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Alina Fore

Prof. Hughes

English 1201

15 March 2020

Increasing Stress of the Teaching Profession

What are some of the most stressful occupations? Many people would say nurses or

doctors; this is untrue. In the past decade, teaching has become one of the most stressful

occupations (Sanetti). Teachers have been becoming so stressed that they are leaving the

profession at an alarming rate. Moreover, the teaching profession’s departure rate is becoming

higher when compared to other professions. Other than retirement, teachers leave the teaching

profession from the amount of stress they have to take on (Sanetti). My research topic is about

the stressors of teaching. My questions were “Why are so many teachers leaving their profession

causing a shortage in teaching?”. However, after reviewing my resources, I changed my question

to “How does stress affect the occupation of teaching and are there factors other than stress that

are causing teachers to leave their profession?”

In 2016, teachers had the same amount of daily stress, which was 46 percent, as nurses

and physicians in America (“Teachers Are Stressed, And that Should Stress Us All”). This is

very concerning because in three years teaching has surpassed nursing and became one of the

most stressful jobs in America. Moreover, according to McCarthy, teachers aren’t paid as much

as other workers with the same experience, which has made a gap. This gap has grown from 4.3

percent in 1996 to 17 percent in 2015 (9). Teacher salaries is one cause for the shortage of

teachers in today’s society. In the 2003 to 2004 school year, around 8.4 percent of public school
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teachers have quit the field and 56 percent have left the career of education because they were

displeased or wanted to pursue another career (Parker-Pope 5). It is very concerning that around

64 percent of teachers are quitting their jobs. Now, 93 percent of elementary school teachers

have reported that they have high stress levels (Rubin). Over the years, teacher stress has

increased very quickly, but what is causing their stress and why are so many teachers leaving

education?

Firstly, teachers are leaving the education field due to poor student behavior. According

to Fisher, poor student behavior is the leading cause of teacher stress in secondary level teachers

(4). Teachers have to learn how to manage bad behavior, and this is not an easy task because

every child has to be handled differently. Some poor behaviors include: hostility towards

teachers, not paying attention in class, noisiness, lack of effort in class, coming to class

unprepared, hyperactivity, and breaking school rules (Fisher 7). Hostility towards teachers is a

troubling problem for teachers. Their job is to protect their students, but if you can’t control that

student from hurting others, what are they supposed to do? How is this type of situation handled?

Secondly, teachers are stressed from standardized testing and school leadership. Teachers

feel pressured when it comes to student behavior problems, standardized testing, and school

leadership (Rubin). According to a survey, 37 percent of teachers are changing schools from a

weak administration (Fisher 6). A weak administration means the teachers aren’t supported in

their decisions, and the administration doesn’t ask for their employees’ opinions on school

changes. With a weak administration, teachers feel limited on what they can teach. Standardized

testing is a good example of feeling limited. An example is “For teachers, more time proctoring

student tests and teaching to the test means less control over curriculum, less instructional time,

and more stressed students. And, of course, all of those factors lead to more strained teachers
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(Rubin). When your curriculum becomes too controlled, it leaves less time for fun activities and

omits unexpected beneficial learning for children and teachers.

Furthermore, teachers are becoming stressed from the pressure of parents. According to

Parker-Pope, rowdy students are often blamed for teacher stress, as well as, unworkable

expectations from school administrators. However, new research suggests that parents are

actually the reason of teacher stress and burnout (1). It makes sense that parents are one of the

reasons for teacher pressure because parents worry about their children, and it is hard for parents

when they lose control of what is happening to their child. Parents want their children to have the

best experience in school. So, the parents pressure their child’s teachers. For example, “Notably,

the highest pressure to be perfect didn’t come from students or colleagues but from parents”

(Parker- Pope 3). Parents want their child to get a good education, and they want their child to be

protected from harm. Teachers feel pressured to make every lesson plan and activity perfect and

provide their classroom with a safe environment for everyone in their class. This can be hard

because bullying or fights can go on outside your classroom. Dr. Stoeber states that “Teachers

should focus on their students’ expectations and needs and get support from colleagues if they

feel overwhelmed, but not try to make overly demanding parents happy” (Parker-Pope 7).

Teachers also have to deal with parents that want their children to be very advanced and

challenged in school, but the student may not be ready for their parent’s high standards.

Finally, teachers are stressed from the demands of education and lack of time. In

McCarthy’s article it states “Chris Kyriacov and others have agreed that teacher stress is better

understood as resulting from a mismatch between the pressures and demands made on educators

and their ability to cope with those demands” (9). When the demands outweigh what the teachers

have, it can be overwhelming on how they are going to teach their students without all the
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necessary supplies or space for that lesson. Another cause of teacher strain is lack of time. An

example is “Lack of time is a large source of teacher stress, and when teachers were asked what

action would make the biggest difference in their day-to-day lives, 50 percent said more planning

time and/or smaller class sizes” (Rubin). When teachers have smaller classes, they have less

students to worry about, and it will be easier to control their students’ bad behavior. Teacher

stress and retirement are the two main reasons that teachers are leaving the field, but according to

Fisher, 16 percent of the teachers left because of the salary they were receiving (6). Over the

years, job responsibilities have increased for teachers including keeping their children safe. Their

pay scale should be increasing with the respect to their additional job risks and responsibilities.

