Woods (1999: 116) states that a potentially stressful situation occurs when “a teacher’s personal interests, commitment and resources are not only out of line with one or more work- related factors but actually pull against them.” He explains that the classic cause of stress and burnout is having too much work, a strong moral imperative to do it, and not enough time and energy to do it in or being pressured to do more work than feasible, having few resources with which to do it, receiving low rewards and little or no recognition, and even worse, being on the receiving end of criticism (Woods, 1999: 116). All of these stressors are present in the everyday work life of TESOL teachers. Thus it is imperative that private language schools, despite financial difficulties, provide their teachers with a nurturing and supportive environment in which to complete their work. Motha (2004: 329), in a longitudinal study of four beginning TESOL teachers in the US, found that the teachers felt that a sense of shared community and support was absent with none believing that it was actively fostered in their schools. Wedell (2004: 16), however, maintains that in private language schools in Chile, there has been some success with creating support structures particularly “teacher networks and the introduction of school-based mentors.” However, Wedell (2004: 16) cautions that the introduction of support structures must be supported by school management and viewed as part of “normal professional activity and not something extra to be squeezed in.”
Amason, Watkins Allen and Holmes (1999: 313) state that the effectiveness of social support structures for teachers are dependent on two factors. Firstly, support structures should be proactive focusing on action and guidance and try “to help the individual to understand the stressor and identify ways to cope with it” and secondly, there should be available and appropriate social support in the form of supervisors, colleagues, mentors, family and friends which can serve to reduce uncertainty and stress. The actual support provided may take a
variety of forms including assistance with achieving work outcomes, the provision of
information and resources which allow the individual to perform optimally, emotional support, mentorship, the sharing of resources and collaborative attempts to solve problems as a group. In terms of support from managers and supervisors, Singh and Billingsley (1998: 229) state that supervisors influence teachers’ perception of support by the frequency and type of
“communication, the design of the job and the level of autonomy, the provision of learning opportunities and resources and the nature and extent of feedback.” Furthermore, supportive managers and supervisors are viewed as having clear expectations, being fair, communicating clearly, recognising good work, talking to staff, helping staff, supporting and enforcing school rules and providing resources where needed (Singh et al., 1998: 231). Most of the TESOL teachers interviewed in this research study, however, did not feel that they received adequate support from their supervisors. Terry noted that, “Feeling supported at work is more important than at home. I need to know that when I come in to teach a class that my boss is there for me and is going to support me. But the truth is that we aren’t really supported by anyone. We’re completely on our own.” Sara agreed saying, “Over here the supervisor’s role is to keep the teachers’ in line. There is no such thing as a support network. I couldn’t imagine feeling less supported!” Rex noted that “We hardly ever see our supervisors. If we wanted some type of support, I suppose we would have to go and ask for it. But I doubt they’d be open to it. There simply isn’t time for stuff like that. People who need support would be seen as weak and may find themselves without a job.” Research, however, reveals that supportive organisational relationships have been linked to reduced uncertainty, increased job satisfaction, decreased job stress and burnout, and improved health (Amason et al., 1999: 313).
A number of the teachers interviewed felt that their managers and supervisors were not supportive due to a lack of training and were perhaps unsure of how to be supportive and how to create support networks and other structures within the school. Frankie noted that,
“Sometimes I think they just don’t know how to support us. They are also under pressure to bring in students and manage teachers. The problem comes in when they micro-manage us, don’t listen to the problems that we have in the classroom and don’t take action. The result is that we feel unsupported and they feel that we are being obstructionist.” Thus, it is imperative that supervisors know how to support teachers especially in terms of communicating clear expectations, that they are fair when evaluating teachers, recognise and praise
accomplishments, and assist with instructional practices, discipline and resources. Singh et al. (1998: 237) maintain that “when supervisors foster shared goals, values and professional growth, solidarity and a supportive learning community are likely to result.” Therefore, when supervisors’ leadership is perceived as strong and positive, teachers are more likely to work co- operatively and share a common sense of purpose.” This view is echoed by Douglas who
maintained that “We need strong and fair supervisors. Our supervisors come across as indecisive and weak. We feel as if we are on a ship without a captain.”
According to Singh et al. (1998: 230) collegial support includes “assistance with professional concerns, feedback and emotional support.” Furthermore, Singh (1998) highlights the
importance of collaborative settings where teachers have the opportunity to give feedback to each other about their teaching and receive emotional and instructional support. Many of the TESOL teachers interviewed for this research study noted that they worked in toxic
environments characterised by competitiveness, gossip and other nasty behaviour. In fact, few of the teachers reported positive collegial relationships. Rachel said that “I couldn’t imagine my colleagues assisting me with concerns, giving me positive feedback or supporting me in any way. It is a dog-eat-dog mentality here. There is far too much at stake, our contract renewals mean that we have to look out for ourselves first. When you collaborate, you get lost in the crowd.” Warren agreed saying, “Collaboration means group recognition but that isn’t the way language schools are set up. The person you support today is the same one who stabs you in the back tomorrow. We all want individual recognition. That is the way to get your contract renewed, we all want to be seen as the best teacher in the group not as a good teacher in a group of good teachers.”
