Becoming an Emotionally Intelligent Teacher Neil Mason — appi member Teacher, Text-book author www.knowledgeworkx.com (Training and Consulting, Dubai, UAE)
Stress & Teachers
the Royal Navy to consider teaching as a career. I wonder whether that might make some students stop and think about their behaviour — I remember a scene from the film Dangerous Minds where Michelle Pfeiffer’s character gets some attention from her class when she writes: “I am a US Marine. Does anyone know karate?” on the board.
Burnout An article in The Independent in 2005, on teachers and mental illness, quotes research on 300 secondary school teachers done by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) in Britain, showed that abuse at the hands of pupils had left 46 per cent taking antidepressants or facing long lay-offs from school through stress. The survey also revealed that 72 per cent of teachers had considered quitting their jobs because they were “worn out”. The Guardian newspaper in 2008 quoted another ATL study of 762 teachers where more than two thirds (70%) of the teachers and lecturers surveyed said their health has suffered because of their job, and over 50% are stressed by working in education.
Call in the troops …
The most stressful jobs frequently involve work with people or require you to hide your emotions. In combining these two, teaching carries a high degree of emotional labor and with that stress. “Burnout refers to negative consequences associated with chronic job stress. It involves affective components such as exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment.” site: http://www.schoolmentalhealth.org resource: http://tinyurl.com/teacher-burnout01
How many of us are either burned out, or close to getting burned out, and don’t recognize what is going on?
Let’s not forget the kids Sometimes with all the stress and problems we face as teachers, we forget about those we are paid to serve. Students also face an extremely stressful time in education where demands are placed on them — and often they are expected to be more mature in their reactions than we expect of ourselves as adults.
An article in The Guardian in June this year says that from next year, ex-military personnel will be able to sign up to a programme that will put them in the classroom in around half the time it usually takes to become a teacher. The move is part of a bid by ministers to encourage members of the army, Royal Air Force and