Stress Sources, Consequences, and Coping Methods Among Staff in Educational Institutions

Stress has significantly impacted our lives in recent years and has become a major health issue. Stress is a condition that arises when the physical and mental limits of an organism are threatened and strained. In response to threats and challenges, the organism initiates a chain of reactions aimed at self-protection. When faced with a threat, a living being fights if it believes it can overcome it; otherwise, it flees and thus adapts to the new situation.

Stress emerges as a concept that negatively affects an individual's health and productivity in environments characterised by conflict and competition. Stress affects everyone, whether they are managers or staff, to varying degrees, negatively impacting individual and organisational productivity. However, it should not be forgotten that organisations, regardless of their objectives, depend on the people who work for them in order to survive. The impact of stress is particularly important in educational institutions, where the human aspect is paramount.

This article examines the sources of stress among personnel in educational institutions, the consequences of stress, and ways of coping with stress.

What are the sources of stress?

The working life of educational institutions is one of the main sources of stress for personnel. This is because people spend the most active hours of their lives in schools, fulfilling the roles and duties expected of them in order to achieve certain goals. Observations and experiences show that everyone in the school environment, from top management to the lowest level, experiences stress.

In particular, teachers' stress at school is influenced by their personality traits, as well as by students, the educational environment, other staff members at the school, and the functional and social environment. This situation can negatively affect the teacher's performance.

The sources of stress for personnel working in educational institutions include excessive workload, light workload or uneven distribution of workload among personnel, excessive information overload, work being boring for the individual, insufficient wages, inability to progress sufficiently, long working hours, poor working conditions, imbalance of responsibilities, and unfair evaluation.

Individual Consequences of Stress

If teachers working in educational institutions do not successfully combat threats to their individual integrity, particularly at the mental level, the cumulative and intensifying effects of stress that they are unable to cope with will be reflected in certain changes in their behaviour. These include: Difficulty in making decisions that were previously easy, feelings of worthlessness, inadequacy, insecurity and abandonment, significant changes in habitual behaviour patterns, choosing the safest option instead of the best, anger in inappropriate situations, constant waves of anger, increased tendency to smoke, constant thinking about personal mistakes and failures, excessive daydreaming, frequent daydreaming, uncertainty and incoherence in speech, excessive worry about relatively insignificant issues or, conversely, indifference to real problems, excessive concern for health, and sleep disorders.

Corporate Consequences of Stress

While some experts argue that stress is unnecessary and harmful to employees regardless of its intensity, others argue that stress is necessary as long as it does not become excessive. Those who support this argument agree that a certain amount of stress can be used to help teaching staff develop themselves and motivate them in a positive way. However, when stress becomes unmanageable, it causes harm rather than benefit. This harm manifests itself as a decrease in productivity. Accordingly, the negative consequences of work stress can be listed as follows: Decreased productivity, reluctance to go to work, increased health expenses, feelings of inadequacy among staff regarding their duties, increased errors and accidents during work, and inaccurate decisions.

Ways of Coping with Stress

Ways of preventing or reducing stress arising from work can be grouped into two categories at the theoretical and individual levels in educational institutions.

Some of the solutions that can be used at the institutional level are as follows:

• 1. Developing the sense of trust of the staff and ensuring their participation in decisions related to both their own duties and the institutional structure and operations.
• 2. Redefining the duties of the staff within the institution.
• 3. Balancing the workforce.
• 4. Providing counselling services to help stressed staff.
• Planning professional development paths and ensuring that superiors guide their subordinates in this regard,
• Improving the working environment, which has a significant impact on staff,
• Organising joint entertainment activities, meals, and trips...

Based on the fact that staff can also cope with stress through individual means, the following practices can be implemented:

• Walking, running, swimming, tennis, and games to provide physical relaxation,
• Breathing exercises through deep breathing,
• Meditation to provide physical and mental relaxation,
• Various relaxation exercises,
• Diet and balanced nutrition,
• Participating in social, cultural, and sporting activities...

Conclusion

Preventing stress from developing or reducing existing stress in educational institutions is extremely important in terms of the efficiency of education and training. In this regard, various arrangements that can be made at both the individual and institutional levels will also help reduce sources of stress that may arise in educational institutions. This will create an efficient working environment. On the other hand, ensuring the smooth operation of educational institutions will also help protect the mental and physical health of the staff working in education.

References

Aksoy, E. & Demirhan, E. (2021). ‘Stress in Educational Institutions: Sources and Solutions.’ Journal of Education and Management, 15(3), 25-40.

Şahin, S. (2019). ‘Teachers’ Professional Burnout Levels and Stress Management.’ Turkish Journal of Educational Sciences, 17(2), 85-102.

Özkan, M. (2022). ‘Psychosocial Risk Factors and Stress in Education.’ Journal of Psychology and Education, 10(1), 50-65.

Yıldırım, A. & Dönmez, A. (2020). “Stress and Institutional Effects Among Education Workers.” Journal of Educational Research, 12(4), 63-78.