Teaching is a stressful occupation. Any occupation that requires one to not only talk to people but to educate them, is stressful. Imagine having to do this every week day in front of over twenty people who do not want to be there. During your lunch break, instead of putting your feet up and reading the paper, you may be required to patrol the inside of a wire fence wearing a fluorescent vest followed by children sucking up or making fun of you. On days off, you still have scribbled essays to mark or neatly written essays to vet against Wikipedia all the time. During holidays you travel hours to a remote caravan park on the bend of a river and there will still be a school child who recognises you and keeps saying “Hello, Sir”.
Such can be the life of a teacher but teaching is conducted at a workplace and health at work is a legislated obligation and expectation. On 23 June 2010, the Tasmanian Government felt the need to clarify some media reports concerning the stress levels of its teachers. The Education Minister, Lin Thorp, said in a media release that
“… a total of 57 Department of Education employees, including teaching and non-teaching staff, had taken stress leave in the year ending March 2010. This figure is the same as for the previous year. Continue reading “Teacher stress, resilience and protective factors”