Are teachers really more stressed than anyone else?

[EcoCalc]

Stumbled across a news article with a teacher who said the stress was so bad she considered crashing her car just so she didn’t have to go to work. Iots of people on my Facebook feed agreeing that that was their experience.

Maybe I just don’t get it but surely teachers don’t have the monopoly on stress. I always get the impression that they feel their jobs are much worse than anyone else’s. Is it more that the personality type attracted to teaching isn’t necessarily equipped for the same levels of stress that lawyers or doctors have?

Just curious about people’s thoughts. Is teaching the MOST stressful thing in the world as it is being depicted as being?

There was a thread here yesterday about a city type who set up a new route into teaching for said city type second career-ers, gave it a go herself, found it massively stressful and went part time.

I am guessing her personality type hadn't changed

I do think teaching attracts caring perfectionists - similar to other public sector roles like medics and social workers. It does lead to burn out, in my opinion, but would non caring slapdash types be as good at the job?

I come from a family of teachers and went into farming, with the highest suicide rate. When teachers tell me they are stressed because marking and gloss over the holidays i do roll my eyes a bit, esp when i went into hospital after being attacked by a bull and met a pregnant nurse doing 12hr nights :(

But its the type of stress and your personality. I could just about bear farming because its the type of stress i could deal with, other stresses i wouldnt. I wouldnt last a month teaching or nursing, because the perceived 'up' sides just arent ups to me! I really dont get that glowing feeling when someone else's brat learns something that teachers talk about. but id be willing to bet it runs the other way aswell and teachers wouldnt feel the things i do about animals.

Working for social services must be absolute hell in the current climate.......the head of our LDT recently hung herself. Knowing the number who have been off with stress recently work related issues were probably a factor.

I honestly couldnt do it, having to make decisions that they know are the wrong ones and will lead to vulnerable people suffering.

I think child protection social worker is one of the most stressful jobs about. Very high workloads, traumatic, and any mistakes are very high stakes. Also lots of abuse from parents. It is also not well paid.

do you think the general public don't support teachers concerns

The main problem with striking is that we can only officially strike about pay and conditions. However much teachers go on the news and say ‘we’re striking because the education system is being pushed to destruction by government policy’, when the official reason for the strike is pay and pensions, the general public goes ‘wtf try working in the private sector for tuppence and no pension, you knock off at 3 and have a billion day’s holiday what are you whinging about?’.

And I hate rogue apostrophes...

The main problem with striking is that we can only officially strike about pay and conditions.

Ah, that makes sense. I'd probably fall into that category myself to be honest. I'd be fully supportive of teachers striking about the mess that the education system is in, but not particularly sympathetic to them striking about pay, because teachers pay isn't terrible.

treacle
The thing is that's the only official reason thay can be given.
But unions when they talk will make it clear all the other issues and it never gets as much air time.

It suits too many people to present striking workers as being work shy and ungrateful, after all 'aunty norma's neighbour's cousin was sacked for sneezing and getting a tissue not on their official break so these folk don't know hardship'.

Sorry, didn’t mean to come across as a teacher basher. My comment on personality type was more like law and medicine seem to attract type A personalities, highly competitive sorts who have then gone through highly competitive degrees, I just wondered if the stress seemed worse to teachers because they have more type B personalities.

I know it’s a sweeping generalisation, was just curious about people’s opinions.

Fuck off. Seriously do fuck off a long way away.
If you read an article about someone who had sadly taken their own life, would you post “but they didn’t have the monopoly on depression!!” Of course you fucking wouldn’t.

The thing is that's the only official reason thay can be given.
But unions when they talk will make it clear all the other issues and it never gets as much air time.

Yes, sorry, I probably didn't make myself clear. I understood that, but I mean that if I heard it on the news that they were striking about pay but, as you say, the other concerns didn't get the airtime, I would be thinking 'can't believe they are concerned about pay when there are so many other problems'.

I didn't know until a few minutes ago that 'pay and conditions' is the only reason teachers can go on strike, so it's likely that other people don't know either.

I'll know for the future though.

It took me ten years to realise that the only way to be a teacher and have a life/not be shatteringly stressed was to stop caring. It took a bit of time to get used to and I do my best with the time I have in school but that's it.

In secondary schools, particularly at A level, there has been a shift in the last few years to students taking very little responsibility for their own learning; they expect it all handed to them on a plate, doing the bare minimum themselves.

In my experience, it's the lack of time to do anything properly. Perhaps the personality type of a teacher is generally to be caring, helpful and dedicated, so the totally unbalanced ratio of time:task drives the stress.

Like I said, I've stopped caring. I do what I can and just cut corners. There's no time to plan so I just blag it. Marking? A minute per essay. I've worked hard and don't see why I should take a massive pay cut to move to a different profession. I never work at weekends or in the holidays, never past 6pm in the week unless staying for directed time. The result is I'm less stressed. A lot of teachers I know are martyrs to the profession, spending all weekend working and not seeing their own DC... well that's not going to be me!

Ah and behaviour? Our school has crap policies and SLT aren't supportive. If I student is disruptive, out they go and I'm afraid I don't care a hoot if that causes issues for their own learning - at least the others have a fighting chance.

From experience, yes.

I did a PGCE having been a senior manager in a supposedly stressful job previously (long hours, targets, deadlines etc).

Teaching was MASSIVELY more stressful. You're 'on stage' 9-3.30 and all the planning and analysis has to be done before and after that, effectively in your own time.

Plus, rather than have a switched on 'audience' half of them are pissing around because they aren't interested or because they want attention all the time. You can't sack them for bad behaviour!!

And for that joy the pay was 1/3 of my previous salary!!

