individual examines how satisfied he is with his ability, skills, behavior and emotions. High self-esteem contributes to dealing with failure and crisis situations. e. Attachment. At-risk youth do not experience a normal attachment relationship in childhood which is the basis for security and trust, as a result of this population's attachments being abnormal. Abnormal attachment at childhood can lead to the development of psychopathologies and personality disorders.

Environmental Characteristics

a. Family connections. Family crisis situations (illness, death, imprisonment, divorce, etc.) and family characteristics (single parent, divorced parents, unemployment, etc.) increase the chances that the adolescent will be at risk. b. Social relationships. Unacceptable social connections between them and their education cause dropout from the educational system and deviant behaviours. c. The school experience. The educational framework plays a significant role in the youth's future. Youths drop out because of the next set of adjustment difficulties, learning difficulties, low achievement.

At-risk youth have unique characteristics that require broad support from educators and social services to reduce their difficulties, drop out of school and even reduce the amount of youth at risk in Israel.

Emotional challenges

a. Positive and Negative Feelings. The study of emotion teaching has identified many pleasant feelings that teachers experience in their work such as joy, happiness, love, compassion and excitement ( Samier & Schmidt, 2009; Zembylas, 2004). On the other hand, teachers also experience less pleasant feelings such as guilt, shame, jealousy, frustration, disappointment, disillusionment, anxiety, anger, fear, embarrassment, frustration, vulnerability and sadness ( Hargreaves, 2000; Kelchtermans, 2011; Nias, 1999; Ginat, 2011). b. Stress and Burnout. Freudenberg ( 1974) first introduced the term burnout and defined it as a state of fatigue and of emptying physical and mental forces, a state of wear and tear. Etzion ( 1983), also, defined the concept of burnout as an ongoing process of depleting the employee's mental powers. Others, for example, Maslah and Jackson ( 1981), continued to develop the concept and distinguished three components of burnout: mental exhaustion, failure to fulfil, and the process of depersonalization. The teaching work is dealing with the teacher's personal feelings and the student's feelings, in addition to his cognitive and pedagogical interest in the content being studied. Many studies show that the teaching staff in the special education environment are faced with a higher level of burnout than the teaching staff in regular education ( Brunsting, Sreckovic, & Lane, 2014; Lee, Patterson, Vega, 2011; Tzur, 2001). The teaching profession involves a lot of emotional work, so the teacher's emotional exhaustion is high. ( Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001). c. "Compassion Fatigue". Compassion is an emotion of concern, identification and a desire to help others in pain and suffering. “Compassion fatigue” expresses a set of symptoms experienced when the facilitator is overly emotionally involved in the concept of “compassion fatigue” ( Figley, 2002). The concept of "compassion fatigue," is also called empathy, countertransference, or distress. For the first time, Joinson ( 1992) conceptualized the burnout phenomenon after examning nurses in emergency medicine departments. Joinson ( 1992) noticed that compassion for the other person's grief and trying to soothe his pains could impair the mentor's ability to be empathetic and forever. Many describe the causes of “Compassion fatigue” as prolonged exposure to traumatic memories, pain and suffering of the care giver ( Figley, 2002; Salston & Figley, 2003; Razar, 2009). "Compassion Fatigue" may develop among educators due to the reverberation of the emotional power experienced by the student. Long-term exposure to students' grief, events and compassion and mental resources may create stress and emotional distress among educators themselves ( Newell & MacNeil, 2010). The expressions of "Compassionate Fatigue" are commonly divided into emotional, physical, cognitive and behavioural expressions. One of the main phrases includes indifference to the needs of the student and a sense of disconnection and distancing. Feelings of anxiety, helplessness, sadness, depression and fear can also arise in the helpers. Physical manifestations include many, such complaints: headache, muscle pain, abdominal pain, weakness and fatigue. Expression of nervous behavior rules, distancing from others, decline in functioning, outbursts, seclusion, difficulties in interpersonal relationships, sleep disorders and social isolation. Cognitive expressions include lack of concentration, annoying thoughts and more ( Gray, 2008; Mendelssohn & Yehezkel, 2016). d. Convergence and avoidance of action. Working with at-risk youth gives rise to many emotions that may lead to internal conflict and stress and cause educators to wish to avoid work ( Razar 2009). Teachers who teach students with low socioeconomic backgrounds and low academic achievement often leave the educational framework to the point of dropping out of the system ( Maagan, 2017). Dropout is associated with internal feelings of distress in the face of job demands and workload, which leads to functional difficulties ( Arbiv-Elyashiv & Zimmerman, 2015).

Professional challenges

a. Systemic phenomenon. Systemic phenomenon. Razar, Warshavsky, and Bar Sadeh ( 2011) found many professional difficulties facing teachers working with at-risk populations and claiming that they tend to perpetuate their failure in three processes: 1. helplessness. This pattern is characterized by the teacher's guilt and shame for the lack of success and ability to cope with difficulties. 2. Wrong identity. Teachers are shattering their professional identity, as working with a weak population is considered to be inferior and worthless. 3. "Blame." The teacher's fault is caused by his lack of system success. As a result, blamed for his reaction to the system, he does not learn from his unsuccessful experiences and does not benefit from them. This language encourages unprofessional behavior and adversely affects staff morale and sense of efficiency. b. Professional prestige. Teachers working with at-risk youth are considered marginal in the system and as a result do not enjoy professional prestige ( Razar, 2009). c. Vocational training. Teachers working with at-risk youth do not receive adequate vocational training ( Cohen-Navot, Ellenbogen-Perkovitz, & Reinfeld, 2001). d. Teaching mismatched to student level. At-risk youth teachers are interested in intellectual challenge and a sense of appreciation. Based on this, they teach according to the goals and professional perceptions of schools working with a strong and established population, but fail because of a lack of professional coordination between the needs of the population and their goals ( Razar, 2009).

In conclusion, continuous exposure to emotional and professional difficulties, without the support of professionals, causes physical, emotional difficulties and the perception of professional identity. This phenomenon is called the "exclusion cycle in education", where there is a mutual influence between the distress of the student population and the distress of the professional staff which should help it get out of the cycle of failure ( Razar 2009).