New research suggests parents may cause undue stress leading to teacher burnout.
“Burnout” is a multifaceted and diverse issue but is “usually defined as occurring when a teacher feels emotionally exhausted at the end of the day, appears cynical or uncaring about what happens to students, and feels as if he or she has reached few personal goals.”
In a recent study, teachers who felt pressure to be perfect, or experienced criticism for being imperfect, were more likely than even highly perfectionistic teachers to have burnout, and the highest pressure came from parents.
American schools are experiencing high levels of teacher turnover’ and though many issues play a role in the trend, burnout caused by external pressures on performance remain firmly on the list of those causes. “The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future has calculated that nearly a third of all new teachers leave the profession after just three years, and that after five years almost half are gone.”
Encouraging information from the study shows positive interactions with parents also affect a teacher’s happiness and stress. However, the advice for teachers from study co-author Joachim Stoeber, from the University of Kent in Britain is to ignore the pressures of overly demanding parents and focus on the students’ expectations and needs.
(New York Times 1/2/08)
Do you experience pressure from parents for perfection? How do pressures and expectations from parents affect your well being?
