Stress at Work in Education

Introduction

The Health and Safety Executive has highlighted that "Stress is the predominant cause of work-related illness in the Education sector", in fact the rate of incidence of stress in education is nearly twice the all industries average.  There are many factors contributing to these high levels including: high levels of change, staff shortages and disruptive pupils.

Specific Issues

The Education sector has some specific stress related issues to contend with:

• Education is a political football- resulting in constant change for all involved 
• Long unsociable working hours
• Excessive workload 
• Poor pay
• Pressure of inspections
• Providing cover in shortages, absences
• Poor management/relationships
• Disruptive pupils
• Criticism by politicians and media
• Isolation with little outside support
• Unnecessary bureacracy

(NUT 2000 'Tackling Stress') 

The Statistics

40% of respondents to a survey by the National Association of Head Teachers reported having visited their doctor with a stress-related problem in the previous year.

According to the Sunday Herald on the 13th January 2007, more than 300 Scottish teachers were, at that time, absent from their schools through stress.

The teachers support network helpline has noted that two-thirds of calls are relating to work-related problems, whereas for telephone helplines in the private sector the norm is one third of callers discussing work-related issues, with two thirds discussing personal issues. 

Stress has a huge impact on teacher retention.   37% of secondary vacancies and 19% of primary vacancies were due to ill-health in 1997 according to a survey conducted for the Times Educational Supplement.  These percentages are much higher than those in other sectors with nursing vacancies, banking and the pharmaceutical industry being 9% and 5% respectively.

Teachers, the largest job category in the education sector, bear the brunt of violence and stress affecting employees.  Along with school directors, teachers are also those with the most interaction with internal (students) and external (mostly parents) users of the service.  Harassment and bullying amongst students themselves at virtually all levels of education, and external factors such as drugs, poverty and ethnic, racial or religious conflict, create a climate of violence which may have repercussions on staff.

In 1999 Muriel Benson, a secondary school teacher,  reached an out of court settlement for £47,000 for illness caused by stress.

In 2000 Jan Howell was awarded £250,000 in compensation against Newport County Borough Council for failing to respond to her suffering stress in the classroom.

In 2005 an EIS member received an out of court payment of £50,000 due to work related stress.

Resources

There are many resources and articles on the web relating to stress at work for teachers.  We have detailed a selection below:

• Teacher Support Network
  Offers practical and emotional support to improve the well-being and effectiveness of teachers
• Cutting Burdens on Teachers
  This website offers guidance on cutting bureaucracy and examples of good practice.
• Hamilton Trust
  An educational charity, that supports teachers by providing downloadable materials including model lesson plans, projects and other resources.
• Teacher Stress: A Critical Review of Recent Findings and Suggestions for Future Research Direct
• Training and Development Agency for Schools: Work-life balance
• Stress: Good Practise case study - Education
  Case Study of a school in Lancashire that has addressed issues of workload, work-life balance and communication.
• Channel 4 : Stress and Work - Teachers and Stress - Pressures of Life at the Chalkface.  

How In Equilibrium can help

We have various courses that can help with the problems discussed above.  These can be tailored to deal with problems specific to your organisation.  If you would like to do something to try to tackle stress related issues in your organisation please contact us.

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Managers Managing Stress - Full-day course

This course trains managers in what they need to know and do to minimise stress risk for their staff at work. The training emphasises practical actions that minimise risk to the employee and the organisation.  Managers are taught how to prevent stress, identify problems at an early stage, and what to do when stress problems do occur.  Leadership style is often highlighted as a stressor in education, this course demonstrates the importance of an open communication style in relation to stress.

Managers Managing Well-being - Full-day course

The objective of the course is to provide managers with the knowledge and skills to improve the well-being of their staff while they are at work.  This course aims to raise managers’ awareness of well-being and to alert them to the early warning signs of stress and poor mental well-being.  Managers are shown that by using the “Managing Well-being Formula” they can construct action plans to minimise risk whilst enhancing well-being, enjoyment and satisfaction at work.

Lifestyle Management - Full-day course

Issues such as difficulty switching off, working out what you can control, learning to be aware of the signs of stress are common in education.  This is partly due to the constant changing nature of the job and the excessive workload which means that many teachers have to work at home in their own time.

Bibou-Nakou et al (1999) found that there was a significant association between internal attributions and symptoms of burnout, suggesting that teachers who blame themselves for difficulties are more vulnerable to stress.  The stress and lifestyle management workshop has a whole section on negative thinking and how to control it.

This course introduces participants to a variety of concepts and techniques, which can work together to maintain good health and reduce the risk of stress.  Lifestyle approaches, work-life balance and personal ways of thinking are all covered, using interactive exercises.  Participants learn that taking personal responsibility for their reactions to events is the first step towards achieving effective personal stress management. 

Tools and Techniques for Individuals - Half-day course

The purpose of this course is to equip participants with tools and techniques that will reduce stress and boost health and well-being.  The benefits of achieving a good work-life balance are emphasised throughout the course.

Bullying and Harassment - Full-day course

Hoel et al (1999) surveyed English teachers and found that 35% reported having been bullied by a manager in the last 5 years, as opposed to an average of 24% across all occupational sectors.  Bullying type behaviours can often be found in high pressure environments where the managers themselves are not coping with workloads and resort to bullying as a maladaptive coping strategy.  That is, although it is ineffective in the long term, managing using a bullying style can appear to be a faster way to get things done in the short term.

We can provide in-house training courses on bullying and harassment and dignity and respect at work which are designed to improve organisational culture and individual performance.  The training will also cover the organisation’s legal requirements including its responsibilities as a result of the imminent major changes to Age Discrimination legislation.  The training will also make constant reference to the organisation’s own Policy on Bullying and Harassment, if one exists.

Conflict Resolution - Consultancy

In Equilibrium can provide in-house consultancy services for organisations who have conflict or relationship issues within teams.  This can also extend to assisting with return to work situations where an individual or a group of individuals have taken temporary leave of absence because of conflict or relationship problems. 

Please contact Alastair Taylor on 0131 476 5027 to discuss your organisation's requirements, or click here to email the In-Equilibrium team.