Yesterday it was reported by the BBC that teachers are stressed and being ‘reduced to tears’. I wanted to explore this topic further being a MA1 student studying Education at the University of Dundee. Dr Bousted reported in a TES article teachers were being told
“stress is increasingly being regarded as par for the course and part of the job.”
Should this be the case? Is this what I have to look forward to as a teacher? Bursting into tears every night and staying up till 11pm to mark homework? No life? Would a nurse be asked to stay back in a hospital to work 5 or 6 hours longer than their shift? Would that not be risking the lives of the patients having a tired nurse on the ward? As a teacher it will be my job to look after children’s education, prepare classes, marking etc. So maybe it is up to me to find a way of stopping sometimes and taking time to myself. Last year I worked as an Early Years Practitioner where me and my colleague would work hours above our contracted time but rarely did we let that affect our personal time. If we had plans outside of nursery, outside of nursery hours that became our priority. It worked really well and we were happy in our jobs and outside our jobs. Yes, sometimes stressful situations cropped up that lasted a week or so but I didn’t feel stressed all time.
However, another point of view is the Government need to be supporting teachers which they are clearly not doing. I don’t see that I should be the person who feels isolated, that her work is getting on top of her when there is a Government out there and an Education department whose job it is to protect me in my role as a teacher. There needs to be clear structure in place to support teachers so that stress doesn’t “become part of the job.” Stress can be a horrific condition which can lead to teachers taking time off work and then the children suffering with the swap of teachers. I remember in school when teachers were off it would be a different substitute teacher everyday, none of whom could possibly know what stages we were at, who we were and what we were being taught. With England needing 160,000 additional teachers over the next three years according to statistics, the Government should be doing something to stop this atrocity happening.
So I have given two points here, that I as an individual should be in control of my own stress management and that the Government should be doing something to help teachers stop feeling this way. Is it a mix of both? Which is the right way of helping our teachers deal with stress? Time management or Government action?
I honestly really enjoy reading your blog and keeping up to date with your posts. I find it motivating to see how engaged you are with it and it helps me to think of new and interesting things I can write about on my own one! 🙂
I have worked in nurseries for many years and found myself needing to put in more and more hours above and beyond my contracted hours. I honestly did find that my stress levels were very high as I didn’t have enough time to relax and unwind before going back to work the next day (not to mention trying to find time to fit in a personal life!) There are numerous concerns here; one being that a stressed teacher may struggle to demonstrate some of the vital attributes such as patience and calmness that they must model for their class. Another huge issue is that if teachers are left in a situation of high, prolonged stress; they are in real danger of developing stress related illnesses. As you said, this can lead to lots of time off work and confusion for the pupils as they are being taught by numerous different staff, lacking consistency. It can also eventually lead to very serious conditions such as ulcers or heart problems!
I wonder if the number of stressed teachers has anything to do with the type of people that takes on that role. A teacher is usually someone who has a passion for and takes pride in what they do. This means that they are more likely to do the extra work because they truly care about those pupils that are in their care.
I really enjoyed reading this blog post and I like the way you have broken it up with little pictures; it really makes me want to find out what else you have been writing! I totally agree that it is vital that teachers should make time for relaxation, particularly as I am someone who struggles to switch off and completely relax. I think Michelle’s point about the type of people who become teachers being those who get more easily stressed is really interesting and something I hadn’t thought about before. I think it wold be a good idea for teachers who have managed to find a good balance to share it with others so that less people feel so stressed out.