Maybe I just don’t get it but surely teachers don’t have the monopoly on stress. I always get the impression that they feel their jobs are much worse than anyone else’s.

So you read an article about an individual being pushed to intolerable levels of stress and you thought that you would use that to bash them with.

Nice

I think teaching is very stressful - any public sector work where you are expected to do more than your hours, work directly with people and with no real potential for salary growth let alone the chance to negotiate pay would be stressful. So police, health care professionals, teachers and social workers.

One thing I find a bit difficult to swallow is that there is a lot of talk about how hard it is for teachers and how badly paid they are but in general most agree that it would be better if our teachers were valued properly and there are social media campaigns for improve conditions etc. Same with NHS staff. But social workers (of which I am one) cannot complain. No one fights on social media for our child protection workers to be properly remunerated or given lower caseloads so they can actually do their job. We are just hated. We all worked well beyond our hours plus at home evenings and weekends, held unsafe caseloads and generally worked our arses off. It's similar with the police, no one seems to care they start on ridiculously low salaries. All you see on social media is poor teachers and, annoyingly, poor doctors - with little mention of the poor bloody nurses who do so much for so little.

So there shouldn't be a competition on stress levels I agree but there's definitely deserving and less deserving public sector roles and it does sometimes feel like teachers and doctors make the most of it.

I do think that many people forget that teachers are also parents, and some also have their own children with specific needs as well. You often here parents complaining about issues with schools and them not realising that there are working parents. Well yes, many many teachers are also working parents and have them same juggles. And yes, some have children, or partners/parents, with additional needs on tip. Teachers and schools really aren't out to make life harder for working parents or for parents of children with additional needs. Well, every teacher and teaching staff I know aren't anyway. We have the same juggling acts to perform as everyone else does.

Type A and B personalities is a theory, with plenty of issues and isn't a thing that can be applied in such a sweeping way to explain teachers being perceived as unable to cope with stress.

It pisses me off, this continual snarking at teachers, as if they're all lightweights who can't cope with the demands of normal job stress.

Even if they do think they’re the most stressed of all occupations, shouldn’t we be looking at the reasons they think that rather than bashing them for it? I hate the thought that my DC’s teacher could feel like that, my DD adores her and it’s sad to think that she could feel so overwhelmingly stressed.
I worked in a very corporate banker type role, with high stakes. I couldn’t be a teacher, I think there would be far more pressure! It’s children’s livelihood that you’re dealing with.
I have friends from all sorts of occupations, including teachers. By far the most stressed is my friend who is a child protection social worker. Her role sounds truly awful.

Maybe it's because teacher are overwhelmingly helpful types. They want to help, want to do the best they can. They go in with the very best intentions to make a difference and there's not enough hours or money to achieve what they feel they ought to, for the kids. To do the job they want to do. Again, lack of control, feeling not good enough. Stress results.

I agree with this. I’m not a teacher, but I get the impression that the majority of teachers go into the profession because they want to make a difference To young lives, and a person who wants to do this possibly isn’t the type to properly stand up for themselves re the ridiculous workload heaped upon them these days. It’s the same old story, if teachers were allowed to just teach they’d get on a whole lot better

Some teachers are definitely very stressed - some of the new academy chains are extremely dog-eat-dog and are burning teachers out at a furious pace, sadly. I have heard this directly from friends.

Do you think part of the problem is that teaching isn’t really what people think? It seems like a lot of the issues are that teaching is being pushed towards being treated more like any other business? Targets and deadlines and workloads

Have you ever looked after 30 children all at the same time? All with different complexities and needs. Have you then tried to teach them something (in fact lots of somethings!) while suiting the needs of a child who really struggles up to the one who is massively gifted? Added into that it's teaching them things that are massively beyond their years or dry as old toast thanks to the curriculum (fronted adverbials and propositions at 8 years old!)

Added onto that the increasing likelihood that you'll have a child (or several) with significant behaviour issues, often without the support. I had my classroom trashed several times before Christmas (key stage 1). Behaviour support just say 'you're doing all the right things.' Funnily enough I'm not exactly relishing the thought of going back. I've been teaching over a decade. My kids do brilliantly. I am exhausted ALL the time. I work between 60-80 hours every week (including half terms). I get some respite in the longer holidays but I do catch up classes during them too.

The pressure to be a good (or better) school is huge despite the fact that you can be classed as requires improvement for all sorts of things that are barely in your control.We fell down on attendance for example.

We are scrutinised weekly through learning walks, lesson obs, book scrutinised, planning scrutinies, governor visits, school improvenent partner visits, sats tests for year 2 and year 6 (with times table tests becoming compulsory too), phonics tests for year 1, Ofsted, pupil interviews, parent sessions, parent questionnaires etc etc. There is literally never any space to just get on with the job - the job I am regularly deemed to be outstanding at by many different sources. Have I considered wrapping my car around a tree? Yes. Have I considered breaking my own leg to get a few weeks rest? Yes.

I have been teaching a long, long time. It's hugely stressful - pretty much every day. I'm not naturally a stressed personality type and I work in a very supportive school. If you've never worked in a school you can't begin to understand what it's like and yet everyone thinks they can because they've all been to school.

Are other jobs stressful? Of course they are. It's not a competition.

Here’s the perspective of someone who worked in the ‘real world’ for many years.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_staffroom/3459403-Teaching-full-time-unendurably-hard-says-Lucy-Kellaway

I take the point that it isn’t a competition, I guess actually what happens is we tend to hear more from teachers at the minute than other professions, because we have such a shortage of people entering the profession.

Not intended as a slate on teachers, just something I wondered about.