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More than two hours of homework may be counterproductive, research suggests.

A Stanford education researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.   "Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good," wrote Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education .   The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students' views on homework.   Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year.   Students in these schools average about 3.1 hours of homework each night.   "The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students' advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being," Pope wrote.   Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.   Their study found that too much homework is associated with:   • Greater stress : 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.   • Reductions in health : In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.   • Less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits : Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were "not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills," according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.   A balancing act   The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.   Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as "pointless" or "mindless" in order to keep their grades up.   "This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points," said Pope, who is also a co-founder of Challenge Success , a nonprofit organization affiliated with the GSE that conducts research and works with schools and parents to improve students' educational experiences..   Pope said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said.   "Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development," wrote Pope.   High-performing paradox   In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. "Young people are spending more time alone," they wrote, "which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities."   Student perspectives   The researchers say that while their open-ended or "self-reporting" methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for "typical adolescent complaining" – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe.   The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.

Clifton B. Parker is a writer at the Stanford News Service .

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Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in.

It's no secret that kids hate homework. And as students grapple with an ongoing pandemic that has had a wide range of mental health impacts, is it time schools start listening to their pleas about workloads?

Some teachers are turning to social media to take a stand against homework. 

Tiktok user @misguided.teacher says he doesn't assign it because the "whole premise of homework is flawed."

For starters, he says, he can't grade work on "even playing fields" when students' home environments can be vastly different.

"Even students who go home to a peaceful house, do they really want to spend their time on busy work? Because typically that's what a lot of homework is, it's busy work," he says in the video that has garnered 1.6 million likes. "You only get one year to be 7, you only got one year to be 10, you only get one year to be 16, 18."

Mental health experts agree heavy workloads have the potential do more harm than good for students, especially when taking into account the impacts of the pandemic. But they also say the answer may not be to eliminate homework altogether.

Emmy Kang, mental health counselor at Humantold , says studies have shown heavy workloads can be "detrimental" for students and cause a "big impact on their mental, physical and emotional health."

"More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies," she says, adding that staying up late to finish assignments also leads to disrupted sleep and exhaustion.

Cynthia Catchings, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist at Talkspace , says heavy workloads can also cause serious mental health problems in the long run, like anxiety and depression. 

And for all the distress homework  can cause, it's not as useful as many may think, says Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, a psychologist and CEO of Omega Recovery treatment center.

"The research shows that there's really limited benefit of homework for elementary age students, that really the school work should be contained in the classroom," he says.

For older students, Kang says, homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night. 

"Most students, especially at these high achieving schools, they're doing a minimum of three hours, and it's taking away time from their friends, from their families, their extracurricular activities. And these are all very important things for a person's mental and emotional health."

Catchings, who also taught third to 12th graders for 12 years, says she's seen the positive effects of a no-homework policy while working with students abroad.

"Not having homework was something that I always admired from the French students (and) the French schools, because that was helping the students to really have the time off and really disconnect from school," she says.

The answer may not be to eliminate homework completely but to be more mindful of the type of work students take home, suggests Kang, who was a high school teacher for 10 years.

"I don't think (we) should scrap homework; I think we should scrap meaningless, purposeless busy work-type homework. That's something that needs to be scrapped entirely," she says, encouraging teachers to be thoughtful and consider the amount of time it would take for students to complete assignments.

The pandemic made the conversation around homework more crucial 

Mindfulness surrounding homework is especially important in the context of the past two years. Many students will be struggling with mental health issues that were brought on or worsened by the pandemic , making heavy workloads even harder to balance.

"COVID was just a disaster in terms of the lack of structure. Everything just deteriorated," Kardaras says, pointing to an increase in cognitive issues and decrease in attention spans among students. "School acts as an anchor for a lot of children, as a stabilizing force, and that disappeared."

But even if students transition back to the structure of in-person classes, Kardaras suspects students may still struggle after two school years of shifted schedules and disrupted sleeping habits.

"We've seen adults struggling to go back to in-person work environments from remote work environments. That effect is amplified with children because children have less resources to be able to cope with those transitions than adults do," he explains.

