Teaching is a profession that generates a lot stress. Stress due to the individualized attention to so many students, the preparation of classes with often limited resources, the relationship with families, the excessive teaching load and the enormous bureaucracy required by current regulations,… There are many reasons that affect, little by little, and they make an impact on the teachers.
The sector of care for people with disabilities is not far behind and the reality of professionals is urgent improvements to increase well-being of users and professionals in the sector themselves.
On the occasion of International Mental Health Daycelebrated on October 10, FSIE focuses on this aspect, which, without a doubt, is a reality for the majority of teachers and professionals in disability centers.
According to the I National Study on the Mood of Teachers in Spain which was presented just a year ago by the Ánimo Profes platform, 35% of teachers consider their mood to be poor or very poor and 38.4% of the teachers surveyed perceived themselves to be in an emotional state that could be associated with moderate or severe depression.. 80% of those surveyed indicate that mood has an impact on their teaching work, which expresses a close relationship between the emotional well-being of education professionals and their performance in the classroom.
Those responsible for the study, Víctor Núñez, director of the newspaper Educational Success and professor at UDIMA, Silvia Álava, clinical psychologist, Julián Roa, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Education, and director of the same, and Leo Farache, of Educate is Everythingreported on this investigation that was carried out during the months of May and June 2023 with the participation of more than 3,800 teachers56% from public schools, 38% from charter schools and 8% from private schools.
According to the information obtained from 58 questions, organized in four blocks, More than 50% of participants identify bureaucratic and legislative problems as the main sources of emotional stress. This situation has been caused by the increase in administrative tasks in recent years, which takes away time and energy that they should dedicate to teaching their students.
FSIE claims
FSIE has repeatedly requested the Ministry of Education and educational administrations to take more into consideration teachers, for example, delaying the implementation of curricula to give professionals more time to prepare them. «Prioritize workers’ interests instead of political interests«.
In addition, FSIE demands the incorporation of the figure of the educational counselors for all stages, since they make it possible to tackle learning and behavioral problems in minors before they worsen and become more difficult to address.
For the union organization, the training It is also essential for teachers to know different realities and have tools to face difficult situations. The excess of teaching load and the high ratios in classrooms They make it difficult for teachers to better serve each student and, on the contrary, make them feel more overwhelmed and lack support. It is also very important for FSIE cover sick leave effectively and quickly of teachers, because it is not fair that teachers cover more than they can and «The quality of teaching suffers if a teacher serves a very large group of students«.
Caring for emotional well-being requires reinforcing actions aimed at this purpose in educational centers, with specifically qualified personnel for this mission. FSIE defends and demands that educational administrations progressively incorporate expert personnel in psychology into the centers’ staff in order to develop evaluation and intervention programs, aimed at improving the emotional competencies and well-being of teachers, administration staff and services, students and families.
In addition to making these requests at a private level, FSIE is a member of the Educational Wellbeing Platform which brings together organizations from the world of education and which demands improvements in this area from public administrations on behalf of all of them. At the conference organized in February 2023 ‘Mental health in educational contexts’ at the Faculty of Psychology of the Complutense University of Madrid, Jesús Pueyo, general secretary of FSIE defended the platform’s manifesto and summarized the demands of FSIE.
Regarding the sector of care for people with disabilities, FSIE defends increasing public financing in terms of salaries and truly dignifying work and the sector, reducing the ratios of students, users or/and patients per unit in Special Education centers and services, care centers and mental health centers and developing new care models that streamline administrative and bureaucratic procedures in all centers.
FSIE works to make all these fair demands come true as soon as possible to improve the conditions in which professionals work.
On the occasion of this date, FSIE encourages all workers in education and in the disability care sector to take care of their mental health with healthy habits such as a good rest, disconnecting from work, fostering relationships with family and friends, practicing physical and mental exercise, monitoring nutrition and not overloading yourself with tasks that do not correspond. In this sense, FSIE invites workers to rely on the union organization to defend their rights.
Related documents:
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