Teachers are important members of society, be it during the pandemic or the face to face era. They teach the children, who are also known as the future of society. But even these people experience stress. So, what exactly is teachers’ stress?
Teacher stress is the result of the heavy workload all teachers experience. Due to the pandemic, teachers suddenly find themselves in an online-teaching environment that they were not trained for. In between the heavy workloads, teachers also have to work on their personal issues.
In the US, high levels of stress are affecting the teachers’ health and well-being. This causes teachers to have burnout, a lack of engagement, job dissatisfaction, poor performance, and some of the highest turnover rates ever.
The stress doesn’t just affect teachers, however. It can lead to lower results of achievement for students and higher costs for schools. A certain New York City study found that higher teacher turnover rates resulted in lower fourth and fifth grade achievement in math and language arts.
However, there is good news. Some ways have been found in order to decrease teacher stress.
Physical activity has been concluded to have helped in preventing psychological or mood disorders, and has helped in improving general quality of life.
Teacher induction and mentoring programs can help teachers and students succeed. These programs are for beginner teachers. These teachers may receive help from more experienced teachers, creating a technical and social support for the beginners.
School Workplace Wellness promotion programs and policies can save schools money and help improve teachers’ health. These programs help help address teacher health and well-being. The programs target lifestyle changes, and have resulted in lower body mass index, less systolic blood pressure, lowered blood glucose, and lowered total cholesterol. This has lowered health care costs for those who have participated. In another study, there have been no changes in health care costs, but participation has increased, resulting in savings of $15.60 for each dollar spent.
Teachers who participate in stress management programs report mental and physical health benefits. These programs help foster teachers’ ability to focus their awareness on the present moment in a non-reactive manner. This connects to their own experience and to others with ease, patience, and kindness. These skills are taught using sequenced exercises such as body scans, breath awareness, meditative movement, greater emotional awareness, and the cultivation of positive emotions towards self and others.
Those who have received mindfulness training showed lower levels of personal distress, and showed improved levels of mindfulness and emotion regulation skills. Other similar studies have shown positive effects on occupational stress and burnout. In study of special needs teachers, mindfulness training has resulted in lower stress and anxiety and greater personal growth, empathy, and forgiveness.
Rosalie, 14 years old, wrote this essay as part of her task for Writing. Her work and other students of mine, as agreed with permission, will be featured here and the proceeds of the tokens/NFTs gained by this article will be funding our Writing team's Community Work, including helping the victims of Typhoon Odette (Super Typhoon Rai).