'Get organized' ahead of back-to-school

In order to make the transition back to in-person school easier, Kang encourages students to "get good sleep, exercise regularly (and) eat a healthy diet."

To help manage workloads, she suggests students "get organized."

"There's so much mental clutter up there when you're disorganized. ... Sitting down and planning out their study schedules can really help manage their time," she says.

Breaking up assignments can also make things easier to tackle.

"I know that heavy workloads can be stressful, but if you sit down and you break down that studying into smaller chunks, they're much more manageable."

If workloads are still too much, Kang encourages students to advocate for themselves.

"They should tell their teachers when a homework assignment just took too much time or if it was too difficult for them to do on their own," she says. "It's good to speak up and ask those questions. Respectfully, of course, because these are your teachers. But still, I think sometimes teachers themselves need this feedback from their students."

More: Some teachers let their students sleep in class. Here's what mental health experts say.

More: Some parents are slipping young kids in for the COVID-19 vaccine, but doctors discourage the move as 'risky'

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School Stress Takes A Toll On Health, Teens And Parents Say

Patti Neighmond

Colleen Frainey, 16, of Tualatin, Ore., cut back on advanced placement classes in her junior year because the stress was making her physically ill. Toni Greaves for NPR hide caption

Colleen Frainey, 16, of Tualatin, Ore., cut back on advanced placement classes in her junior year because the stress was making her physically ill.

When high school junior Nora Huynh got her report card, she was devastated to see that she didn't get a perfect 4.0.

Nora "had a total meltdown, cried for hours," her mother, Jennie Huynh of Alameda, Calif., says. "I couldn't believe her reaction."

Nora is doing college-level work, her mother says, but many of her friends are taking enough advanced classes to boost their grade-point averages above 4.0. "It breaks my heart to see her upset when she's doing so awesome and going above and beyond."

And the pressure is taking a physical toll, too. At age 16, Nora is tired, is increasingly irritated with her siblings and often suffers headaches, her mother says.

Teens Talk Stress

When NPR asked on Facebook if stress is an issue for teenagers, they spoke loud and clear:

• "Academic stress has been a part of my life ever since I can remember," wrote Bretta McCall, 16, of Seattle. "This year I spend about 12 hours a day on schoolwork. I'm home right now because I was feeling so sick from stress I couldn't be at school. So as you can tell, it's a big part of my life!"
• "At the time of writing this, my weekend assignments include two papers, a PowerPoint to go with a 10-minute presentation, studying for a test and two quizzes, and an entire chapter (approximately 40 pages) of notes in a college textbook," wrote Connor West of New Jersey.
• "It's a problem that's basically brushed off by most people," wrote Kelly Farrell in Delaware. "There's this mentality of, 'You're doing well, so why are you complaining?' " She says she started experiencing symptoms of stress in middle school, and was diagnosed with panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder in high school.
• "Parents are the worst about all of this," writes Colin Hughes of Illinois. "All I hear is, 'Work harder, you're a smart kid, I know you have it in you, and if you want to go to college you need to work harder.' It's a pain."

Parents are right to be worried about stress and their children's health, says Mary Alvord , a clinical psychologist in Maryland and public education coordinator for the American Psychological Association.

"A little stress is a good thing," Alvord says. "It can motivate students to be organized. But too much stress can backfire."

Almost 40 percent of parents say their high-schooler is experiencing a lot of stress from school, according to a new NPR poll conducted with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. In most cases, that stress is from academics, not social issues or bullying, the poll found. (See the full results here .)

Homework was a leading cause of stress, with 24 percent of parents saying it's an issue.

Teenagers say they're suffering, too. A survey by the American Psychological Association found that nearly half of all teens — 45 percent — said they were stressed by school pressures.

Chronic stress can cause a sense of panic and paralysis, Alvord says. The child feels stuck, which only adds to the feeling of stress.

Parents can help put the child's distress in perspective, particularly when they get into what Alvord calls catastrophic "what if" thinking: "What if I get a bad grade, then what if that means I fail the course, then I'll never get into college."

Then move beyond talking and do something about it.

