Dealing with Stress

Case Study 13.1, which introduces this chapter, is expanded and referred back to throughout the first section of the chapter. Case Study 13.1 for Reflection

Wendy had always enjoyed doing the timetable.This was why she had been appointed as deputy head some 15 years ago. Originally a scientist, her interest in the mechanics of timetabling and ability to juggle option blocks had brought her early promotion. At that time the role of a deputy was limited and she spent her non-teaching time sitting in her office tinkering with her timetable blocks. Wendy's lack of interpersonal skills or interest in current educational issues had not constituted a problem while Mr Simpson remained the headteacher, but after he took early retirement the situation changed. Caroline, the new head, who wanted to revitalize the school to meet the demands of the more competitive environment that had resulted from recent legislation, expected Wendy to take responsibility for a whole portfolio of issues, which Wendy simply did not understand. She protested that she felt ill equipped to give a lead to hard-pressed colleagues, and the exasperated headteacher responded by sending her deputy on a number of courses aimed at improving her knowledge and understanding of the initiatives that she was now expected to lead. Wendy did not enjoy the courses. It took her a long time to grasp the ideas, as she got bogged down in the details, and basically she couldn't see the point of most of the changes that the new head seemed so keen to introduce.They seemed to Wendy to be a distraction that interfered with time that should be spent teaching. She felt battered by all the new information and she began to have severe headaches in the evenings. Her visible lack of enthusiasm made it difficult for her to enthuse others. The head's obvious irritation with her deputy made matter worse, because Caroline found it difficult to disguise her feelings either when she spoke to Wendy or in staff meetings when Wendy made some comment that the head felt betrayed her ignorance or lack of commitment.

Wendy felt very pressurized by all the new demands being made on her and increasingly depressed by her inability to please Caroline.The more sharply Caroline spoke to her, the more slowly Wendy seemed to function. Her headaches increased, and then she got flu badly and couldn't shake it off and for the first time in years had to take several days off work. When she returned to school, she found that Caroline had turned her attention to the timetable and suggested that Wendy should rethink how she approached the whole question of timetabling. The school had a computerized administration system, but Wendy's timetable was still done manually, as Wendy did not know how to use the options or the timetabling program and was suspicious of both. Caroline also suspected that a different timetable model could provide considerably more flexibility than the present system and that for Wendy to continue tinkering with it was becoming counterproductive. She told her deputy all this in no uncertain terms and suggested that it might be a good idea if the senior teacher responsible for administration helped her learn to use the computer program. This session with the headteacher reduced Wendy to tears. She had developed her model the first year that she did the timetable, and she loved it and did not wish to change it. It was her one refuge to which she could retreat to get away from people and pressure. She felt stabbed in the back, but she feared that if she protested, Caroline might remove the timetable from her job description altogether. She tried to accommodate Caroline's demands, but she didn't seem to have any spark and the other initiatives were taking up so much of her time that it was difficult for her to concentrate on the timetabling. She was so tired nowadays that when she got home it was difficult for her to do any productive work in the evenings, yet she was finding it difficult to sleep and the headaches were now so bad that in the end she went to see the doctor. He gave her a thorough examination and told her that she was suffering from severe stress.