Harika Kwan (10)Diana Li (17)

A wake-up call for the EMBA wake-up call for the EMB

'I felt like a loser and lost all my confidence'

• Mary Chan, 30, Secondary School Teacher

• Suffered months of sleepless nights and depression, worsened by work stress

• "I felt so depressed at one point that I walked out of my classroom in the middle of a lesson and wanted to run up to the rooftop and jump to my death," she said.

Problem of teacher stress Problem of teacher stress exists in many schools exists in many schools

including our school and this including our school and this problem needs to be tackled problem needs to be tackled

without delay!without delay!

What is stress?What is stress?

A complex issue induced by various factors and agents.

Reforms blamed for stress in teachers SCMP 2006-12-09

- Education legislator and head of the Professional Teachers' U

nion, Cheung Man-kwong, said he hoped the commission would

face the fact that education reform and the threat of school clos

ures were at the root of teacher stress.

- Teachers in Hong Kong have been found to be the most distur

bed by students' emotional and behavioural problems.

Stress blamed for teachers' injuries SCMP 2006-01-20- percentage of teachers feeling great work pressure had risen by 10 percent over the past four years, compared with a similar study in 2002.

• In 2006, two teachers committed suicide because of the heavy workload and pressure.

→work pressure was partly responsible for the suicide of teachers.

STRESS brings immense negative impacts.

Teacher StressTeacher Stress

Heavy WorkloadHeavy Workload

Increasing amount of administrative work

because of education reforms

Students’ behaviour

Students’ emotional and behavioStudents’ emotional and behavioural problemsural problems

• changes in student profile presented freschanges in student profile presented fresh challengesh challenges

• emergence of single-parent or single-chilemergence of single-parent or single-child family imposed a greater burden on tead family imposed a greater burden on teachers chers

→→ Teachers often spend greater time and eTeachers often spend greater time and energy on students’ behavioural problemsnergy on students’ behavioural problems

• Feel depressed when teachers cannot manage to handle the students from diverse background and classroom discipline

• A weak sense of satisfaction in teaching

• A great degree of self-doubt

→ → Increase teachers’ pressureIncrease teachers’ pressure

Increasing administrative workIncreasing administrative work

• Education reform→ forced to work longer hours

• Brought new tasks and challenges• Demands for multi-faceted skills in a fast-

changing work environment → Need more trainings

→ → added burden of teachers’ added burden of teachers’ workloadworkload

Teachers usually worked:

- 4.6 hours a day for non-school days

- 10 hours a day on a school day

A figure estimated by the A figure estimated by the Committee on Teachers’ WorkCommittee on Teachers’ Work

Solution• Professor Edmond Ko( Chairman of the

Committee): The Education and Manpower Bureau has taken the following measures to tackle the problem of teacher stress

1. A new hotline for distressed teachers is set up

->easier for them to figure out the solution

2. The EMB has simplified the process of school-based assessments for Chinese and English

Extra $1.65 billion cash was given to schools to hire more administrators and top up their IT provisions for administrative purpose

-> improve efficiency and reduce the administrative burden of teachers.

The EMB has improved the arrangements for external school review and has opened the Quality Education Fund to application

The government:The government:

introduce voluntary redundancies and introduce voluntary redundancies and reduce the student-to-teacher ratioreduce the student-to-teacher ratio

• introduce a small-class policyintroduce a small-class policy->reduce teachers’ stress ->reduce teachers’ stress ->facilitate the volition in teaching pra->facilitate the volition in teaching pra

cticesctices

School Accountability System:

• An immediate termination of school-based assessment The EMB:

• reduce the frequency of school inspections (from once every four years to every eight years)

Stress Management and Healthy Workforce

• Teachers’ Education Insititute : place greater emphasis on teache

r education programmes and on the physical and mental well being of teacher.

Stress Management and Healthy Workforce

• Teachers’ professional development could include components that address self management ->help them to refine healthy life skills throughout their career e.g positive attitude, healthy coping techniques and time management.

Policy initiative• regular and open dialogue between

the EMB and teachers to summarize teachers’ opinions ->facilitate a better flow of feedback that will help clarify query ->a climate of trust can be built to facilitate long-term partnership.

• As a form 6 students, we should take ownership in learning and find ways to improve ourselves to let teachers feel satisfied

• It is hoped that the Education and Manpower Bureau would get the recommendation off the ground ->teachers can do what they are best at and enhance students’ learning.

Conclusion

1. What are reasons for Hong Kong teachers to be facing stress?

2. What could be the result of undue stress on teachers?

3. What measures should the Education and Manpower Bureau take to alleviate the problem of teacher stress in long term?

4. What has the government done to remedy the problem of teacher stress?

5. As a form 6 student, what can you do to ease the problem?