The issue of teacher stress is uniting researchers at UConn and the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, who are banding together to learn more about what鈥檚 stressing educators statewide.
In a , 44% of K-12 workers in the U.S. said they "always" or "very often" feel burned out at work, statistics that outpace all other industries nationally.
A recent Rand Corp. also found that U.S. teachers and principals are experiencing job-related stress at a rate two times that of the general population of working adults. In particular, Hispanic/Latinx teachers, mid-career teachers and female teachers and principals reported especially poor well-being.
Jenn Cavallari, with the UConn School of Medicine and the project, said her research group has teamed up with two school districts in Windsor and Vernon to learn more about what鈥檚 stressing teachers.
鈥淲e鈥檒l be surveying educators in both districts 鈥� and identifying the factors in their school district that are impacting educator stress,鈥� Cavallari said on 海角换妻 Radio鈥檚 Where We Live.
Cavallari said teachers feel like they are being asked 鈥渢o run business as usual, although they were in the midst of a pandemic. And they often had to balance the different expectations of teaching and educating students while meeting the students鈥� well-being needs,鈥� she said.
After the survey work, the teachers will work with school administrators to implement programs to prevent stress at an organizational level, with retention being the long-term goal.
鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping that the program that we鈥檙e implementing as part of the Total Teacher Health project will serve as a national model for improving educator well-being,鈥� Cavallari said.
The ongoing five-year study by the is funded by an $8 million grant from the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
