Supportive school leadership and reasonable workload demands are most closely related to relieving the stress that teachers often feel, research suggests.
However, collegiality and helpful behaviour policies are less likely to be linked to stress levels – although do play a role in job satisfaction and retention.
An analysis from FFT Education Datalab and the Teacher Development Trust (Sims & Jerrim, 2022) has sought to identify the factors that can lead to a stressed teaching workforce.
A total of 300 teachers were surveyed from across seven schools, with colleagues asked to report on four different aspects of their working environment – leadership, workload/admin duties, collegiality, and behaviour.
Their responses were captured using the Teachers’ Working Environment Scale (Sims, 2021) and teachers also reported their levels of stress in the workplace.
