Dive Brief:
- A new study from researchers at the University of Missouri establishes a correlation between a lack of educator access to resources needed to successfully teach and higher stress levels that are detrimental to student achievement, eSchool News reports.
- Among the detriments are lower grades and regular behavioral issues, but training, more support and better coping skills can help educators manage stress and avoid burnout.
- Administrators also have a significant role to play, establishing screening processes to find out where more support might be needed or to help educators maintain positive mental health.
Dive Insight:
Education can easily feel like a thankless job, and as eSchool News points out, the proportion of teachers with "high-level stress" is as high as 93%. And with active learning models that have come with the influx of technology in the classroom, the risk of burnout has, in some ways, risen.
As Bay Path University Associate Professor of Biology Thomas Mennella has noted at the college level, for example, adopting a flipped learning model for his classroom raised his grading workload for 86 students with four assignments per week to 344 weekly assignments at a total of 3,784 per semester.
Educators embracing these active learning models may need to rethink lesson plans and also understand their limits. And administrators must be mindful of the need for additional professional development and support for those doing so.
