ABSTRACT
The first step in tackling stress is to acknowledge its existence in teaching. Acceptance is difficult for people who associate stress with personal weakness and professional incompetence. For them, admitting to classroom difficulties is tantamount to admitting that they are bad teachers. They are afraid to disclose professional problems to colleagues who would regard them as signs of failure. They are unwilling to ask for help because that action would be seen as a form of weakness. Some of these barriers to stress reduction were identified by a teacher in a report sent to me in preparation for a staff conference: ‘Stress is caused because I am unable to ask for extra support because if I did, I would be assessed as as weak teacher by the rest of the staff.’