Later, I furthered my research on how administration and parents affect teacher stress.

According to García and Weiss, around 65 percent of low-poverty schools and 68 percent of

high-poverty schools felt that they were recognized for their successes. The administration

should praise their teachers more for all the work they do. Furthermore, García and Weiss state

that around 79 percent of low-poverty educators and around 90 percent of high-poverty

educators don’t get support from parents for the effort they put into their children. Teachers feel

they have no support from parents and administrators, which makes the teachers feel alone.

Another big factor of teachers leaving the profession is low salaries. For example, “Teaching

remained a female-dominated profession and teachers’ pay fell further behind pay than other,

more gender-balanced, professions” (García and Weiss). As our economy evolves, teacher pay is

constant, which is decreasing teacher pay. According to García and Weiss, teachers are

moonlighting for basic necessities. Moonlighting means someone is working a job other than

their main job. Most teachers teach extracurricular activities for their second job. As I furthered

my research, I also looked into opposing viewpoints. According to “Teacher Shortage? Or

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Teacher Pipeline Problem?”, young people who were thinking about teaching have more job

opportunities in today’s society, and teaching is no longer seen as a steady, respectful, and

rewarding career anymore. In every career, people are going to have bad and unrewarding days

or even weeks; however, the pay may outweigh the bad days.

In conclusion, teachers are leaving the profession due to stress impacted by parents,

students, and administrators, as well as, low salaries and retirement. This has caused a shortage

in teachers and is affecting student learning. Moreover, schools are losing money from teachers

leaving education. Retirement is inevitable. Everyone will retire someday, but teachers’ stress

and low salaries is something that can be fixed and improved. If teachers can learn coping

strategies for stress, as well as, be rewarded with increased salaries, it would improve their well-

being and help them face the new complications of the profession.
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Works Cited

Fisher, Molly H. “Factors Influencing Stress, Burnout, and Retention of Secondary Teachers.” Current

Issues in Education, vol. 14, http://cie.asu.edu/. Accessed 28 Feb. 2020.

García, Emma, and Elaine Weiss. “Low Relative Pay and High Incidence of Moonlighting Play a Role

in the Teacher Shortage, Particularly in High-Poverty Schools: The Third Report in ‘The Perfect

Storm in the Teacher Labor Market’ Series.” Economic Policy Institute, 9 May 2019,

www.epi.org/publication/low-relative-pay-and-high-incidence-of-moonlighting-play-a-role-in-

the-teacher-shortage-particularly-in-high-poverty-schools-the-third-report-in-the-perfect-storm-

in-the-teacher-labor-marke/. Accessed 27 Mar. 2020.

García, Emma, and Elaine Weiss. “Challenging Working Environments (‘School Climates’), Especially

in High-Poverty Schools, Play a Role in the Teacher Shortage: The Fourth Report in ‘The Perfect

Storm in the Teacher Labor Market’ Series.” Economic Policy Institute, 30 May 2019,

www.epi.org/publication/school-climate-challenges-affect-teachers-morale-more-so-in-high-

poverty-schools-the-fourth-report-in-the-perfect-storm-in-the-teacher-labor-market-series/.

Accessed 27 Mar. 2020.

McCarthy, Christopher Jay. “Teacher Stress: Balancing Demands and Resources.” Phi Delta Kappan,

vol. 101, no. 3, Nov. 2019, pp.8-14. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1233049&site=eds-live. Accessed 28 Feb. 2020.

Parker-Pope, Tara. “Teacher Burnout? Blame the Parents.” The New York Times. 2 Jan. 2008.

https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/teacher-burnout-blame-the-parents/?

searchResultPosition=1. Accessed 28 Feb. 2020.

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Sanetti, Lisa. Teacher Stress A Crisis Ignored.” Youtube. 3 Jan. 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=tBhQy12ANrc. Accessed 28 Feb. 2020.

“Teachers Are Stressed, And That Should Stress Us All.” Morning Edition, 30 Dec. 2016. Gale In

Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link-gale-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/apps/doc/A476174049/OVIC?

U=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=4623029a. Accessed 9 Mar. 2020.

“Teacher Shortage? Or Teacher Pipeline Problem?” Morning Edition, 19 Aug. 2015. Gale In Context:

Opposing Viewpoints, https://link-gale-com.sinclair.ohionet.org/apps/doc/A427925551/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=eb82aa2b. Accessed 28 Mar. 2020.

Rubin, Ben. “The Epidemic of Teacher Stress.” The Graide Network. 4 Sept. 2018.

https://www.thegraidenetwork.com/blog-all/2018/8/1/crayons-and-cortisol-the-epidemic-of-

teacher-stress. Accessed 1 Mar. 2020.

Walker, Tim. “How Many Teachers Are Highly-Stressed? Maybe More Than People Think.” NEA

Today, 30 July 2018, neatoday.org/2018/05/11/study-high-teacher-stress-levels/. Accessed 5

April.