Colleen pets her horse, Bishop. They had been missing out on rides together because of homework. Toni Greaves for NPR hide caption

Colleen pets her horse, Bishop. They had been missing out on rides together because of homework.

That's what 16-year-old Colleen Frainey of Tualatin, Ore., did. As a sophomore last year, she was taking all advanced courses. The pressure was making her sick. "I didn't feel good, and when I didn't feel good I felt like I couldn't do my work, which would stress me out more," she says.

Mom Abigail Frainey says, "It was more than we could handle as a family."

With encouragement from her parents, Colleen dropped one of her advanced courses. The family's decision generated disbelief from other parents. "Why would I let her take the easy way out?" Abigail Frainey heard.

But she says dialing down on academics was absolutely the right decision for her child. Colleen no longer suffers headaches or stomachaches. She's still in honors courses, but the workload this year is manageable.

Even better, Colleen now has time to do things she never would have considered last year, like going out to dinner with the family on a weeknight, or going to the barn to ride her horse, Bishop.

Psychologist Alvord says a balanced life should be the goal for all families. If a child is having trouble getting things done, parents can help plan the week, deciding what's important and what's optional. "Just basic time management — that will help reduce the stress."

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Should We Get Rid of Homework?

Some educators are pushing to get rid of homework. Would that be a good thing?

By Jeremy Engle and Michael Gonchar

Do you like doing homework? Do you think it has benefited you educationally?

Has homework ever helped you practice a difficult skill — in math, for example — until you mastered it? Has it helped you learn new concepts in history or science? Has it helped to teach you life skills, such as independence and responsibility? Or, have you had a more negative experience with homework? Does it stress you out, numb your brain from busywork or actually make you fall behind in your classes?

Should we get rid of homework?

In “ The Movement to End Homework Is Wrong, ” published in July, the Times Opinion writer Jay Caspian Kang argues that homework may be imperfect, but it still serves an important purpose in school. The essay begins:

Do students really need to do their homework? As a parent and a former teacher, I have been pondering this question for quite a long time. The teacher side of me can acknowledge that there were assignments I gave out to my students that probably had little to no academic value. But I also imagine that some of my students never would have done their basic reading if they hadn’t been trained to complete expected assignments, which would have made the task of teaching an English class nearly impossible. As a parent, I would rather my daughter not get stuck doing the sort of pointless homework I would occasionally assign, but I also think there’s a lot of value in saying, “Hey, a lot of work you’re going to end up doing in your life is pointless, so why not just get used to it?” I certainly am not the only person wondering about the value of homework. Recently, the sociologist Jessica McCrory Calarco and the mathematics education scholars Ilana Horn and Grace Chen published a paper, “ You Need to Be More Responsible: The Myth of Meritocracy and Teachers’ Accounts of Homework Inequalities .” They argued that while there’s some evidence that homework might help students learn, it also exacerbates inequalities and reinforces what they call the “meritocratic” narrative that says kids who do well in school do so because of “individual competence, effort and responsibility.” The authors believe this meritocratic narrative is a myth and that homework — math homework in particular — further entrenches the myth in the minds of teachers and their students. Calarco, Horn and Chen write, “Research has highlighted inequalities in students’ homework production and linked those inequalities to differences in students’ home lives and in the support students’ families can provide.”

Mr. Kang argues:

But there’s a defense of homework that doesn’t really have much to do with class mobility, equality or any sense of reinforcing the notion of meritocracy. It’s one that became quite clear to me when I was a teacher: Kids need to learn how to practice things. Homework, in many cases, is the only ritualized thing they have to do every day. Even if we could perfectly equalize opportunity in school and empower all students not to be encumbered by the weight of their socioeconomic status or ethnicity, I’m not sure what good it would do if the kids didn’t know how to do something relentlessly, over and over again, until they perfected it. Most teachers know that type of progress is very difficult to achieve inside the classroom, regardless of a student’s background, which is why, I imagine, Calarco, Horn and Chen found that most teachers weren’t thinking in a structural inequalities frame. Holistic ideas of education, in which learning is emphasized and students can explore concepts and ideas, are largely for the types of kids who don’t need to worry about class mobility. A defense of rote practice through homework might seem revanchist at this moment, but if we truly believe that schools should teach children lessons that fall outside the meritocracy, I can’t think of one that matters more than the simple satisfaction of mastering something that you were once bad at. That takes homework and the acknowledgment that sometimes a student can get a question wrong and, with proper instruction, eventually get it right.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

Should we get rid of homework? Why, or why not?

