Working in schools is far more complicated than work in many other industries. Staff in schools face unique challenges:
Much of the day is instant likely. There is express limited leeway in modification a class diary, so teachers must work veritable efficiently with the mere limited time that is flexible.
Schools are people organisations. We deal with host personality types, social and political issues and stressors that give forth the broader community - the good, the bad and the ugly.
We deal with emotive issues that surround one of the most important aspect of anyone ' s life - their children.
Often we have to sensitively address miscommunication issues and respond where parents have not been made aware of all of the information.
There are many other competing demands on time including demands from administrators, requests from the wider community, contributing to the school ' s ongoing development and the need to continually professionally develop and update.
Good teaching requires students to be engaged and suitably challenged. This requires high levels of both energy and skill.
Research shows that the average classroom teacher will make more than 1500 educational decisions every school day. In an average school day, that ' s more than four decisions every minute. It is no wonder we feel over - whelmed by the demands of our profession.
However despite the circumstances being the same, some of our staff are less stressed than others by the events and situations that occur. Your attitude and thought processes are key factors.
We have choices in how we interpret other people ' s behaviour. Based on the behaviour we observe, we make presumptions about their intentions. We jump to conclusions about why they are behaving in that way. By being more optimistic in our presumptions and giving people the benefit of the doubt, we lower our ' fight ' responses and stress level.
For example - in responding to a parent who is complaining about something that they believe happened to their child on the previous day, try and see the situation from the parent ' s point of view. They may be responding to limited information and have a multitude of other factors impacting on them. We don ' t know what else happened to them in the last 24 hours. Choose forgiveness and give them the benefit of the doubt - at least initially!
Key Points -
Working in schools can be stressful for many reasons
Schools are people organisations and we therefore reflect many aspects of society
We deal with emotive issues
We have choices in how we interpret other people ' s behaviour
Give people the benefit of the doubt - choose an optimistic outlook.
