The Impact Of Stress On Teachers

Kyriacou (2001) portrayed educators’ stress as any unsavory and adverse feelings, such as outrage, dissatisfaction, uneasiness, discouragement, and anxiety that educators experience as a result of some aspects of their work. Studies have demonstrated that instructors are exposed to different sources of stress. Ahmed (2009) established peer-to-peer relationships, unprofessional assignments, principal teacher relationships, work overload, student discipline, and low salary are variables that have positive correlations with teachers’ stress. Kyriacou (2001) hypothesized that enduring challenging interactions with colleagues and administrators, teaching indifferent students; sustaining discipline in the classroom; severe workload; exposure to ongoing changes; poor working conditions, and being assessed by others are teachers’ major stress factors. Teacher’s recognition of the degree to which circumstances are unpleasant is impacted by adapting methodologies, identity traits, and characteristics of the environment. Younghusband (2005) conceptualized stress as a developmental process that starts within the student teaching stage and results in emotional depletion. In addition, inadequate professional development and inclusive classes are a part of the chief stressors for teachers. Kelly and Berthelsen (1995) affirmed that pressures, assembling children’s needs, managing non-teaching errands, sustaining early childhood logic and practice, meeting individual needs, issues with children guardians, interpersonal connections, demeanors, and perceptions about early childhood programs are common stress factors experienced by preschool teachers. Swick (1989) argued that teachers encounter two types of stress; ecological and interactional stress. In relation to teaching, ecological stress occurs within three contexts: the classroom, the school, and the professional arena, whereas interactional stress exists within two domains; personal relationship and job transaction. Slaybaugh et al, (1995/6); Wolfe and Smith (1996) proposed that discipline, classroom administration, and the need for parental association with their children’s education are factors influencing educator stress.

Encountering a high level of stress appears to be damaging to teachers’ well-being (Harmsen, Helms-Lorenz, Maulana, van Veen, & van Veldhoven, 2016). Kyriacou (2001) noted, that stressors experienced by one teacher are unique to him or her and are reliant on the specific interaction between the teacher’s personality, values, skills, and circumstances. The impacts of stress can be displayed in numerous distinctive ways, including physical impacts such as increased heart rate, headache, faintness, shivers, skin rashes, throbbing neck, and shoulders and lack of resistance to infection. Over a long period, stress may contribute to chronic wellbeing issues such as heart illness and stomach ulcers. Individuals may also recognize stress amongst their colleagues due to various mental and behavioural changes affecting work performance and interpersonal relationships such as failure to concentrate, exhaustion, peevishness or animosity, withdrawal or unsociable, or hesitance to acknowledge valuable feedback and advice. While Swick and Hanley share similar views, they observed that stress can also be associated with positive outcomes such as improved self-concept, and increased self of efficacy, strengthening of teaching styles, and improvement in an overall approach to problem-solving, to name a few. Wangui et al. (2015) indicated that management, family, policies, and economic related stress are independent variables that are associated with teachers’ poor performances. Furthermore, West and West (1989) expressed that school frameworks can be adversely influenced by destitute educators’ performance, truancy, and turnover rates, such that stress among school instructors is positively related to educators’ truancy. Harmsen et al. (2016) indicated that teachers exhibit negative behaviour, tension, discontentment, and attrition as a result of stress factors (high psychological task demands, lack of developmental opportunities, and negative social, organizational, and pupil aspects).