By Matt Jarvis

Stress News January 2002 Vol.14 No.1
Reproduced courtesy of the author
and of the ISMA - International Stress Management Association.

Teacher stress is a much talked of phenomenon, however there is little consensus between different professional groups regarding its aetiology, or how to tackle it. Based on a review of international research, it is concluded that teacher stress is a real phenomenon and that high levels are reliably associated with a range of causal factors, including those intrinsic to teaching, individual vulnerability and systemic influences.

Limitations with the current research base of teacher stress are identified; we have a reasonable understanding of the aetiology of teacher stress, but little is known about the effects of reducing or mediating the impact of stressors. There are very few studies of effective interventions and none involving large samples or long-term follow-up. There are serious problems in generalising findings from stress-management in other occupational sectors. As well as addressing these gaps in our understanding, future research based on a social representations approach is needed to allow teachers and stress management practitioners a shared understanding of stress.

The problem in context
At the time of writing one of the dominant representations of teaching has become that of a highly stressful occupation. In a survey of head teachers by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) in May 2000, 40% of respondents reported having visited their doctor with a stress-related problem in the previous year. 20% considered that they drank too much and 15% believed they were alcoholics. 25% suffered from serious stress related health problems including hypertension, insomnia, depression and gastrointestinal disorders.

Stress impacts greatly on teacher retention. A study conducted for the Times Educational Supplement in 1997 found that 37% of secondary vacancies and 19% of primary vacancies were due to ill-health, as compared to 9% of nursing vacancies and 5% in banking and the pharmaceutical industry. Recruitment also appears to be affected by representations of stress. A MORI poll of 2017 British adults conducted in April 2001 revealed that teaching is seen as hard, poorly paid and held in low public esteem. Graduates had significantly more negative beliefs about teaching than non-graduates.

The ante of teacher stress was recently upped in 2000 when Jan Howell won a landmark victory against Newport County Borough Council for failing to respond to her suffering stress in the classroom and was awarded £250,000 compensation. Teacher stress is now firmly on the political agenda, and representations of the nature of stress have become unhelpfully polarised between unions and employers, the former seeing stress as organisational and the latter as an individual issue.

Causal factors in teacher stress
There are unquestionably a number of causal factors in teacher stress. Although stress always involves a transaction between the individual and their environment (Cox, 1978), for heuristic purposes we can divide causal factors in teacher stress into three broad areas; factors intrinsic to teaching, cognitive factors affecting the individual vulnerability of teachers and systemic factors operating at the institutional and political level.

The existence of factors other than those intrinsic to teaching can be demonstrated by cross-national comparisons of teacher stress. Travers & Cooper (1997) surveyed 800 teachers in England and France about stress and found substantially different responses. 22% of sick leave in England, as opposed to 1% in France was attributed to stress. 55% of the English teachers as opposed to 20% of the French sample reported recently considering leaving teaching. Interestingly, there was substantial agreement between the English and French teachers as to the sources of pressure, both groups citing classroom discipline, low social status and lack of parental support. However, English teachers reported more problems with long hours, overwork and political interference.

The commonality of reported sources of pressure between English and French teachers could lead us to a social representations interpretation of teacher stress in Britain, in which teachers experience stress because they take on a consensual belief about teaching in which its stressful nature forms part of the figurative nucleus of its social representation. However, there are also notable differences in the reported experiences of the English and French groups, which could lead us to the more 'common sense' interpretation that teachers in Britain operate in particularly stressful conditions, in particular with regard to workload and political intervention.

Factors intrinsic to teaching
Research has suggested that a number of stressors are intrinsic to teaching. In the Travers & Cooper (1997) study (above), workload and long working hours emerged as particular issues for English teachers as opposed to colleagues in France. When Travers & Cooper (1997) questioned British teachers across all educational sectors high workload, poor status and poor pay emerged as three of the seven major sources of stress - the others being systemic in origin. A study by Male & May (1998) of learning support coordinators in Further Education colleges further illustrates the importance of these factors. 35 coordinators were assessed for burnout, stress and health. Overall mixed evidence for heightened stress in this group emerged, but there was strong evidence for work overload and excessive working hours, associated with emotional exhaustion.

A factor related to workload is role overload, which takes place when an employee has to cope with a number of competing roles within their job. A study by Pithers & Soden (1998) has highlighted role overload as a significant stressor in teachers. They assessed levels of strain, organisational roles and stress in 322 Australian and Scottish vocational and FE lecturers. Strain was found to be average in both national groups, but there were high levels of stress, with role overload emerging as the major cause.

