Hello from Wendy! Welcome to all new members.

This is a place for teachers.

Somewhere to hang out and chat. Somewhere to have fun and share what makes your day tick. Maybe to share a few moans and frustrations with others who understand.

On the left (under the forum and chat sections) you will see the Work/Life Balance Programmes and live news feeds from Teachers TV in the UK followed by news feeds from Education Week in the USA. If there's anything you want to talk about you can start a discussion/blog.

Over the past ten years, studies have consistently found that teachers are amongst the most stressed workers in Britain. In 1997, Professor Cary Cooper of the University of Manchester’s Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) surveyed 104 jobs in the UK and found that teaching ranked fourth highest in terms of the prevalence of work-related stress.

A 1999 survey by the NUT found that 36 per cent of teachers felt the effects of stress all or most of the time.

HSE research in 2000 found teaching to be the most stressful profession in the UK, with 41.5 per cent of teachers reporting themselves as ‘highly stressed’.

In 2003 a study undertaken by the Schools Advisory Service, the largest independent provider of teacher absence insurance in the UK, showed that one in three teachers took sick leave in the previous year as a result of work-related stress.

A survey on occupational stress, published in the Journal of Managerial Psychology in 2005, ranked teaching as the second most stressful job out of 26 occupations analysed, with the stress levels found in the teaching profession being exceeded solely by ambulance drivers.

TUC surveys of union safety representatives in the education sector have consistently found stress to be the health and safety issue of greatest concern, with nearly three-quarters of safety representatives citing it is as the most significant hazard facing workers in schools and colleges in 2004.

The human consequences of this excessive stress on teachers are serious and wide-ranging, and can include physical symptoms such as headaches, raised blood pressure, infections, digestive disorders, heart disease or cancer; mental health symptoms such as withdrawal, poor concentration, anxiety, depression, insomnia, ‘burn-out’ and an increased risk of suicide; and behavioural consequences such as low self-esteem, increased drug or alcohol intake and deteriorating personal relationships leading to family, relationship or career problems.

Stress causes difficulties too in teacher recruitment and retention, with many teachers choosing to leave the profession in the face of levels of stress which they find overwhelming. One recent survey found that 40 per cent of teachers currently in the profession expected to have left teaching within the next five years, and of those anticipating leaving, excessive workload was cited as the main reason amongst the under 50 age group.

Read the full report

See the latest news on the UK 'worklife support' site

Teachertube

Teachertube is a free (advertising supported) 'Youtube'-like resource which enables teachers to post a variety of educational videos. You can access it here

Schools in Stress

I have just been sent the details of a USA website that deals with the aftermath of trauma in schools..makes interesting reading..see http://www.schoolcrisisresponse.com/


Join a Teachers TV Group!

And share your thoughts and experiences here

Do you have a job you want to advertise? Let us know and we will show it here.

Running an educational blog or webcast? Apply to show it on the teachersunite.com site

See the Edublog Awards 2006

Primary Teacher UK

A Duck with a Blog (USA)

Teachers Teaching teachers (USA webcast)

Infinite Thinking Machine (International)

Absolutely Intercultural (Denmark/German collaboration)

Polar Science 2006

Classroom Displays (UK)

ihistory podcast project (Australia)

Talking VTE (Australia)