Elementary School Principals and Job Stress: Causes and Coping

Introduction

Any type of job carries with it some level of stress, but elementary school principals in particular appear prone to stressful conditions simply by virtue of the unique demands of their positions. Irate parents, changing boards of education, politicians with personal agendas, teachers, support staff, and the students themselves all combine to present the typical elementary school principal with enough stressful situations to challenge anyone's ability to cope — and cope they must. Unfortunately, things appear to be getting even worse in many regions of the country, where a shortage of qualified elementary school principals combined with rising enrollments has caused increasing concern among educators and policymakers alike. To determine what factors tend to contribute to stressful workplace conditions for the average elementary school principal, this study examines stress across a continuum of nine factors, followed by a summary of the research in the conclusion.

Stress in Educational Administration

A great deal of attention has been focused on how much stress children and adolescents experience during their school years, while those responsible for administering these educational services have been largely neglected; however, by any measure, educational administration is much like any other setting where people interact and business is carried out (Colten & Gore, 1991). According to Iwasaki, Mackay, and Mactavish (2005), "Stress is evident in every domain of contemporary life — work, family, home, and even leisure" (p. 1). Like any other setting, educational administration has its unique characteristics that can contribute to higher incidences of stressful situations, and these can be even more pronounced given the ages of the students involved. Elementary school children are at a formative period of their lives where much remains unclear, and applying adult standards to these settings is not only inappropriate — it can be harmful.

Thousands of educators are confronted with the frustrating question of how to handle "this most baffling — but constant — of professional hazards: stress" (Crute, 2004, p. 34). Citing the results of a survey by Optum Research, a Minnesota-based company that investigates work-related health risks, Crute reports that fully 88% of educators typically experience moderate to high levels of stress on the job. Given the commonplace nature of stress in human life and in the workplace, are educators in general and elementary school principals in particular somehow more stressed than their managerial counterparts in other professions? The evidence suggests that this is indeed the case: "Because, researchers say, educators face unique circumstances" (Crute, 2004, p. 35). These unique circumstances relate to the public school system in the United States, where long-term problems in funding and well-intentioned but misguided curricula reform initiatives have resulted in school systems facing more problems than answers (Enderlin-Lampe, 1997). Crute suggests that "the often overpowering combination of overcrowded classrooms, testing pressures, paperwork, and anxious parents, not to mention often rambunctious and stressed-out kids, has put teachers at particularly high risk. And educators tend not to know when — or how — to stop and refuel" (2004, p. 35).

In fact, stress has become a natural component of even the youngest children's lives, making the concept of a carefree childhood nearly obsolete (Large, 1999). According to Large, "Students reported more unique stressors, such as having to contend with a physical disability, parents' divorcing, or financial pressure at home. Students also can experience the distress of 'victimization' at school — teasing, intimidation, bullying, and sexual harassment from other students. Domestic violence and other forms of abuse and neglect at home can also contribute to the stressful lives of some children" (p. 39). As a result, educators are increasingly encountering a wide range of these stressors among their students; academic problems, behavioral problems, children's complaints of stomachaches or headaches, and substance abuse may all be related to excessive levels of stress in students' lives (Coleman et al., 2001).

Stress, Burnout, and the Principalship

According to Neumann and Reichel (1993), stress and burnout in organizations have become the focus of an increasing number of studies in recent years. These authors define burnout as "a syndrome or a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion, as well as cynicism towards one's work in response to chronic organizational stressors"; the emotional exhaustion component is one of the more extreme varieties of work-related stress and manifests itself in employees as a general loss of feeling, concern, trust, interest, and spirit (Neumann & Reichel, 1993).

When elementary school principals experience stress-related burnout, their emotional reserves are depleted and they no longer feel able to give of themselves at a psychological level. Etzion (1984) characterized the emotional exhaustion dimension of burnout as "feeling depressed, trapped, hopeless"; people who feel this way frequently lose interest in occupational goals and in the people they are supposed to manage (Neumann & Reichel, 1993). The physical exhaustion component is related to feeling weak, tired, and run down and is typically characterized by low energy, chronic fatigue, and weakness. The mental exhaustion component manifests itself in feelings of worthlessness, disillusionment, and rejection, and is characterized by the development of negative attitudes toward self, work, and life itself (Etzion, 1984, cited in Neumann & Reichel, p. 76).

Unfortunately, elementary school principals seem to be particularly susceptible to stress-related burnout. Ferrandino (2001) reports that burnout has become an all-too-common occurrence as principals try to cope with the increasing pressures and demands of parents, teachers, and supervisors. To cite one example of these building pressures, one of every ten principals surveyed in 1998 by the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) had been named in a civil lawsuit as a result of a playground accident, a disciplinary action, or some other work-related activity. The consequences were severe: "Even though there has never been a judgment against a principal in such cases, the fear of litigation is very real today" (Ferrandino, 2001, p. 440). When educators in general and elementary school principals in particular experience burnout, there are enormous and costly implications for their school systems. According to Boudreau, Golembiewski, Luo, and Sun, these implications can include:

Job involvement and all facets of job satisfaction decrease; turnover increases, both in intent and in actual departures; group cohesiveness decreases; physical and emotional symptoms increase; features of family life deteriorate; indicators of performance fall; and costs of medical insurance increase significantly (p. 59).

At a time when the future of education demands effective and creative elementary school principals who are "energetic, enthusiastic, confident, flexible and purposeful," they are also being confronted with powerful forces that tend to prevent them from being "willing to serve others, willing to try new things, taking initiative and following through" (Goertz, 2000, p. 158).

Conclusion

The research showed that there are going to be fewer elementary school principals available to administer a growing elementary school population in the coming years. This trend, combined with the increased number of less experienced principals in the short-term, can reasonably be expected to create a wide range of stressful situations for elementary school principals. Furthermore, the research showed that men and women tend to deal with stressful situations in different ways, and with more females becoming elementary school principals than in previous years, stress-coping techniques can be expected to shift increasingly toward female-focused approaches. Finally, the growing body of evidence directly implicates unresolved stress as a major predictor of adverse quality of life and health outcomes, but there are a number of techniques available to help people cope with the stress that is a normal part of everyone's lives — including keeping a sense of humor, maintaining perspective, and improving self-control. In-service training can be used to help educators and administrators alike learn these coping skills, but like every school, each person is unique, and the extent to which stress affects an individual has been directly related to factors such as gender, socioeconomic status, race, and workplace setting. Elementary schools in particular are characterized as highly stressful environments that demand effective coping skills to survive.