Stress at work is caused by many factors: high work loads, difficult to meet deadlines, a feeling that one’s senior colleagues are unresponsive or unhelpful, demands from without for change which is perceived by the individual to be unnecessary, a challenging work environment, a lack of motivation and morale raising activities from employers…

However not everyone is affected by stress – and it is often difficult for the person who is not affected by stress to understand what life is like for the employee who is suffering from the condition.

Nowhere is this more true than in teaching – a profession that now suffers from the third highest level of stress of any occupation in the UK.  While some members of staff find the job challenging and exciting, others can on occasion find it too much.

But there is a further problem, for the courts have made it clear that all school managers and governors have a duty to undertake a risk assessment on the levels of stress that the staff may be experiencing, to ensure that the working environment does not produce stress levels that are unacceptable, and to help recovery where teachers have suffered from high levels of stress.

It is no longer an acceptable argument to suggest that everyone knows that teaching is a stressful job. One teacher recently won more than £250,000 when her school failed to respond to her rising stress levels – and higher awards are expected to follow.

“Recovery from stress: a school manager’s guide to helping colleagues” is a report which examines in detail many of the personal problems faced by teachers: assertiveness, low self-esteem, lack of self-belief, depression, a lack of coping strategies. 

The volume also looks at the sources of stress and then details the possible solutions, such as anxiety management, problem solving, relaxation techniques, etc.  The volume thus helps school managers who don’t suffer from excessive stress to understand what their colleague under stress is going through and to see how she or he can be helped.

The volume includes a set of templates relating to the school's policy on stress and a risk assessment programme and details on the various ways schools and individuals can overcome stress and reduce stress levels.

The volume can be bought as a photocopiable ring bound book or on CD Rom.

Cat No: 978 1 86083 840 8