Some research has identified a cyclical pattern in the effects of overwork, contingent on the academic year. Kinnunen & Leskinen (1989) assessed 142 teachers by repeated self-report during the autumn and spring terms of an academic year. It was found that recovery from stress occurred each weekend during the spring term, but that by the end of the longer autumn term weekend recovery no longer took place.

Classroom discipline is also a significant source of stress. Lewis (1999) examined teachers' estimations of stress arising from being unable to discipline pupils in the way they would prefer. Overall, maintaining discipline emerged as a stressor, with those worst affected being teachers who placed particular emphasis on pupil empowerment. A study of 1000 student teachers (Morton et al, 1997) revealed that classroom management was their second greatest sources of anxiety, the greatest being evaluation apprehension. Of all the stressors reported, classroom management anxiety was the only one that did not decline following teaching practice.

Evaluation apprehension is an issue of increasing import, as quality assurance procedures increasingly demand lesson observation. The phenomenon is currently under-researched in qualified teachers, although there is a modest body of research on student teachers. Capel (1997) questioned student PE teachers following first and second teaching practices on their levels and sources of anxiety.

Evaluation apprehension emerged as the stressor in both practices. Similarly, the Morton et al study (above) found that of all the sources of stress for student teachers, evaluation apprehension was the greatest, although it declined following teaching practice, suggesting that it is reduced by exposure and positive experiences of observation feedback. The moderating effects of exposure to lesson observation are an area requiring further research.

Cognitive vulnerability to stress
A substantial body of contemporary research has examined the cognitive factors affecting individual susceptibility to stress amongst teachers. Chorney (1998) investigated self-defeating beliefs by asking 41 teachers to identify what they must do to be a good teacher. 92% of responses were couched in absolute terms, such as 'must', 'need' etc.

Endorsement of these beliefs was widespread in the sample and significantly associated with high levels of stress. In another study by Bibou-Nakou et al (1999) the role of attributions was examined. 200 primary school teachers were presented with four hypothetical class management situations and they were questioned as to their attributions in each case. 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.

Self-efficacy has also been researched as a cognitive vulnerability factor. Friedman (2000) examined the self-reports of newly qualified teachers and described his findings as the 'shattered dreams of idealistic performance' (2000:595). Respondents revealed sharp declines in self-efficacy as they found that they could not live up to their ideal performances. In another study Brouwers & Tomic (2000) used structural equation modelling to analyse the relationships between self-efficacy and burnout in 243 secondary school teachers. It emerged that self-efficacy had a synchronous effect on personal accomplishment and a longitudinal effect on depersonalisation.

However, low self-efficacy had a synchronous effect on emotional exhaustion. The direction of the causal relationship between self-efficacy and stress symptomatology is particularly significant as it suggests that cognitive interventions designed to improve self-efficacy may mediate the effects of stress.

The greatest volume of contemporary research concerning cognitive vulnerability to teacher stress relates specifically to individual differences in coping style. In one recent study Griffith et al (1999) questioned 780 primary and secondary school teachers, aiming to assess the associations between stress, coping responses and social support. High levels of stress were associated with low social support and the use of disengagement and suppression of competing activities as coping strategies. Interestingly, stepwise multiple regression revealed that coping style not only mediated the effects of environmental stressors, but also influenced teachers' perceptions of their environment as stressful. This is significant as it suggests that some of the stressors associated with teaching may not be inherently stressful but act as stressors only in transaction with coping style. A different approach to assessing the relationship between coping strategies and teacher stress was employed by Admiraal et al (2000), concerned with active vs passive responses to disruptive behaviour in the classroom. 27 student teachers gave a total of 300 responses to indicate their coping responses to everyday stressful classroom situations. A strong relationship emerged between a coping style involving active behavioural intervention and teacher satisfaction, and a weaker relationship with pupil time on task was also evident.

Given the sound base of evidence for cognitive factors underlying individual vulnerability to teacher stress and the strong empirical base of cognitive-behavioural therapy it is theoretically likely that CBT-based interventions may be effective in teacher stress. However electronic searches of PsychINFO, ERIC and the British Education Index revealed no outcome studies for CBT in the context of teacher stress.

Systemic factors
In this context the term 'systemic' is used to denote a broad cluster of organisational factors that are not intrinsic to the nature of teaching, but rather dependent on the climate of the educational institution or the wider context of education including the political domain. Travers & Cooper (1997) found that teachers named lack of government support, lack of information about changes, constant change and the demands of the National Curriculum as among their greatest sources of stress. These 'trickle-down' systemic factors act in addition to and feed into the dynamics of individual organisations (Jennings & Kennedy, 1996).

