Meeting the psychological needs of teaching staff - Essay Example

Meeting the psychological needs of the teaching staff Table of Content Serial Number and Heading Page Number 0 Introduction 02 2.0 Executive Summary 03 3.0 Overview 04 4.0 Analysis 05 5.0 Recommendation 08 6.0 Conclusion 13 7.0 Appendix 14 1.0 Introduction Teachers encounter tremendous job pressure. This trend is conspicuous with the teaching staff in the UK as well. The UK is facing a similar crisis, where recruitment and retention of teachers is going through troubled times. A big worry is the trend of the number of teachers leaving the profession prematurely due to the changed nature and organisation of their work. This phenomenon is not just affecting the teaching staff in UK schools and colleges, but all over the world. On researching the cause for this exodus by the teaching staff from schools and colleges, the most logical sequence of activities that put undue stress and strain on teachers were: 1. Time pressures 2. Meeting childrens needs 3. Dealing with non-teaching tasks 4. Maintaining early childhood philosophy and practice 5. Meeting personal needs 6. Issues with parents of the children 7. Interpersonal relationships 8. Attitudes and perceptions about early childhood programs Differentiation between the internal demands which teachers place upon themselves in their daily work and the external demands from organisational and social pressures cause teachers to abdicate their position to pursue other professions (Kelly and Berthelsen, Abstract, 1995) In 1998, the UK government introduced the Advanced Skills Teachers (AST) scheme, to help schools attract and retain exceptional classroom teachers and increase staff motivation. This move augmented to increase the level of student achievements, and at the same time broaden the skills and knowledge base of these schools. An AST was required to undertake additional duty apart from their normal teaching, to help raise the quality of teaching in their school and in other (outreach) schools. The programme mandated that the AST spend close to 20% of their time in outreach work. The Local Educational Authorities (LEA) recognises the potential of AST to meet the objectives of their Educational Development Plans (EDP) (Ofsted, Introduction, 2003). One may wonder how an AST can help relieve the difficulties of the teaching staff. AST’s spend most of their time advising other teachers on class organization, systematic teaching methods, and assisting those who experience difficulties in teaching. 2.0 Executive Summary In order to understand and define a course of action, one has to understand the psychological needs of the secondary school teaching staff. Students come from a varied range of social backgrounds, and these can affect the behaviour and performance of the students. Teachers cannot treat all students alike and expect every student to perform or behave in a uniform manner. Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality and interests; learning and motivation, and assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders are part of psychology. This means that teachers may need to apply some of the common theories of psychology to overcome stress or better still, undergo advanced studies in human psychology. There are a number of reasons why teachers find it difficult to handle pressure on them to perform. The role of Advanced Skills Teacher was devised to reward those teachers who excelled and wished to remain in their classroom, but at the same time spent the equivalent of a day’s work in a week supporting other teachers in developing their skills and experience through the sharing of best practice ideas and approaches. This helped relieve a lot of stress from the teachers who found it difficult to teach. AST is perhaps the best incentive that can be offered to the teaching staff in recognition for their excellence. What is pleasing to see is that as an AST, one was rewarded with not just additional payment, but the privilege of increased non-contact time to share their skills and experience with other teachers within their own and other schools (dfes, Advanced Skills Teachers, 2007). 3.0 Overview In April 2000, Pamela Relf, a teacher with over 36 year’s experience, took her life after an Ofsted inspector criticised her teaching at Middlefield Primary School in Eynesbury, Cambridgeshire. For a teacher of her experience to be criticised like this, was more than a rebuke. Pamela, the school’s senior most teachers left behind a note echoing the sentiments of many teachers, saying "I am now finding the stress of my job too much. The pace of work and the long days are more than I can do." Similarly, three other teachers have also been linked to stress, bullying and Ofsted inspections. They are Janet Watson (33) of Northwick, Cheshire, Jenny Knibb (47) of Exeter, and James Patton (29) of Birmingham. Though the numbers of casualties are unknown and definitely much more, the above cases alone characterise the heat teachers undergo in the face of prolonged stress and bullying. Though these teachers took their lives because of the workload and pressure to perform, it is argued that their suicide was because of mental health problem. But this can also come about due to the result of psychiatric injury caused by prolonged negative stress. Psychiatric injury is not the same as mental illness (Tim Field, 2006). The cases