Alberta Teacher's Association Website
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The ATA website, while featuring some great resources on student mental health and the signs of that it may be impacting students, there is nothing on mental health for teachers explicitly. In the section entitled "Why do Teachers Teach?," it says "Being a teacher is hard work. Teachers frequently work longer past the end of the regular school day, designing lesson plans and assessing student work. They sometimes work in crowded classrooms with limited resources and are asked to perform herculean tasks. Some days, they might feel that it is all for naught. But those days are few, because in the end, they know that being a teacher is the most rewarding career there is. Every day, teachers touch the future. Through their work, they inspire and excite their students. They teach because they want to make a positive difference in the lives of their students. They teach because they want to change the world and know that it all begins with the youth." While these are true, to some extent, those late nights spent planning lessons that end up failing or have students become disengaged can really weigh on teacher's minds and have them feeling like they are not a good teacher. One bad lesson can lead to thinking the week was a failure.
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Ontario Teacher's Federation
The guardian articleEdutopia- Teacher Burnout
Teacher Wellness- New Brunswick
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The Ontario Teacher's Federation offers a great website with links to various resources that relate to teacher well-being. These resources can be further refined by topic: managing stress, mental health, and work life balance. It features videos, articles, quizzes and tips to help teachers deal with the stresses that the profession brings to the table.
"The resources here offer strategies and suggestions for such things as balancing your personal and professional life, ensuring your personal wellness, and developing effective time management strategies. All of these will help you to see stress as “the spice of your life”. After all, stressed spelled backwards is just desserts!" "It's time for teachers to look after their mental health.... to ensure students' wellbeing, teachers need to feel confident about their own"- this article is good resource for low-key, easy to follow tips on dealing with mental health and teacher wellness. Offering tips on staying connected to family and friends, being aware of how much time you spend thinking about the unknown future, and being active it offers a good place start looking for ways to reduce some of the stress that we often place on ourselves.
An article looking at teacher burnout and how it is not an inevitable thing. It looks at a more holistic approach, instead of tips for individual teachers to work on it looks more towards what schools as a whole can do to offer supports for teachers and gives words to how teachers can feel when they are emotionally exhausted. "To help students succeed, don’t ignore the well-being of teachers. Although stress levels may be high, the right support can help teachers be effective in the classroom."
This website offers resources for the mind, body, and spiritual health of teachers. It was created by the New Brunswick Teacher's Association and features articles, tips, and activities for teachers to use to "un-procrastinate," and monitor themselves with practices such as wellness wheels and journaling. "The goal of the website is to promote healthy living and ultimately improve the lives [of teachers]"
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The Teacher Burnout Epidemic
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A two-part article by Jenny Grant Rankin looks at the causes of teacher burnout and how it seems to be becoming an epidemic- affecting more teachers as more is expected of them. It looks into the effects that burnout and stresses can put on teachers, co-workers, and their students. "Teacher burnout is a problem even when teachers remain on the job. For example, teachers are less likely to be able to deliver high quality instruction when they are not able to decompress (Neufeldnov, 2014). Stressed, overworked, frustrated teachers are less able to connect in positive ways with students and to offer students the best instruction."
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American Teacher's Federation |
According to a 2017 survey done by the American Teacher's Federation on "Teacher Quality of Life," 68% of the teachers said that they sometimes or often feel stress with the job and 23% said that they are always feeling stress out.
"Other Stressors Facing Teachers and School Staff: • Respondents averaged more than 50 hours of work per week. • Educators and school staff reported working more than their regularly scheduled hours 13 or 14 days per month— over two-thirds of the total working days in a month. • A majority of educators said that when they need additional resources to do their jobs, they usually get them, but close to one-third did not. • One-third of respondents disagreed that teachers and faculty at their schools felt safe bringing up problems and addressing issues. • 62 percent of educators somewhat or strongly disagreed that their schools have good systems of peer evaluation in place as part of the teacher evaluation system (Chart 9). • In response to the public Educator Quality of Work Life Survey’s open-ended question, educators and school staff identified additional stressors, including: o Sick buildings; o Rising healthcare costs and stagnating wages; o Teacher shortages that affect school-level staffing; o Lack of sufficient, trained professional staff to help students experiencing trauma and mental health concerns; o Lack of time to collaborate with colleagues." |
Quality of Life and Sources of Stress in Teachers: A Canadian Perspective |
A thesis by Jessica R. Danilewitz looks into the effects of stress on the quality of life of teachers both in and outside of the classroom. The goal of the thesis is to try and understand the sources of stress and Quality of Life to help teachers address and guide the future research and practices in bettering their time, and experience, as a teacher. "Teaching can be a stressful profession, with demands and expectations from parents, students, administrators, and colleagues, which are exacerbated by work overload, changing policies, and a lack of acknowledgment for accomplishments (Klassen, Usher & Bong, 2010). There are several sources of stress that are discussed in occupational health literature. For teachers, the sources of stress can be compartmentalized into work life, personal life, and worklife balance. One’s work life as a teacher may include stressors associated with students, leadership team, coworkers, policies, and lack of resources."
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