Is homework an outdated, ineffective or counterproductive tool for learning? Do you agree with the authors of the paper that homework is harmful and worsens inequalities that exist between students’ home circumstances?

Or do you agree with Mr. Kang that homework still has real educational value?

When you get home after school, how much homework will you do? Do you think the amount is appropriate, too much or too little? Is homework, including the projects and writing assignments you do at home, an important part of your learning experience? Or, in your opinion, is it not a good use of time? Explain.

In these letters to the editor , one reader makes a distinction between elementary school and high school:

Homework’s value is unclear for younger students. But by high school and college, homework is absolutely essential for any student who wishes to excel. There simply isn’t time to digest Dostoyevsky if you only ever read him in class.

What do you think? How much does grade level matter when discussing the value of homework?

Is there a way to make homework more effective?

If you were a teacher, would you assign homework? What kind of assignments would you give and why?

Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column . Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Jeremy Engle joined The Learning Network as a staff editor in 2018 after spending more than 20 years as a classroom humanities and documentary-making teacher, professional developer and curriculum designer working with students and teachers across the country. More about Jeremy Engle

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Does Homework Cause Stress? Exploring the Impact on Students’ Mental Health

How much homework is too much?

Jump to: The Link Between Homework and Stress | Homework’s Impact on Mental Health | Benefits of Homework | How Much Homework Should Teacher’s Assign? | Advice for Students | How Healium Helps

Homework has become a matter of concern for educators, parents, and researchers due to its potential effects on students’ stress levels. It’s no secret students often find themselves grappling with high levels of stress and anxiety throughout their academic careers, so understanding the extent to which homework affects those stress levels is important. 

By delving into the latest research and understanding the underlying factors at play, we hope to curate insights for educators, parents, and students who are wondering  is homework causing stress in their lives?

The Link Between Homework and Stress: What the Research Says

Over the years, numerous studies investigated the relationship between homework and stress levels in students. 

One study published in the Journal of Experimental Education found that students who reported spending more than two hours per night on homework experienced higher stress levels and physical health issues . Those same students reported over three hours of homework a night on average.

This study, conducted by Stanford lecturer Denise Pope, has been heavily cited throughout the years, with WebMD eproducing the below video on the topic– part of their special report series on teens and stress : 

Additional studies published by Sleep Health Journal found that long hours on homework on may be a risk factor for depression while also suggesting that reducing workload outside of class may benefit sleep and mental fitness .

Lastly, a study presented by Frontiers in Psychology highlighted significant health implications for high school students facing chronic stress, including emotional exhaustion and alcohol and drug use.

Homework’s Potential Impact on Mental Health and Well-being

Homework-induced stress on students can involve both psychological and physiological side effects. 

1. Potential Psychological Effects of Homework-Induced Stress:

• Anxiety: The pressure to perform academically and meet homework expectations can lead to heightened levels of anxiety in students. Constant worry about completing assignments on time and achieving high grades can be overwhelming.

• Sleep Disturbances : Homework-related stress can disrupt students’ sleep patterns, leading to sleep anxiety or sleep deprivation, both of which can negatively impact cognitive function and emotional regulation.

• Reduced Motivation: Excessive homework demands could drain students’ motivation, causing them to feel fatigued and disengaged from their studies. Reduced motivation may lead to a lack of interest in learning, hindering overall academic performance.

2. Potential Physical Effects of Homework-Induced Stress:

• Impaired Immune Function: Prolonged stress could weaken the immune system, making students more susceptible to illnesses and infections.

• Disrupted Hormonal Balance : The body’s stress response triggers the release of hormones like cortisol, which, when chronically elevated due to stress, can disrupt the delicate hormonal balance and lead to various health issues.