of stress and strain are numerous and would go beyond many, many pages. In order to understand the impact of stress and strain on teachers, the above cases were quoted. To overcome the negative thoughts of leaving the profession, teachers had to be offered perks and cordial work environment for retention. The first step in this direction was the government implementation of the AST programme. The next step was to encourage teachers to perform better by offering incentives. “The stage was set for the consultation on how revised pay standards: Post Threshold Teacher, Excellent Teacher and Advanced Skills Teacher could be incorporated in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document. After prolonged deliberation, a draft Pay Order is being developed and the consultation is expected to take place shortly” (tda, Professional Standards, 2007). 4.0 Analysis According to Kyriacou & Sutcliffe (1979), high levels of occupational stress can often lead to job dissatisfaction, absenteeism and work turnover as in the case of teachers. Teachers undergo psychological (anxiety & depression), physiological (headaches, tachycardia, hypertension, and increased blood pressure) and/or behavioural (alcohol consumption, smoking, lifestyle, sleeping problems) stress during their professional years. The main source of stress can be linked with poor career structure and low wages. In other words, the conditions of work rather than the experience of teaching seem to be the most likely factor contributing to job dissatisfaction and intention to leave teaching (Antoniou, Polychroni & Walters, 2000). The psychological imbalance among teachers is growing alarmingly. Psychology plays an important part in the make or break of a teacher. Teachers find students, parents and the leadership difficult to manage and end up being mental wreaks or leaving the profession. This calls for a severe introspection. Unless there is a solution to this problem, schools throughout the UK and other parts of the world will find teachers under the endangered species category. Many define psychology as the science of mental processes and behaviour. However, the word Psychology in itself is difficult to define because it involves the term mental, which suggests that there are no boundaries or limits (Langara College, 2003). In other words, psychology can be termed as an academic discipline, a profession and a science dealing with the study of mental processes and behavior of people and animals. The roles of secondary school teachers are more specific. Unlike in primary schools where a teacher may teach a lot of subjects to a class of students, secondary school teachers have to specialise in the relevant subject they teach, and must be able to communicate with all the students in his/her class. This is the time when students grow from a universal level to a professional level. Because of this, teachers are under severe pressure to perform to the satisfaction of parents and management. It has been mentioned that students from diverse social backgrounds have varied behavioural and mental attitude. Teachers may see some of the students in his/her class perform exceptionally well with little supervision, and some with a little more supervision. However, there may be students in the class who may not perform at all despite more supervision. This leads to unhealthy relationship between the teacher and the parents and management. Undue pressure from the leadership to perform to the parent’s expectation can take a lot out of the teacher. Overtime duties to make amends can be physically and mentally sapping. Teachers find that they are overburdened with additional work without corresponding benefits. They have little time for themselves. Parents make it a point to rebuke those teachers who find less time for corrective measures (U.S. Department of labor, 2006). In such a scenario, teachers become frustrated when dealing with unmotivated or disrespectful students. Occasionally, teachers may also have to cope with unruly behaviour and violence in schools. Unlike in most private schools, teachers in public schools experience stress in dealing with large classes, heavy workloads, and old schools that are run down and lack many modern amenities. Accountability is a prerogative to performance for any teacher. Teachers find that despite their sincere efforts to develop the students, some may not find favour with the teacher, resulting in arrogance and rebuke by students. Teachers, frustrated by the lack of control that they have over what they are required to teach, end up being emotional drained and frustrated. Apart from the above, teachers are required to design classroom presentations to meet students’ needs and abilities. They also work with students individually. They have to plan, evaluate, and assign lessons; prepare, administer, and grade tests; listen to oral presentations; and maintain classroom discipline. The work load of late has increased for the teachers, as the school leadership looks to his/her school to outshine other schools in academic and social fields. These activities drain teachers to such an extent, that we see more and more teachers compelled to leave the profession after a very short stint (U.S Department of Labor, 2006). This is where special training and recognition for sincerity and hard work should be acknowledged. The government has for long been trying to maintain