Stress Related to Teachers - Essay Example

Stress related to teachers, its impact and resolution This paper is aimed at exploring the stress related tothe teachers in America, its impact and resolution. The paper will first look at how stress usually comes about in most teachers. Then, the paper will discuss the effect of the stress on the students and other people in the community in exploration. Later on, the discussion will explore the best way to help these teachers in handling the stress. Most of times, human body is in a defense state in an attempt to protect itself and to cope with an emergency situation that may be detrimental. This is the nature of the human body, which is good and beneficial but if this state is increased than the usual level, it may cause physical and psychological severe symptoms. Stress is one of the ways that human body defends itself through it. Recently, stress occupies a prominent place on the top list of both physical and psychological illness. In fact, the impact of stress exceeding the physical and psychological said, it affects the individuals’ work and their life. As we know teachers are significant and effective component of school structure. Teaching is a great and honorable profession. Teachers suffering from stress have a negative impact that is different from the other members of the community experiencing stress in their work or life (Drury, 2013). According to The American Institute of Stress, stress is “a feeling or condition experienced when, a person notices that demands surpass the social personal resources the individual is capable of mobilizing.” Why is teachers’ stress different from other people’ stress? Let’s face it; Teaching is a tough profession. Regardless of being on their feet all day trying to meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of 20 or more students and dealing with endless stacks of paperwork that they often take with them home. Teachers face professional development courses, observations/evaluations, a new and hopefully improved curriculum, parent-teacher communications, after-school activities etc. Not only do teachers deal with students every day, but they deal with different type of people with various personalities, such as principals of the educational field at the state and school level and parents. Students of today are the future of tomorrow in the nation. To establish students with a strong base, we need teachers who are able to endure the stress and the difficulties of teaching profession. The great and hard work that teachers do leads to a bigger, better, and brighter future. “It is supposed to be hard.  If it was not hard, everyone would do it.  The hard is what makes it great” (Drury, 2013). This exploration paper aims to disuse the causes of teachers stress and its impacts in an attempt to mange their stress. To explore the teachers stress issue, I will use different sources that have studies, surveys, articles and one of presentation of my class. To realize the significance of this issue, we have to know how stress affects teacher teaching and their working life. Emma Drury discussed that point through her article “How does stress affect your teaching and working life?” Emma answered her question by using a recent survey conducted on teachers. The survey found that teachers suffered stress and it had great impact on their lives, both inside and outside the classroom. The survey discovered some psychological aspects of stress on teachers. It discovered that around 83% of teachers feel constantly tired because of their worries, 42% feel less able to do their job, and 66% become less patient with others. On the other hand, the detrimental impact on health was 76% of teachers agreeing that stress was affecting their health and lifestyle and on average 13.2 days sick leave. Is stress affecting students? The short answer is “yes” because there are a strong relationship between students and teacher. Rebecca Klein discussed how teachers stress affect students by presenting” Gallup’s State of America’s Schools” report. Gallup’s said, approximately half of teachers testified being stressed daily and 70% of K-12 teachers in 2012 survey poll are not involved in their work. “The issue is that when teachers are not entirely involved in their work then, their students pay the price each day,” the report says. That is true since teachers who have stress are unlikely to bring the resilience, energy and insights that are effective in teaching in the classroom. According to Gallup’s report, teachers who make students excited about their future and are committed to their school board, help to build the students strengths and so are more successive to helping students engaged at school (Reese, 2014). Finally the Gallup’s report presents the cause of the education system success in Finland, which is transferring preparation of teachers from colleges of teachers to more demanding programs in university. The reason for this is to help make the occupation more professional and more attracting to talented young people. In addition it presents the needs of U.S. schools to stop the struggle of getting sufficient applicants with the talent of being great teachers. Brandon H. Busteed, Gallup Education executive director considers that “The correct teacher and student engagement and leadership are all one vital bionetwork” (Huffington, 2014). What is stress and what are the causes of it? Based on C. Manjula on the study of personality factors causing stress among school teachers (Huffington, 2014), the term stress means pressure, which is caused by endogenous, exogenous and interaction of endogenous and exogenous factors. Stress is the way that teachers response to events that upset their personal balance. The causes of stress vary from one person to another; it may be linked to the outside factors such as the environment, which is one’s life, work or the family. It can come from the person behavior, negative attitudes, feelings and unrealistic expectation. For instance, threat and fear. A perceived threat linked to the fear may lead to the teachers feeling stressed. Threat can be during observations/evaluations, their career, and the financial sates. Life causes are one of the factors that have strong impact on teachers. Death, ill health, physical change, self abuse, victim of crime, moving to new