At the level of the institution factors such as social support amongst colleagues and leadership style have found to be important in affecting levels of stress. Dussault et al (1999) assessed isolation and stress in 1110 Canadian teachers and, as hypothesised, found a strong positive correlation. In another study Van Dick et al (1999) questioned 424 teachers from across all German sectors about their work stress, social support and physical illnesses. It was found that social support had both a direct positive effect on health and a buffering effect in respect of work stress.

Leadership style has also emerged as a significant organisational factor. Harris (1999) assessed teacher stress and leadership style in three American primary schools, using the Wilson Stress Profile for Teachers. The Principal in each school was classified differently, and teachers had significantly lower stress in the school where the Principal was classified as high in both task and relationship focus - this leadership style being associated with both strategic vision and a close personal relationship with staff. Leadership style appears in part to be a response to 'trickle-down' stressors. Hoel et al (1999) surveyed English teachers and found that 35% reported having been bullied by a manager in the last five years, as opposed to an average of 24% across all occupational sectors. Cooper interpreted this in terms of managers failing to cope with workloads and resorting to bullying as a maladaptive coping strategy.

Studies of interventions in teacher stress
Considering the vast literature of generic stress management and that concerning the aetiology of teacher stress, the volume of research into interventions to combat teacher stress is miniscule. PsychINFO, ERIC and British Education Index searches revealed only two studies in the last five years. In one of these, Hall et al (1997) examined the effect of human relations training on teacher stress. 32 participants took part in a 2-year humanistic-experiential Masters Degree programme and were interviewed at the end of the course. Stress was reported as having been reduced as a result of the course. The other published study, by Anderson et al (1999) concerned the effectiveness of meditation as a stress-management strategy. 91 teachers took part in a five-week course of meditation, levels of stress being compared before and after. As hypothesised, levels of stress were lower following the course.

Limitations in the current research base and future directions
Whilst the total volume of research into teacher stress is substantial, there are also notable limitations and gaps. Whilst research has demonstrated that overwork, long working hours, discipline and evaluation apprehension have been identified as intrinsic stressors in teaching there has been little or no research into the effects of reducing or mediating them, in part because they are determined at a national level and are not easily open to experimental manipulation. It is well established that cognitive factors mediate the effects of stressors in teachers, and that in other contexts CBT can alter maladaptive cognitions. However there are no outcome studies for CBT-based interventions conducted in an educational context. Systemic factors are clearly important in the aetiology of stress, but do not easily lend themselves to manipulation to reduce it. Again, outcome studies for attempted strategies are lacking.

The limitations of using the existing research base to plan stress-management in British education are compounded by other factors. Studies may not generalise well across education sectors and the base of cross-national and cross-sector comparisons is inadequate to make judgements as to when generalisation is justified. Much of the published research concerns student teachers. Whilst this is clearly important in its own right we should be wary of generalising from students to qualified and experienced teachers.

The most obvious future direction in research into teacher stress involves outcome studies testing the effectiveness of intervention strategies. The current research base involves a very small number of small studies, involving small numbers of participants and inadequate long-term follow-up. Interventions requiring research include CBT-based stress-management training, increased social support (eg. through mentoring, social events etc.) and the experimental reduction of workload. It is also important to understand the impact of current education policies, for example the relationship between lesson observation, evaluation apprehension and stress.

Perhaps less obvious but equally important as a future research direction is a social representations-based approach to understanding the different ways in which is conceived by different groups. For example, we can see from the stressors identified in the Travers & Cooper (1997) study that teachers view stress in environmental terms. This contrasts with the view of most stress-management trainers who operate at the level of the individual. Clearly there is a political dimension to whether we see stress in the individual or the environment, and before interventions such as CBT can be brought to a politically aware group such as teachers a detailed understanding of our social representations of stress is needed.

Conclusions
Teacher stress is a real phenomenon and is associated with problems of recruitment, health and retention of teachers. Research has shown that teacher stress is reliably associated with a number of variables, including those intrinsic to the job, individual cognitive vulnerability and systemic factors. There are however important gaps in our understanding of teacher stress, most notably regarding effective interventions. The current research base is not adequate to allow us to devise effective programmes to reduce teacher stress. This is critical as there are sound reasons for believing that standard clinically based stress-management strategies such as CBT will not be effective against teacher stress.

References
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Matt Jarvis is a Chartered Psychologist with research interests in teacher stress, psychodynamics and the teaching of psychology. He lectures in psychology at Totton College of Further & Higher Education, and is a tutor on the PGCE in post compulsory education at Greenwich University. Matt is also Reviser of A-level Psychology (Edexcel) and an external examiner at Portsmouth University. He is the author and editor of several best-selling psychology text-books.