Monitoring finds high stress among teachers driven by pay and overload

Nearly 95 percent of teachers experience heightened stress in their daily work, while one-third face a high or very high professional risk, according to monitoring conducted by education support association TeachInspire and reported by LSM. Only 8 percent of teachers manage to follow their lesson plans as prepared.

The association conducted the monitoring during the previous school year and recently completed its analysis, publishing the results ahead of the new academic year.

Low pay and excessive workloads

The most frequently cited source of stress was inadequate pay. As a result, teachers take on excessive workloads to earn more, with 65 percent identifying the pay problem as a source of stress.

This additional workload creates a chronic lack of time, which causes stress for more than half of teachers. Almost as many cited a lack of discipline in the classroom, which often makes it difficult for teachers to follow their planned lesson structure.

Indars Kraģis, head of TeachInspire, said high stress and teacher fatigue were directly linked to their inability to maintain classroom discipline and increase students’ motivation to learn.

Teachers need substantial energy and self-control to apply different classroom management methods, Kraģis said, adding that these were difficult to achieve under heightened stress. Although teachers learn about various methods and techniques at seminars, courses and lectures, the question is whether they can practically integrate and use at least some of that information, he said.

One-third of respondents identified frequent changes in the education system as a source of stress. Problems caused by parents were cited by 19 percent of teachers.

Seventy-two percent in high-risk category

Overall, the monitoring found that 72 percent of teachers were in a high-risk category in terms of stress.