While Singh et al. (1998: 232) state that supportive colleagues “shared beliefs about the mission of the school, enforced rules for students, co-operated with each other and helped each other to improve their teaching”, many of the teachers in this research study felt that their colleagues were apathetic and had neither the energy nor the interest to support each other. This view supports that of Hancock et al. (2010: 335) who maintain that teacher apathy is rife and manifests as “a loss of enthusiasm”, “a desire to miss days of school”, “excessive
stress”, a “sense of disappointment” and “high levels of dissatisfaction in the workplace.” Furthermore, Hancock et al. (2010: 335) state that peer support is a statistically significant predictor of attrition risk. English teachers who experienced satisfactory peer support were less likely to be a high attrition risk than those who received less peer support. According to Joanne, most of the teachers were simply “too tired at the end of the day to be supportive. Once
classes are over, we just want to do marking or prepare for tomorrow’s lesson. People don’t realise that we also have children and families and we have to see to our family after work. It’s like having two jobs. I can’t imagine who has any energy left to support others emotionally. The job is just too draining.” Bruce noted that even though he was single and did not have family responsibilities, he felt “exhausted after work” and had “nothing left to give.”
There were several female teachers in this research study who maintained that without the support of their family and friends, they would not have been able to cope with the stresses of
TESOL teaching. This supports Brannan and Bleistein (2012: 532) who state that family and friends provide support by caring enough “to ask questions and listen to stories and
experiences.” Nina said that “My friends and my family are my support network. I know that I can tell them about my challenges such as the competitiveness and the backstabbing and they will try and advise me or just help me to forget about it. Without being able to vent at home, I don’t think I’d last very long as a TESOL teacher.” Fern agreed saying, “I know that no matter how bad my day is, I have someone at home who I can talk to and who is genuinely interested in what I have to say. That’s my support network. The school provides us with nothing.” Greenglass and Burke (1988: 226) highlight an interesting finding in a questionnaire-based study of burnout and social support in 556 Canadian teachers. The researchers discovered that although higher social support was associated with lower burnout, these results were found for the women in the study only. The researchers suggest that women may use social support more effectively by actually asking others for help and may find it easier to talk about their problems with others than men do thus making more effective use of available support networks. Some of the TESOL teachers in this research study had formed their own support groups within their respective schools. De Wert, Babinski and Jones (2003) report on a number of studies in the US that show that the formation of teacher support groups helped to reduce stress, decreased feelings of isolation and led to an increase in competence and enthusiasm. De Wert et al. (2003) also report on the success of virtual support networks consisting of a mailing list with mailings going to each member for communal discussion of problems and possible solutions. Lisa founded a teacher support group within her school and felt that it had been moderately successful as a forum in which problems could be discussed, advice given and resources shared. She, however, maintained that the support group tended to be “somewhat limited in range due to a lack of time. I’d love to use the support group as a means to agitate for better salaries and working conditions. I mean they can’t dismiss us all if we stand together. But I don’t think it will happen, attendance of the meetings is sporadic and people say they just don’t have the time to devote to it.” This supports Creese, Norwich and Daniel (2000: 316), who in a mixed methods study of teacher support groups at four US schools, found that the biggest issues for teachers and senior management in the formation of teacher support groups was “not enough time, too much stress and low teacher morale.” The teacher support groups that were successful were those supported by senior management, had no hidden agendas, consulted rather than forced teachers to be members, built trust, shared problems and maintained a high profile (Creese et al., 2000: 317-320).
Several of the teachers mentioned that although their teacher support groups had started out well, the group had quickly lost sight of its original goals. This supports Creese et al. (2000: 313) who state that in one US school the teacher support team was set up in “an atmosphere of
distrust and there were obvious tensions between the senior management team and the teaching staff.” While in other schools there were a number of other challenges such as
suspicion between teachers and supervisors, favouritism, older teachers perceived as resistant to change and the support group being used as a means of ‘correcting’ the behaviour of the members (Creese et al., 2000: 313). Fern noted that “With the current atmosphere between the teachers at this school, it is impossible to have a proper support group. All the teachers are only concerned about themselves and their jobs. They couldn’t care less about sharing
information and solving each other’s problems. Quite honestly, I think it would be a waste of time.” Mark agreed saying, “I attended a couple of meetings but felt like the group was just there to complain. I didn’t find it to be proactive at all so I stopped going. The problem is that it’s difficult to solve problems when you don’t have any power to change things so it’s easier to just sit around and complain.”
Thus, this research study revealed that most private language schools do not have adequate support structures in place for their teachers. Managers and supervisors were generally
perceived as being disinterested and unsupportive and those who attempted to create support structures tended to miss the point viewing it as an opportunity to micro-manage teachers and set the support agenda. In addition, teachers felt that managers and supervisors had not been trained on how to provide support and create networks of support. The TESOL teachers felt that colleagues were not at all supportive with very few teachers mentioning supportive colleagues while many commented on the lack of collegiality and shared community. This may be as a result of the competitive environment in which the teachers’ work which does not encourage collaboration. An interesting finding was that none of the teachers identified other staff members at their respective schools as mentors. Thus many of the teachers perceived their family and friends as being the only support that they had. Furthermore, in those schools which had teacher support groups, the teachers generally felt that the groups lacked focus and tended to be used as a forum for complaints rather than support.