Society, stress and the teacher’s self

Abstract

Over the last decade great attention has been paid to increasing stress levels amongst teachers resulting from changes to the educational system. This article examines this stress, including the conflict which sometimes arises between teachers' core values and the demands of the modern profession, and the loss to the profession from teachers changing schools or leaving teaching entirely. That stress is not an inevitable result of reorganization is shown by a comparison between a school with low level of stress and a school with high level of stress. The article concludes with an alternative model, based on a vision of stress as a social construction, and not as a pathological condition.