Teaching is a stressful job. The last time the Department of Health got round to measuring this (in 2000) Teaching was found to be the most stressful job in England.
Opinions differ, of course, but broadly speaking the main causes of stress for Teachers can be found under two B-headings: Behaviour and Bureaucracy. Now most people would agree that there is something very odd here: the first 'B' is fair enough; any sensible person might find it stressful to deal with 30 poorly-behaved teenagers with raging hormones. But... bureaucracy? Really? Is bureaucracy honestly that stressful? This is even stranger when we consider the amount of paperwork actually involved, and the nature of the main gripes. Targets? Surely in this day and age every salesperson, supermarket cashier and call-centre operator routinely deals with more targets and measurement than the average teacher. In the vast majority of cases, they deal with it with less complaint, less difficulty and less stress than the average teacher.
I am not suggesting for a moment that teachers are faking, exaggerating or imagining these issues - the problems are real, the stress is real, and the ruined health and lives are real. What I am suggesting is that this is mostly preventable.
This workload-related stress frequently arises because of
- lack of control (being made to prioritise non-critical tasks over real teaching)
- lack of time (being rushed to meet deadlines)
- lack of achievement (being obliged to compromise regarding quality in order to meet targets)
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