location, financial crisis, family change, and increase in responsibility are life causes that may happen in any teacher life. All these causes lead to stress and if the causes link or interact with other factors, the impact will be too serious and it may threaten the life of the teacher. Another cause of teachers stress is cognitive dissonance. It occurs when a gap is created between what teacher does and what she/he thinks, also when teacher cannot meet commitments and the possibility of being perceived as incapable. The new and the hopefully improved curriculum, parent-teacher communications and after-school activities are some of the reasons that lead to cognitive dissonance. Conflicts occur where the teachers struggle to meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of their students; parents, colleagues, the school administration but at times fail which lead them to frustrations that prevent them from meeting all the needs and achieving their goals. Environment is an important cause of teachers stress. Stress is a response to things around teacher’s environment such as pressure from work, family, noise, crowding, the lack of a safe environment and lack of teaching supplies. As a results of all these causes, a new causes will be created such as fatigue and overwork because of working too much and too hard at school or home; and not knowing how to manage the time well. Every cause presented above interacts with each other differently and by the time, teachers feel stress and react to it differently there are common stress symptoms. There are four types of stress symptoms of which the first is an intellectual symptom such as memory problem, difficulty in taking decision, confusion, poor judgment and lack of concentration. Secondly, the physical symptoms such as digestive problem sleep disturbance, fatigue, high blood pressure, Weight gain or loss, Skin problems, Asthma or shortness of breath, and heart palpitations. The third is the emotional symptom such as moody and hypersensitive, restlessness and anxiety, depression, anger and resentment, irritation, apathy, and urge to laugh or cry at inappropriate times. Fourth, the behavioral symptoms such as isolation, neglecting responsibilities, increased alcohol and drug use, nervous habits, teeth grinding or jaw, clenching, overdoing activities, losing temper, overreacting to unexpected problem (Mallikarjun et al., 2012). It is obvious that causes of stress vary from one person to another, but the risk is not in the external event as much as the willingness and appetite to manage this event. Some teachers do not accept it and may get sick, depressed and sometimes withdraw from teaching. There two types of strategies that can help to mange teacher stress. The first type is depending on the teacher. Teacher needs to avoid things or events that lead to stress which may be impossible to change but changing how to deal with stress is the best way in most cases. Reframing and positive thinking is a good strategy to start managing stress. It helps to see things in positive way instead of focusing on the negative aspects, which can help to get rid of the negative thoughts and feelings that lead to stress (Huffington, 2014). Looking at change as a positive challenge not a threat, setting realistic goals at home and at work, resolving disputes or disagreements with others and asking for help from friends or family or professional people are strategies that teachers can do to mange their stress. The second type of management strategies of reducing stress is depending on school administration. The most important thing of administration’s success in reducing stress is being honest, direct with staff and treating them as a family. Teachers stress is a common topic recently. However, some schools face circumstances that make it difficult to explore the causes of their teachers stress. So the first thing school administration has to do is check turnover rates. If you detect a trend of teachers leaving a school during their first three to five years on the job, investigate the causes. An interview with departing teachers is a useful way to provide the administration vital information in regard to causes that made teachers leave. Establish a new-teacher forum that new teachers can meet to feel more comfortable talking to other novices. It is a great and helpful strategy to talk about classroom concerns, learn some new things, realizing there are classroom challenges that they may face in sharing their experiences (Reese, 2004). Reward is simple strategy so tell the teachers that administration appreciates their effort. Moreover, it helps, encourages and motivates them to continue despite the difficult circumstances. Giving teachers a voice is an effective strategy. This way, giving teachers a voice is a direct and successful way of communicating with the school board. People become comfortable and are able to give when they feel that their voice is imperative, heard and acted. Finally, School administration can help to reduce teacher stress by granting “personal days” for the teacher without having to give a reason, support them, try to understand their problems, providing them with helpful feedback to show them that they care, assisting them to succeed and helping those who struggle and are willing to say “thank you.” In addition to the attempt to reduce the paperwork whenever possible, provide basic and the necessary materials and provide safe learning environment (Huffington, 2014). References (1) Drury, E. (2013). How does stress affect your teaching and working life: Open thread. The Guardian. Retrieved 8 November 2014 from http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/jun/18/teaching-stress-affect-working-life (2) Frederick, H. (2014). Teacher Stress and Instructional Leadership. Our presentation. (3) Manjula, C. (2014). A Study on Personality Factors Causing Stress among School. Language in India. Retrieved 11 November 2014 from http://www.languageinindia.com/feb2012/manjulaezhilmphilfinal.pdf (4) Reece. R. (2004). The Bottom Line. American School Board Journal. (5) Huffington Post. (2014). American Teachers Feel Really Stressed, and Its Probably Affecting Students. The Huffington Post. Retrieved 8 November 2014, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/09/gallup-education-report_n_5119966.html Read More