Teachers are always driven to teach for the kids. I know that is what motivated me to become a teacher. I love my students, even the ones that test my patience. It’s shocking to me that there has been so little research on the importance of student-teacher relationships impacting the professional and personal lives of teachers. The teachers I work with are invested in their students’ education and that kind of investment can surely take a toll on your wellness, especially when the students test you daily.
With the pandemic, testing requirements, Student behavior issues growing and teacher/sub shortages, and so many other responsibilities put on the shoulders of teachers it is no wonder that the majority of American Teachers feel stressed out. “Sixty-one percent of the teachers said their work was always or often stressful. Over half agreed that they didn’t feel the same enthusiasm as when they started teaching. They reported experiencing poor health and being bullied at work — by superiors, colleagues, students, or parents — at rates far higher than are reported for other professions. And the vast majority said they are sleep-deprived.(Mahken 2017)”
Most research has focused on mainly stress, lack of support from administration and staff, workload, classroom management and burnout. But a recent study in the Educational Psychology Review has found that “Research into teaching stress indicates that problem behaviors do not necessarily lead to stress. For instance, different teachers have been found to report substantially different levels of stress in relation to similarly disruptive children, which emphasizes its highly individualized and depends on the two individuals (Spilt, J.L., Koomen, H.M.Y. & Thijs, J.T., 2011). Which means it’s important to understand how the teacher perceives the teachers’ perceptions of student behavior and relationships. How a teacher handles and reacts to specific behavior can surely impact the level of stress it creates.
I consider myself lucky to be one of the few to have received the support they needed to make it. “ A recent study by the Learning Policy Institute shows that if a teacher receives mentoring, collaboration, and extra resources, and is part of a strong teacher network, first-year turnover is cut by more than half. Unfortunately, just 3% of beginning teachers receive such comprehensive support.(Mulvahill, E. 2019) ” Early on in my career I had several mentors who taught me to always keep my wellness as a priority. Which has always helped me to keep school and life well balanced. But over the years I have noticed that some people struggle to balance it out and they quickly burn out. Although nothing in these readings mentions itI believe that your personality should also factor into your teaching success. I am grateful that I have not experienced many of the reasons why people choose to leave and I can relate more to the reasons why teachers stay.
From my own experience, the mentoring and collaboration I received during my alternate route program helped to minimize the stress and create a good foundation for a long-term teaching career. My mentor and the entire staff helped to keep me motivated, solve problems, and allowed me to brainstorm ideas and issues when they occurred. Even to this day, I find that the staff I work with keeps me grounded, is happy to listen when I need to talk, and always gives me solid advice. Although statistics show “The emotional stress teachers are dealing with seems to be at an all-time high. In fact, a national survey shows that 58 percent of classroom teachers describe their mental health as “not good. (Mulvahill, E., 2019)” I can only remember a few times that I felt high emotional stress in my first year of teaching. I was hired to teach digital art in 2003 two days before school started. With no teaching background, I was hired to pursue an alternate route certificate. I’ll be honest, I threw up the night before the first day. It was stressful and at the beginning of that year, my mental health was not great. But with the support of fellow teachers, I persisted and now I am in my 19th year of teaching. I was given solid advice from the veteran, some of which I continue to pass on to new teachers today. If I had to do it all over again I wouldn’t change a thing.
References:
Mulvahill, E. (2019, June 14). Why teachers quit [Multimedia file]. We Are Teachers. https://www.weareteachers.com/why-teachers-quit/
Spilt, J.L., Koomen, H.M.Y. & Thijs, J.T. Teacher Wellbeing: The Importance of Teacher–Student Relationships. Educ Psychol Rev 23, 457–477 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-011-9170-y
Mahken, Kevin, 61% of Teachers Stressed Out, 58% Say Mental Health Is Not Good in New National Survey https://www.the74million.org/61-of-teachers-stressed-out-58-say-mental-health-is-not-good-in-new-national-survey/