Stress is contagious in the classroom

The researchers further noted:

“Considering that classroom teachers can take on many roles for elementary school students, including mentor, role model, and parental roles, it is possible that spending most of the school day in interaction with a stressed and burned out teacher is taxing for students and can affect their physiological stress profile.”

Back in 2012, Maurice Elias, Professor of Psychology at Rutgers University, wrote for Edutopia about the warning signs of teacher burnout and what can contribute to it:

“Teacher burnout is most often an organizational problem and it is insidious because it can remove dedicated teachers from education, sometimes even before they physically leave their jobs. Its solution most often is in creating a positive, supportive school culture and climate where teachers are treated as professionals and given the opportunity to collaborate, problem solve, and get needed, reasonable supports in timely ways.”

“The students need their teachers to stay engaged and fight for them. When the conditions of teaching are bad, the conditions of learning tend to be worse, and children suffer in lasting ways. That’s why the collateral damage of burned-out teachers is burned-up students.”

Time, 6/27/16