Occupational Stress Paper

Growing up, I had aspirations to become things that seemed to be on the wish list of every young boy in grade school. We would try to compete with each other, telling all our friends we would become this or that in the future and be famous or make a difference in the world. I remember I proudly proclaimed that I would become an astronaut and find a planet which has life! As it turns out, that is something I will not be pursuing. As graduation comes closer for me, getting into the field of education and teaching at a secondary school is what I am aspiring to do. Although, being a teacher does come with plenty of stressors that can hurt the instructor physiologically or psychologically.

Whether an instructor is teaching in a primary, secondary or university level, he or she will in no doubt, experience some type of stress in their teaching career. It can be from the lack of respect in and out of the classroom, or the overwhelming workload and poor time management, or the shortage of resources available. Whatever the case, the instructor may breakdown into something called a burnout. According to Mearns and Cain (2003), a burnout is chronic stress from working with other individuals will have a bodily response of cynicism, emotional exhaustion, depression and so forth. Not only does the burnout have a negative affect on the teacher himself, but also it will ultimately affect the students in the classroom, who may be particularly unaware of their teacher’s circumstances. Although, not everyone will fall ill of a burnout while under a plethora of stress. There may be individuals, especially Type A behavior people, who will thrive under the stress and be unaffected by a burnout.

Ms. Nguyen, currently a site manager of an after sch...

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...fect the instructor himself, but especially those involved in the work environment. With a negative attitude amongst teachers, staff and student themselves, there will be practically chaos everywhere in the school. Stress is something that an individual should not allow to consume his or her life. With plenty of great coping mechanisms, an individual can assuage the feeling of a burnout before he or she contracts any of the symptoms.

References

Mearns, J., & Cain, J. E. (2003). Relationships Between Teachers' Occupational Stress And Their Burnout And Distress: Roles Of Coping And Negative Mood Regulation Expectancies. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 16(1), 71.

Qusar, N. (2011). A Study of Occupational Stress Among School Teachers. International Journal Of Education & Allied Sciences, 3(1), 31-36.

Structure: Nguyen, A. (2014, March 26). Personal interview.