Vol. 452 No. 3
27 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Education her views on whether teachers experience more stress than claimed in the Sunday Independent of 23 April 1995, and on whether the hazards of working on a building site can be easily compared to those of teaching in a classroom as was attempted in the same article. [7973/95]
The article in the Sunday Independent of 23 April cites official UK data on occupational mortality. On the basis of this data certain conclusions are drawn about the stress levels of a number of occupations. It asserts that teaching is the least stressful occupation because teachers outlive all other groups. I am not in a position to comment on the validity of the conclusions drawn in the article.
I do not intend to get into making comparisons of the stress levels of different jobs, but I can observe that different levels of occupational stress can be experienced to a greater or lesser degree by different individuals in similar work situations. Also, a certain amount of stress is accepted as being necessary for optimal health and work performance. It is possible to devise strategies to help individuals cope with stress where it begins to be destructive.
I am seeking to address stress-related problems in teaching on a comprehensive basis. I am doing this through provision for relevant in-service training, the development of a welfare service for teachers, and early retirement provisions in the case of those teachers who find themselves unable to function at an acceptable level of performance because of stress or other reasons.
