Everyone experiences stress related to their jobs. A recent study, however, highlighted how stressed-out teachers can negatively impact student outcomes—and your school as a whole.
University of Missouri researchers wanted to see how teacher stress and burnout can impact student behavior and achievement in the classroom. They worked with 121 teachers who taught 1,817 students in kindergarten through fourth grade.
Teachers self-assessed their own stress levels. They were also asked to fill out a profile on each of their students, while students completed tests to measure their academic achievement.
Most teachers (93%) were assessed as being stressed—3% were low-coping, 30% were moderate coping, and 60% were high-coping. Only 7% reported being well-adjusted. And, according to researchers, the stressed and low-coping teachers had “the worst student outcomes, including lower student adaptive behaviors and math achievement and higher disruptive behaviors compared with the other classes on nearly all comparisons.”
Academic leaders must ensure teachers feel engaged and that they are treated fairly at their school. It’s important to take the pulse of your faculty often to discern where they feel supported and what they feel needs attention.
Work with your faculty to understand the support they perceive from the administration. Can you improve your efforts? Do certain departments feel more supported than others?
If your faculty indictated they need more opportunities for professional development or the schedule doesn’t provide ample time for instruction, make a concerted effort to address their concerns.
At an individual level, there’s much that can be done to help manage the effects of stress. We shared a list of stress management tips a few years ago. Consider sharing the following recommendations with your teachers (as well as incorporating some into your own routine!).
- Bring a plant to work. Plants work just as hard as we do, purifying our air and helping relieve stress. Washington State University found that people who enter a room with visible plants can experience lower blood pressure.
- Take a walk outside. Take advantage of fresh air and sunshine to clear your mind and stretch cramped muscles. Sunlight also helps generate Vitamin D, which can aid in keeping Seasonal Affective Depression (SAD) at bay.
- Keep a “gratitude journal.” Take a moment at lunch time or before bed to jot down at least one thing that you appreciated that day. It could be something as small as watching the kindergartners take turns at the slide on the playground, or an email from a colleague thanking you for finding a useful new resource. Keeping this small habit helps you look for the parts of your work that you appreciate, rather than dwelling on the negative.
- Clear your desk. It might be a chore, but cleaning up clutter can offer a sense of accomplishment that carries over to more vital tasks.
- Prioritize and let the little things go. Save energy and mental resources by determining what must be accomplished each day. When you check items off each day’s to-do list, you'll experience a well-deserved feeling of success.
Helping your teachers reduce their stress levels can benefit your students and further your school’s mission. See what improvements you can make to help your teachers feel supported and fulfilled.
Additional ISM Resources:
The Source for Private School News Vol. 17 No. 2 Stress Is Contagious: Don’t Let It Spread in Your School
The Source for Advancement Vol. 9 No. 5 Reduce Stress and Increase Memory
The Source for Business and Operations Vol. 9 No. 2 Managing Stress 101
Additional ISM resources for Gold members:
I&P Vol. 41 No. 11 The Rhetoric of Rigor II: Stress, Schedules, and Fun
