Teacher stress can lead to job burnout

With the beginning of the school year, I would like to encourage you to think about a topic that is often neglected but extremely important. The topic that I am referring to is teacher stress and burnout.

The teacher, in our society, is expected to produce positive results, often without the tools that are essential for success. Since free public school is one of the cornerstones of our society, the successful education of our children is often taken for granted. Many parents simply enroll a child in school at the appropriate age and sit back and wait for expected results. Parents and society in general, is often oblivious to the stresses felt by educators:

Work overload-many teachers feel compelled to take work home in the evenings and on weekends in order to meet the responsibilities expected of them.
Lack of appropriate reward and recognition for their work-teacher’s salaries remain very low in comparison to other professionals in our society.
Unrealistic and/or idealistic expectations from those they serve or those they work with-teachers are often seen as surrogate parents, counselors, character builders, caretakers, disciplinarians (often without any authority), etc.
Pervasive feelings of lack of control in their profession-positive results are expected without the tools needed to accomplish these results.
Lack of positive feedback from students and parents.
Working environments that are overcrowded, outdated or in high crime areas.
Multiple pressures from those they serve -parents, students, governmental agencies, administrations and the media.
Personal pressures-produced by the need to take care of their own families, health, living environments, etc. Often we expect teacher to have no personal problems, no worries or concerns outside of their teaching.

The end result is often that we want results but we don’t want to do what is really necessary to help. The problem can go even further when parents actually retard the learning process in their children by promoting counter productive alternatives at home such as too much television, letting their children stay up too late at night and thereby suffer from fatigue the next day, lack of support from parents in supporting school regulations, lack of assistance with homework assignments etc.
All of this puts teachers in a very stressful position often leading to burnout, physical ailments, depression, and a desire to leave the teaching profession.

Next week I will discuss ways that we can all assist teachers in their extremely important work.

Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D. Copyright 2000