THE OVER‐STATED CASE OF EDUCATOR STRESS

Abstract

The main body of literature that has developed about educator stress indicates ours is a profession marked by high levels of distressful encounters and that educators are not faring well in this environment. The authors believe this case is over‐stated and that education, as a field, is not nearly so marked by the littered casualties of distress that the literature would have us believe exist. This conclusion is founded on both a small literature base which holds a contrary point of view, and on three studies of administrators and teachers which consistently indicate educators are much more adaptable and consequently, less stressed, than we have been led to believe. The purpose of the first study was to identify the levels of stress school principals experience on the job and to investigate the impact of perceived locus of control and powerlessness on their stress levels. The second study examined the extent to which school principals' perceived level of stress is related to their role relationship with groups internal and external to the school organization. The goals of the third study were to establish the levels of teachers' perceived stress, the organizationally‐based factors that are most stress‐inducing, and the predominant ways in which teachers manifest stress. The results of these studies, with great consistency, indicate low educator stress. These findings have important implications for the development of new approaches to stress research and for policy decisions concerning allocation of organizational resources to stress management design and staff development.