Organizational Interventions to Reduce Sources of K-12 Teachers’ Occupational Stress

Abstract

Organizational interventions that may reduce sources of occupational stress faced by K-12 teachers take many forms, including support/skills building interventions, such as mentoring programs, Peer Assistance and Review (PAR), teacher assistance teams, and teacher training on classroom management, as well as forms of job redesign. Most interventions have been designed primarily to improve or support professional practice and not to address work-related stress. We reviewed 27 empirical studies and review papers on organizational interventions published between 1990 and 2015, and found some evidence that mentoring and induction programs and PAR programs can increase support, skill development, decision-making authority, and perhaps job security, for teachers. However, there is limited evidence linking these interventions to a reduction in teacher stress or improvements in teacher health. We also describe other policy, union (collective bargaining) and legislative drivers of some of these models such as union and collective bargaining initiatives that have resulted in mentoring, PAR, and team teaching, state legislation on prevention of bullying and harassment of teachers and district programs, participation/school-based management, prevention of harassment/ bullying/violence, management of disruptive students, and employee assistance programs. However, these policy-based interventions need to be evaluated by research. Research is also needed to evaluate the impact on job characteristics and teacher health of professional learning communities, professional capital, co-teaching, school climate, and workplace violence prevention. Finally, we present a research agenda to enable a better understanding of the types of organizational programs and policies that can reduce stressful working conditions faced by K-12 teachers and potentially improve their health.