The growing problem of stress among teachers
The results of a survey of working conditions in the Flemish education sector finds three in 10 staff calling their job emotionally demanding
Call for larger care budget
A survey by the Social Economic Council of Flanders (SERV) does not paint a positive picture of the evolution of working conditions in the Flemish education sector. The survey measures issues such as staff motivation and the risk of severe stress.
While in 2007, just under 60% of education staff said they had a “workable” job, this dropped to 55% in 2013. According to SERV, this negative trend is caused by the increasing prevalence of job-related stress. In 2013, 35.4% of education staff complained of work stress, which is considerably more than the 31.4% of 2007.
About three in 10 of the nearly 1,700 teaching staff surveyed declared they have an “emotionally demanding job”, while the Flemish worker average is around two in 10. Between 2010 and 2013, the percentage of education staff with motivation problems also increased significantly from 6.7% to 10.5%.
These statistics are worrying, but they shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone following the news related to the education sector. Previous research has established that psychosocial disorders, like stress, burnout and depression are the main reasons that education staff take sick leave.
“Never finished”
At the beginning of the year, Klasse, the Flemish education department’s multimedia platform, published a series of articles on the subject, including the testimony of Flemish teacher Kathleen Hofmans. Hofmans spoke about the three times she had to take sick leave due to burnout.
It’s still a taboo in the sector to admit you can’t take it anymore
She had her first burnout 14 years ago. “I not only took care of practical things, but I was also very close to my students, some of whom were in a difficult situation at home,” Hofmans told Klasse. “As a teacher, you are never completely finished with work.”
Because she couldn’t let go of work and students’ problems, Hofmans started to suffer from exhaustion and anxiety attacks. She was finally diagnosed with burnout and had to stay home for five months. Although she underwent therapy and tried to change her patterns, she suffered two relapses. “Unfortunately, burnout will always remain a sensitive issue for me,” she said.
Hofmans only recently opened up about her difficult periods to her colleagues and directors, who were very understanding. “Unfortunately, it’s still a taboo in the education sector to admit that you can’t take it anymore,” said Hofmans. “But it’s undeniable: The work stress is increasing.” She concluded that the “excessive organisation” in particular is making the job extra hard.
Unhealthy environment
Stress management consultant Luc Swinnen knows the problems of education staff – teachers, directors and assisting staff – all too well, as they make up a considerable number of his clients. His experience tells him that teachers are struggling to deal with the increasing amount of paperwork, digitisation and assertiveness of both students and fellow teachers.
Teachers take the issues home and become emotionally exhausted
“It also seems that teachers increasingly have to help students in vulnerable financial or emotional situations,” says Swinnen. “As teachers are insufficiently trained to deal with such problems, they take the issues home and become emotionally exhausted.”
He feels directors also have an increasingly difficult job, as a lack of money forces them to become a jack-of-all-trades who have to handle all kinds of practical problems instead of focusing on school policy. “Education staff often also have to work in outdated and maladjusted infrastructure, and that’s an environment that affects their motivation and mood,” he explains.
What especially bothers Swinnen is his feeling that staff are rarely referred to professional help. “In the business world, management tends to be much more active in sending employees with stress-related issues to professionals who can assist them in overcoming their problems,” he says. “But it seems there is almost no budget for psychosocial care for staff in the education sector.”
Breathing space promised
He also doesn’t believe that the new federal law on welfare at work, which emphasises the importance of prevention of burnout, will have much impact. “The law is mostly about awareness, but it is very unclear whether it will have an effect on conditions on the work floor,” he says.
He advises schools to send at least two teachers on a stress management course. “They can then serve as ambassadors, helping colleagues to understand the problems and thus reduce the taboo surrounding the issue,” he explains.
Flanders’ new education minister, Hilde Crevits, doesn’t explicitly mention psychosocial problems among education staff in her policy note, but she has acknowledged the challenging situation. “Teachers and directors are confronted with social problems that exceed their tasks,” she writes. According to the note, Crevits will give special attention to “workability during their careers, so teachers can stay at work long enough and with sufficient motivation”.
Crevits also promises to reduce the amount of regulation, to give staff more “breathing space” and to modernise school infrastructure.
Photo: Beau Lark/Corbis
Educational system
million school-going children in 2013
million euros Flemish education budget for new school infrastructures in 2013
percent of boys leaving secondary school without a diploma
- Education in Flanders
- Secondary education reform
- European Encyclopaedia on National Education Systems