• Gastrointestinal Disturbances: Stress has been known to affect the gastrointestinal system, leading to symptoms such as stomachaches, nausea, and other digestive problems.

• Cardiovascular Impact: The increased heart rate and elevated blood pressure associated with stress can strain the cardiovascular system, potentially increasing the risk of heart-related issues in the long run.

• Brain impact: Prolonged exposure to stress hormones may impact the brain’s functioning , affecting memory, concentration, and cognitive abilities.

The Benefits of Homework

It’s important to note that homework also offers many benefits that contribute to students’ academic growth and development, such as: 

• Development of Time Management Skills: Completing homework within specified deadlines encourages students to manage their time efficiently. This valuable skill extends beyond academics and becomes essential in various aspects of life.

• Preparation for Future Challenges : Homework helps prepare students for future academic challenges and responsibilities. It fosters a sense of discipline and responsibility, qualities that are crucial for success in higher education and professional life.

• Enhanced Problem-Solving Abilities: Homework often presents students with challenging problems to solve. Tackling these problems independently nurtures critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

While homework can foster discipline, time management, and self-directed learning, the middle ground may be to  strike a balance that promotes both academic growth and mental well-being .

How Much Homework Should Teachers Assign?

As a general guideline, educators suggest assigning a workload that allows students to grasp concepts effectively without overwhelming them . Quality over quantity is key, ensuring that homework assignments are purposeful, relevant, and targeted towards specific objectives. 

Advice for Students: How to balance Homework and Well-being

Finding a balance between academic responsibilities and well-being is crucial for students. Here are some practical tips and techniques to help manage homework-related stress and foster a healthier approach to learning:

• Effective Time Management : Encourage students to create a structured study schedule that allocates sufficient time for homework, breaks, and other activities. Prioritizing tasks and setting realistic goals can prevent last-minute rushes and reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed.

• Break Tasks into Smaller Chunks : Large assignments can be daunting and may contribute to stress. Students should break such tasks into smaller, manageable parts. This approach not only makes the workload seem less intimidating but also provides a sense of accomplishment as each section is completed.

• Find a Distraction-Free Zone : Establish a designated study area that is free from distractions like smartphones, television, or social media. This setting will improve focus and productivity, reducing time needed to complete homework.

• Be Active : Regular exercise is known to reduce stress and enhance mood. Encourage students to incorporate physical activity into their daily routine, whether it’s going for a walk, playing a sport, or doing yoga.

• Practice Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques : Encourage students to engage in mindfulness practices, such as deep breathing exercises or meditation, to alleviate stress and improve concentration. Taking short breaks to relax and clear the mind can enhance overall well-being and cognitive performance.

• Seek Support : Teachers, parents, and school counselors play an essential role in supporting students. Create an open and supportive environment where students feel comfortable expressing their concerns and seeking help when needed.

How Healium is Helping in Schools

Stress is caused by so many factors and not just the amount of work students are taking home.  Our company created a virtual reality stress management solution… a mental fitness tool called “Healium” that’s teaching students how to learn to self-regulate their stress and downshift in a drugless way. Schools implementing Healium have seen improvements from supporting dysregulated students and ADHD challenges to empowering students with body awareness and learning to self-regulate stress . Here’s one of their stories. 

By providing students with the tools they need to self-manage stress and anxiety, we represent a forward-looking approach to education that prioritizes the holistic development of every student. 

To learn more about how Healium works, watch the video below.

About the Author

Sarah Hill , a former interactive TV news journalist at NBC, ABC, and CBS affiliates in Missouri, gained recognition for pioneering interactive news broadcasting using Google Hangouts. She is now the CEO of Healium, the world’s first biometrically powered immersive media channel, helping those with stress, anxiety, insomnia, and other struggles through biofeedback storytelling. With patents, clinical validation, and over seven million views, she has reshaped the landscape of immersive media.

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By submitting my email address. i certify that i am 13 years of age or older, agree to recieve marketing email messages from the princeton review, and agree to terms of use., homework wars: high school workloads, student stress, and how parents can help.

