Teacher Stress: A Literature Survey with a Few Surprises

A review of 71 articles on teacher stress revealed little empirical support for the common claim that teaching is a stressful occupation. Seventy percent (70%) of the articles tabulated contained no data support; these papers were expressions of personal opinion and usually contained claims of a high incidence of teacher stress. Only 30% of the articles surveyed offered any empirical support for their claims. Most of these articles focused on identifying the sources of teacher stress. On the whole, the papers reviewed suggest that there is little empirical support for the widespread claim that teaching is a highly stressful job.