The College of Education hosted its first focus group in a yearlong series for future teacher-coaches Tuesday afternoon. Doctoral student Alan Brown led the Teacher-Coach Focus Group in Room 202 of Bibb Graves Hall in hopes of informing UA students of the responsibilities and realities of teaching and coaching.

Teacher-coaches, defined as educators in core content areas who also serve as athletic coaches, are often negatively perceived as being below-average educators, Brown said. He said he hopes to show University students the facts of teaching and coaching in order to make them more effective in both avenues.

“The purpose of the group is to help future educators be more prepared for the coaching role so they might also be more effective teachers, role models and family members,” Brown said.

Brown, a former high school English teacher and basketball coach in North Carolina, said he understands the challenges of juggling multiple roles, especially for first-year teachers. He began the session by using past teaching experience to detail the responsibilities that teacher-coaches encounter. Displaying a daily schedule from his teaching-coaching days, Brown highlighted the time commitment required of these multiple roles — A typical teacher-coach’s day begins before a traditional teacher’s and ends after.

Brown said teacher-coaches hold a prominent role in the gym, classroom and the community. This holds true especially in Alabama, where high school sports are often cornerstones of communities.

When asked about the stereotypes or reputations of teacher-coaches in Alabama, many students’ answers gave credence to the stereotype of teacher-coaches being sub-par or more interested in athletics than academics. Brown said he hopes coaching will be seen as an incentive to attract future educators, rather than the main focus of the career.

“Never let teaching or coaching become an excuse for a poor effort in the other role,” Brown said.

The focus group audience is primarily students interested in teaching a core subject at the secondary level, and coaching one or more sports. However, the sessions might also be useful for students involved in other grade level or extracurricular activity education and they are welcome to attend, Brown said.

The Teacher-Coach Focus Group will conduct 10 sessions over the course of the academic year. Outside guests with teaching-coaching experience will be speaking to the group. Session Two of the series will focus on effectively balancing the roles of teaching and coaching.