Stress levels among teachers in New Zealand’s classrooms is soaring and teachers unions are blaming workload for large numbers of staff taking time off work or leaving the profession.
The Department for Education insists it is working “to tackle the issue of unnecessary workload which we know can lead to stress”.
What is stress?
Stress is a psychological and physiological reaction in our mind and body to an external or internal stimulus.
Some stressful reactions to stimuli include rapid heart beat, blood flow being diverted to the arms and legs, dryness of mouth and an overall feeling of panic. This is a genetic response that was very necessary eons ago when a saber-toothed tiger started chasing us across the plains, hungry for his next meal. We developed a response to speed up the heart and send blood to the arms and legs in anticipation of a fight or a flight.
At home, at school or at work, when stress kicks in, we receive the same physiological reactions in our bodies even though we are not faced with a true life or death situation.
As a hypnotherapist, I teach somebody how to learn to relax. The more time we can get someone to devote to relaxation, the more compounding of relaxation in both their body and mind.
The Teachers Stress Programme
The Programme is conducted over a three week period. Three one-hour sessions are designed to give the teachers a set of tools that they can use to manage their own stress, and build resilience. It is not a fix all issues programme.
The Programme can include a support CD, which the teacher is asked to listen to each day, and which will reinforce, the calmness state and rid the teacher of any build up of the little day to day stresses.