Studies of typical homework loads vary : In one, a Stanford researcher found that more than two hours of homework a night may be counterproductive. The research , conducted among students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities, found that too much homework resulted in stress, physical health problems and a general lack of balance.

Additionally, the  2014 Brown Center Report on American Education , found that with the exception of nine-year-olds, the amount of homework schools assign has remained relatively unchanged since 1984, meaning even those in charge of the curricula don't see a need for adding more to that workload.

But student experiences don’t always match these results. On our own Student Life in America survey, over 50% of students reported feeling stressed, 25% reported that homework was their biggest source of stress, and on average teens are spending one-third of their study time feeling stressed, anxious, or stuck.

The disparity can be explained in one of the conclusions regarding the Brown Report:

Of the three age groups, 17-year-olds have the most bifurcated distribution of the homework burden. They have the largest percentage of kids with no homework (especially when the homework shirkers are added in) and the largest percentage with more than two hours.

So what does that mean for parents who still endure the homework wars at home?

Read More: Teaching Your Kids How To Deal with School Stress

It means that sometimes kids who are on a rigorous college-prep track, probably are receiving more homework, but the statistics are melding it with the kids who are receiving no homework. And on our survey, 64% of students reported that their parents couldn’t help them with their work. This is where the real homework wars lie—not just the amount, but the ability to successfully complete assignments and feel success.

Parents want to figure out how to help their children manage their homework stress and learn the material.

Our Top 4 Tips for Ending Homework Wars

1. have a routine..

Every parenting advice article you will ever read emphasizes the importance of a routine. There’s a reason for that: it works. A routine helps put order into an often disorderly world. It removes the thinking and arguing and “when should I start?” because that decision has already been made. While routines must be flexible to accommodate soccer practice on Tuesday and volunteer work on Thursday, knowing in general when and where you, or your child, will do homework literally removes half the battle.

2. Have a battle plan.

Overwhelmed students look at a mountain of homework and think “insurmountable.” But parents can look at it with an outsider’s perspective and help them plan. Put in an extra hour Monday when you don’t have soccer. Prepare for the AP Chem test on Friday a little at a time each evening so Thursday doesn’t loom as a scary study night (consistency and repetition will also help lock the information in your brain). Start reading the book for your English report so that it’s underway. Go ahead and write a few sentences, so you don’t have a blank page staring at you. Knowing what the week will look like helps you keep calm and carry on.

3. Don’t be afraid to call in reserves.

You can’t outsource the “battle” but you can outsource the help ! We find that kids just do better having someone other than their parents help them —and sometimes even parents with the best of intentions aren’t equipped to wrestle with complicated physics problem. At The Princeton Review, we specialize in making homework time less stressful. Our tutors are available 24/7 to work one-to-one in an online classroom with a chat feature, interactive whiteboard, and the file sharing tool, where students can share their most challenging assignments.

4. Celebrate victories—and know when to surrender.

Students and parents can review completed assignments together at the end of the night -- acknowledging even small wins helps build a sense of accomplishment. If you’ve been through a particularly tough battle, you’ll also want to reach reach a cease-fire before hitting your bunk. A war ends when one person disengages. At some point, after parents have provided a listening ear, planning, and support, they have to let natural consequences take their course. And taking a step back--and removing any pressure a parent may be inadvertently creating--can be just what’s needed.

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Are You Down With or Done With Homework?

• Posted January 17, 2012
• By Lory Hough

The debate over how much schoolwork students should be doing at home has flared again, with one side saying it's too much, the other side saying in our competitive world, it's just not enough.

It was a move that doesn't happen very often in American public schools: The principal got rid of homework.

This past September, Stephanie Brant, principal of Gaithersburg Elementary School in Gaithersburg, Md., decided that instead of teachers sending kids home with math worksheets and spelling flash cards, students would instead go home and read. Every day for 30 minutes, more if they had time or the inclination, with parents or on their own.

"I knew this would be a big shift for my community," she says. But she also strongly believed it was a necessary one. Twenty-first-century learners, especially those in elementary school, need to think critically and understand their own learning — not spend night after night doing rote homework drills.

