STRESSORS IN TEACHER’S WORK

Abstract

Teachers are among the professions which face the highest level of work-related stress. High level of stress has a negative impact on the teacher’s physical and emotional health, leads to exhaustion, burnout, dissatisfaction with work, and high turnover rates. It is therefore important to reveal the main sources and risks of stress in the teacher’s work. Psychoso­cial risks are related to the negative psychological, physical and social consequences resulting from ina­dequate work organization and management at the workplace: too high work requirements and / or short deadlines for fulfilling tasks; conflicting requirements and unclear employee roles; poor use of staff skills and insufficient employees involvement in decision-making on their work; scarse management and co-workers support and poor relationships with collea­gues, students and their parents. A quantitative study conducted in five countries re­vealed that most teachers experience a high level of stress in their professional activity. Many stressors in professional activity relate to the uncertainty and excessive workload of teachers’ functions and roles. The most common organizational factors that cause stress include working conditions, low salary, noisy environment, number of students in the classroom, and external factors such as educational reforms and social status in society. The least stressors iden­tified in the teachers’ professional activity relate to relationships and support in the work environment. The study was conducted in the framework of the international project “Preventing Stress in the Tea­ching Profession-Stress Free Teachers”, No. 2016- 3715 / 001-001.