Educators today have an extremely demanding and stressful job. According to a recent white paper published by the University of Virginia entitled, “Reducing Stress in the Classroom,” a large portion of teachers across the globe deem their jobs to be extremely stressful. Information and communication technology (ICT) positively influences the planning, delivery and revision of lesson material, resulting in decreased task times, workload, and reduced anxiety. Train educators on ICT in order to combat high-stress in the workplace and increase morale.
Educators cite the cause of this increased stress level as a mixture of excessive workloads, a steadily widening ability gap between students, and consequently, a lack of time to meet individual student needs. The effects of occupational stress – such as absenteeism, stress-related illness, high staff turnover and early retirement – results in significant setbacks in education planning and budgeting. The fiscal ramifications on the education system due to high levels of stress are also quite significant: the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future estimates the annual cost of high teacher turnover is roughly $7 billion.