the balance between work and remuneration. Incentives are success stones to performance and promotions. It is these that teachers seek for their tireless peril. The exodus of teachers has led to the decline in teaching standards. Students too find such inveterate changes hard to absolve and end up being incompetent. This is where an AST is important. An AST not only helps the teacher with proper guidance, but can also study the difficulties faced by the teacher(s) and recommend proper techniques to correct them. It has been found that students lack interest in their studies due to their family structure and employment patterns of parents. Single parent families, stepfamilies, and more working parents are evidence of social change. Often such changes make it difficult for parents to participate in their childrens schooling, as they try to meet a variety of demands. This adds more responsibility on teachers to perform beyond the normal curriculum. Changing the attitude of a student towards education is one thing, and changing the student’s social behaviour another. Teachers find such additional duties too hard to labour and lose interest (Kelly and Berthelsen, p.12, 1995). What could be the reason for teachers finding themselves in such discomfiture? Research has provided evidence that a larger percentage of the intellectual women pursue other careers other than teaching, what with more opportunities available now. However, there is also a view that a woman’s interest in teaching is the opportunity it provides them to raise a family. The above may be true in the case of women, but what about their male counterparts. Men prefer to be more dominant. Under the circumstance, not many intellectual men would prefer to teach, considering their unlimited opportunity in other spheres. Pay is relatively poor in comparison to other high profile jobs, and so too could be the hiring practises in schools (Education Commission of the States, 2005). 5.0 Recommendations The following guidelines may be able to throw more light on what best can be done to reverse this trend of teacher’s exodus from schools under stress and strain. One interesting feature would be to allow teachers substantial freedom to explain the meanings of stress from their perspectives. Ultimately, it is these teachers who can define and argue the cause for their action. By keeping a journal, teachers could keep a tag on situations and challenges faced by them routinely. This way, teachers could discuss the different situations among themselves and the management to arrive at a formal decision (Kelly and Berthelsen, p.14, Discussion, 1995). Once these stress factors have been identified, teachers can then deal with those issues which they have some control over. This will mean that teachers must be given some powers to enforce themselves on students. This does not mean that teachers can take the law into their hands; it means that students must become vary of the fact that teachers have the power to reprimand them for misbehaviour. For this, the school management and the parents must support the teachers; in other words, provide teachers with strong administrative support and adequate autonomy (Education Commission of the States, p.5, 2005). Compensation plays a key role in the recruitment and retention of teachers. As we have seen, most intellectually qualified men and women tend to move on to areas where there is a more attractive remuneration package. This does not help the cause of the schools, which look to employ the best available personnel for teacher’s jobs. This is also a reason why not too many teachers stay on with their job despite stress. A healthy compensation can act as a stress buster. But for this, apart from the salary, certain autonomy and administrative support is mandatory. Compensation will also have a varying impact on retention depending on other factors such as teach­ers’ gender, level of experience and current job satisfaction (Education Commission of the States, p.5, 2005). The following points can help in busting the teacher-student stress and help build a strong bond. They are: 1. Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among the students for whom they are responsible. This will make the students vary of the power the teacher has to punish them for wrongdoing. 2. A teacher should be allowed to instruct through lectures, discussions, and demonstrations in one or more subjects. This will help the teacher identify any possible limitation in a student, and help improve the student. 3. Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects, and communicate those objectives to students. Once the teacher has made him/her self clear to the class, the students will be able to clear any doubts that they may face in completing this, Students will show more affinity to completing the assignments and remain pro-active. 4. Prepare, administer, and grade tests and assignments to evaluate students progress. Periodic evaluation of a student’s progress chart will assist the teacher identify a student’s weakness and strive to set it right. This will decrease the pressure on the teacher to identify and correct common mistakes in the student. Parents and management also get to see the progress report of the student. 5. Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities. Though this may be termed as additional work, it is well known that physical activities are more attractive to students than paper work. Physical activities are also interesting and will keep both the teacher and the students in high spirits. 6. Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students varying needs and interests. In order to have the support and participation of students, teachers need to address their interests. Some students may not find book work interesting and become a liability in class. All students love to innovate. Teachers can take a straw from this theory and do things that are creative and fun. This way, students will show marked improvement in their academics. 7. Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations. Despite all efforts, there may be times when a student(s), may not show an inclination to study. In order to protect him/her self from insensitive parents and management, teachers can maintain records to show the development of the students of the class. If the class shows a marked improvement due to the personal involvement of the teacher, there may not be any kind of admonition from either a parent or administration. 8. Assign and grade class work and homework. This is another way of keeping a tab on a student’s progress. Parents will also be actively involved in the development of their child, and in the bargain, give less chance for teacher bashing. 9. Observe and evaluate students performance, behavior, social development, and physical health. This will help the teacher and the parent improve the student’s character and health. Personal interest will only develop a stronger bond between the teacher and student. This way, students will become more cooperative and take initiatives to do well in class. 10. Enforce all administration policies and rules governing students. All said and done, teachers must be given autonomy to enforce school rules in class. This will only help avoid discrepancies by students to their studies and teachers (O.Net Online, 2005). Schools and local authorities can ensure that teachers and head teachers are empowered and confident to engage fully with performance management to develop their skills and careers. This will include better planning and greater transparency, and consistency and fairness in assessments. This will lead to improved and continuous professional development and support other teachers to carry out their jobs effectively. Revision of the standards for teachers and targeting the management expectations will also help teachers span their career (tda, Performance management, 2007). Finally, the appointment of AST as an incentive for hard work is a move in the right direction to better education. Kyriacou, in ‘Teacher stress and burnout: An international review’1, said that there was a need to reconsider how the day to day functioning of school programs occurred, as there were increasing complexities in the demands on teachers. He further stressed the need to focus on the managerial and organisational practises that school systems used, to develop practises that are supportive of the teaching responsibilities and help alleviate the stress experienced by teachers (Kelly and Berthelsen, p.14, Discussion, 1995). 6.0 Conclusion Teachers undergo tremendous stress and pressure to perform under trying conditions. On the one hand, parents exert undue pressure on teachers for under-par performance by their children, without understanding the cause for such results, and on the other, the school administration supports them without paying much attention to the root cause. Teachers can be made to be responsible through proper developmental and management programmes that will ease stress and improve performance. Incentives and recognitions are most attractive perks that can be offered for devotion to work. The government recognizing the fall in standards have come up with the idea of AST, recognition for exemplary work by teachers. Such programmes will act as a motivation for higher and better performance. 7.0 Appendix 1.0 Alison L. Kelly and Donna C. Berthelsen, Preschool teachers experience of stress, http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00001526/01/1526_2.pdf 1995 2.0 O.Net Online, Summary Report for: 25-2031.00- Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Vocational Education, http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/25-2031.00 3.0 Tim Field, Those who can, do. Those who can’t, bully http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/teachers.htm#Relf 4.0 Antoniou. A. S, Polychroni F, and Walters. B, Sources of stress and professional burnout of teachers of special educational needs in Greece, Literature, http://www.isec2000.org.uk/abstracts/papers_p/polychroni_1.htm 5.0 Langara College, http://www.langara.bc.ca/psychology/whatpsy1.htm 6.0 U.S Department of Labor, Teachers- Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle and Secondary, Nature of the Work, http://www.his.gov/oco/ocos069.htm 7.0 Education Commission of the States, Eight Questions on Teacher Recruitment and Retention, What Does the Research Say? A Summary of the Findings, http://www.ecs.org/html/educationissues/teachingquality/trrreport/home/TRRreportSummary.pdf 8.0 Ofsted, Advanced Skills Teachers, Document Reference No. HMI 1767, Crown Copyright 2003, www.ofsted.gov.uk/assets/3423.pdf 9.0 dfes, Advanced Skills Teachers, The Standards Site, www.standards.dfes.gov.uk 10.0 tda, Professional standards, www.tda.gov.uk Read More