Whether you’ve been working as a qualified teacher for the last 12 years or you’re completing your NQT year, at times you may begin to feel overwhelmed, burntout or stressed in your job. We’ve put together 6 helpful tips to help teachers manage and beat stress in recognition of National Stress Awareness Day (held on the first Wednesday in November).

Tip 1: Planning

Before Stuart worked for Athona as our Senior Business Manager for primary schools in London, he worked as a primary school teacher for three years. Stuart’s top tip for dealing with stress as a teacher is to ensure all of your planning is done as thoroughly as possible, so you know exactly what you are doing each day and for each lesson. The more you can prepare in advance, the easier it will be on the day and you’ll find your lessons are stress-free and flow better.

There’s nothing worse than a lesson finishing quicker than expected, so make sure you have additional resources prepared – twinkl have some great free resources ready for you to download.

Tip 2: Speak to your colleagues

Never feel embarrassed to speak with a colleague if you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed out – they will have probably felt the same way in the past. They will also be able to provide helpful ideas on preventing stress, share the workload and offer support throughout the school year.

Don’t forget to join the conversation over on #EduTwitter, where teachers come together to discuss ideas, ask for help and network with teachers from across the country.

Tip 3: Take time for yourself away from the classroom

Make sure you get a good amount of sleep, take time away from your phone, eat a healthy diet, squeeze in some exercise and make sure you spend plenty of time seeing your friends and family. You’ll feel a lot more energised, relaxed and ready to take on another day at school.

Tip 4: Start your day well

Terry, Sales Director for Athona Education, recommends to ‘Eat the Frog’ and start each day by dealing with your most difficult task (or even lesson) first. This way you will stop procrastination and alleviate stress for the rest of the day.

Tip 5: Remember why you became a teacher

Perhaps after a stressful and busy day in the classroom, you have lost sight on why you trained (or are currently training) to become a teacher. Take a step back, remember the reasons why you chose this career path and regain your enthusiasm and motivation.

Stuart shares; “every now and then take a deep breath, drop your shoulders, hold your breath and breeeeeeathe out!”

Tip 6: Consider your options

Perhaps you’re feeling stressed because you’re not able to fulfill your aspirations as a teacher or you’re overloaded with marking and other responsibilities. If this is the case, you need to ensure you find a good work-life balance and maybe that means leaving your permanent job role and taking up daily supply work.

Everyday we receive new supply jobs, so make sure you check out all of our current jobs.

Do you have any tips or ideas for dealing with stress that we haven’t mentioned above? We’d love for you to share these with us here.