Peculiarities of professional stress and emotional burnout of teacher of preschool education

In the last few decades, the study of various forms of stress and its impact on the human body has become one of the most common topics in psychological and pedagogical science and practice. Phenomena of intensity and tension of modern life are increasingly manifested at the psychological, professional and personal levels. This is manifested in the form of frequent cases of negative emotional reactions and experiences, which leads to the formation of pronounced and prolonged stress States.

A special group of stress is professional stress. Many well-known psychologists, teachers study the problems associated with work [1]. The increased interest in professional labor stress is due, in our opinion, to the fact that they, as a consequence, violate the capacity of the entire organization, leading to the loss of human resources and other force majeure situations.

Modern socio-cultural conditions, as mentioned above, are characterized by an increase in various stress factors that cause difficult conditions in professional activity, which creates certain barriers, including in the activities of preschool teacher, teacher.

One of the professions related to the category of stress is the profession of a teacher, which requires large reserves of self-control and self-regulation [3]. The work of a teacher-educator, according to a number of socio-demographic studies, is among the most emotionally stressful types of professional activity. In terms of the degree of tension and stress, the load of the teacher is on average greater than that of managers, bankers and General Directors, which led to the formulation of the goal of our study concerning the study of the characteristics of the professional stress of the teacher and its overcoming.

According to George. Schaeffer, one of the main criteria characterizing stress resistance, is the degree of emotional tension in professional activity, characterized by the following indicators:

1. the inability to focus on anything, memory impairment, often "evaporating" thoughts;

2. too frequent errors in the work;

3. very fast speech, increased excitability;

4. loss of sense of humor;

5. too often there is a feeling of fatigue, frequent "causeless" pain (not caused by physical problems);

6. a sharp increase in the number of cigarettes smoked, addiction to alcohol (if any);

7. constant feeling of malnutrition or lack of appetite and taste for food;

8. inability to finish the work on time, failure to receive the former joy of work, etc.

The General stress factors characteristic of different professions, in relation to the profession of the teacher can be attributed additional stress factors: the early age of pupils, especially the organization of communication, especially the organization of activities, etc. In this regard, we highlight a number of specific stress factors observed in the activities of teachers of preschool education. These include:

1) chronic intense psychoemotional activity associated with intensive communication, with the purposefulness of the perception of the partner and the impact on him. Professional activity of teachers is associated with constant emotional reinforcement of communication and features of the speech environment;

2) increased responsibility, constant work in the mode of external and internal control, constant self-control and dedication in activities. The teachers are dominated by feelings of empathy, empathy, they are responsible not only for the education, development and training of preschool children, but also for their lives and health.

3) psychologically difficult contingent. Often, educators have to work with children who are outwardly psychologically healthy, but have anomalies of character, nervous system, behavioral disorders, mental retardation, etc.;

4) the need to be the object of observation and evaluation, constantly confirm their competence, as the teacher-educator is always "in sight" of pupils, colleagues and parents, should always be impeccable in behavior and activities and out of work.

Thus, the impact of stress on the personality of the teacher-educator and the reduction of stress resistance as a result of his professional activity contribute to the formation of representatives of the profession in the syndrome of emotional burnout, as developed by the personality of the mechanism of psychological protection in the form of complete or partial exclusion of emotions in response to selected psychotraumatic effects.

Emotional burnout is a dynamic process and occurs not immediately, but in stages, in full accordance with the mechanism of stress development [2].

Emotional burnout is expressed in all phases of stress:

1. nervous tension (when creating a chronic psycho-emotional atmosphere, destabilizing situation, increased responsibility, the difficulties of the contingent, etc.).);

2. resistance, i.e. resistance (when trying to more or less successfully protect yourself from unpleasant experiences);

3. depletion (with the impoverishment of mental resources, reducing emotional tone).

At the same time, emotional burnout is a form of professional deformation of the personality, which negatively affects the professional activity of the teacher of preschool education and his relations with pupils, colleagues, partners, etc.

For example, conducted on the basis of the DOW №28 Stary Oskol Belgorod region (http://sad28.oskoluno.ru) the study (it was attended by 19 educators-women aged 25-35 years, with experience of 5-12 years), aimed at determining the facts of professional emotional burnout, showed that professional burnout is more prone to those who work with high dedication, responsibility, installation on a permanent workflow. Such respondents were 32% of the respondents. As a rule, professional burnout entails a decrease in professional motivation, negatively affects personal qualities. Such teachers (10.5% with experience of 5 and 7 years) have a standard approach to professional activity, ordinary, self-confidence, simplified understanding of children.

It is clear that the complete exception in the work of professional stress and professional burnout in modern conditions is almost impossible. However, it is possible to significantly reduce their devastating impact on the health of working people. To this end, it is necessary to develop the ability to overcome stress, the ability to structure their activities and the correct approach to solving professional problems, establishing a comfortable atmosphere in the team, the development of individual characteristics and habits that reduce the impact of stress factors.

In this regard, appropriate recommendations have been developed, compliance with which can prevent the occurrence of chronic stress or reduce its severity [4]:

1) Try to divide your goals by importance into those that can be postponed and that need to be fulfilled in the near future.

2) spend More time on rest. Create a "pause" to relax and get away from work.

3) Learn self-regulation. In your free time, often do things that you enjoy (it can be a long sleep, favorite food, a long stay in nature and in the company of friends and relatives, bath, massage, movement, dancing, music and more). During working hours, smile more, laugh, look at things with humor, think about good, pleasant, etc.

4) Engage in self-education. Getting more information, sharing this information with other people, attending refresher courses helps to change the situation and overcome stress.

5) do Not always strive to win, avoid unnecessary competition. Excessive struggle for leadership makes a person aggressive and contributes to the appearance of stress.

6) More communicate. Try to find friends in colleagues, discuss with colleagues not only working moments, but other common themes. Communication is a powerful way to overcome stress and tension. The support of colleagues, especially senior ones, is very valuable.

7) go In for sports. Lead an active lifestyle, often go to nature with your family, keep fit. Our emotions are related to the state of our body.

8) Distribute your responsibilities for a few days. Don't try to do all the work in one day.

9) During the working day, try to switch from one activity to another. This will avoid a long habituation to the new type of work, reduce the level of tension.

10) Try not to take conflicts at work to heart. In the pedagogical sphere of activity it is almost impossible to do without conflicts, as the sources of conflict situations can be the behavior of students, communication with parents, disagreements with colleagues, etc.

11) Cultivate the ability to separate work from rest. It is important to remember that family is family and work is work. Coming home, if possible, try to forget about teaching, otherwise the stress you will not let go at work or at home.

Thus, realizing that stress is often an inevitability that we should know and always remember, teachers of different levels of education, including teachers of preschool education, should remember that it depends on them whether their lifestyle is healthy and active or not. Self-influence on our life principles will make relaxation and concentration an integral part of our lifestyle, affecting our balance, calmness, stability in responding to stress factors.