Brant's move may not be common, but she isn't alone in her questioning. The value of doing schoolwork at home has gone in and out of fashion in the United States among educators, policymakers, the media, and, more recently, parents. As far back as the late 1800s, with the rise of the Progressive Era, doctors such as Joseph Mayer Rice began pushing for a limit on what he called "mechanical homework," saying it caused childhood nervous conditions and eyestrain. Around that time, the then-influential Ladies Home Journal began publishing a series of anti-homework articles, stating that five hours of brain work a day was "the most we should ask of our children," and that homework was an intrusion on family life. In response, states like California passed laws abolishing homework for students under a certain age.

But, as is often the case with education, the tide eventually turned. After the Russians launched the Sputnik satellite in 1957, a space race emerged, and, writes Brian Gill in the journal Theory Into Practice, "The homework problem was reconceived as part of a national crisis; the U.S. was losing the Cold War because Russian children were smarter." Many earlier laws limiting homework were abolished, and the longterm trend toward less homework came to an end.

The debate re-emerged a decade later when parents of the late '60s and '70s argued that children should be free to play and explore — similar anti-homework wellness arguments echoed nearly a century earlier. By the early-1980s, however, the pendulum swung again with the publication of A Nation at Risk , which blamed poor education for a "rising tide of mediocrity." Students needed to work harder, the report said, and one way to do this was more homework.

For the most part, this pro-homework sentiment is still going strong today, in part because of mandatory testing and continued economic concerns about the nation's competitiveness. Many believe that today's students are falling behind their peers in places like Korea and Finland and are paying more attention to Angry Birds than to ancient Babylonia.

But there are also a growing number of Stephanie Brants out there, educators and parents who believe that students are stressed and missing out on valuable family time. Students, they say, particularly younger students who have seen a rise in the amount of take-home work and already put in a six- to nine-hour "work" day, need less, not more homework.

Who is right? Are students not working hard enough or is homework not working for them? Here's where the story gets a little tricky: It depends on whom you ask and what research you're looking at. As Cathy Vatterott, the author of Rethinking Homework , points out, "Homework has generated enough research so that a study can be found to support almost any position, as long as conflicting studies are ignored." Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth and a strong believer in eliminating all homework, writes that, "The fact that there isn't anything close to unanimity among experts belies the widespread assumption that homework helps." At best, he says, homework shows only an association, not a causal relationship, with academic achievement. In other words, it's hard to tease out how homework is really affecting test scores and grades. Did one teacher give better homework than another? Was one teacher more effective in the classroom? Do certain students test better or just try harder?

"It is difficult to separate where the effect of classroom teaching ends," Vatterott writes, "and the effect of homework begins."

Putting research aside, however, much of the current debate over homework is focused less on how homework affects academic achievement and more on time. Parents in particular have been saying that the amount of time children spend in school, especially with afterschool programs, combined with the amount of homework given — as early as kindergarten — is leaving students with little time to run around, eat dinner with their families, or even get enough sleep.

Certainly, for some parents, homework is a way to stay connected to their children's learning. But for others, homework creates a tug-of-war between parents and children, says Liz Goodenough, M.A.T.'71, creator of a documentary called Where Do the Children Play?

"Ideally homework should be about taking something home, spending a few curious and interesting moments in which children might engage with parents, and then getting that project back to school — an organizational triumph," she says. "A nag-free activity could engage family time: Ask a parent about his or her own childhood. Interview siblings."

Instead, as the authors of The Case Against Homework write, "Homework overload is turning many of us into the types of parents we never wanted to be: nags, bribers, and taskmasters."

Leslie Butchko saw it happen a few years ago when her son started sixth grade in the Santa Monica-Malibu (Calif.) United School District. She remembers him getting two to four hours of homework a night, plus weekend and vacation projects. He was overwhelmed and struggled to finish assignments, especially on nights when he also had an extracurricular activity.

"Ultimately, we felt compelled to have Bobby quit karate — he's a black belt — to allow more time for homework," she says. And then, with all of their attention focused on Bobby's homework, she and her husband started sending their youngest to his room so that Bobby could focus. "One day, my younger son gave us 15-minute coupons as a present for us to use to send him to play in the back room. … It was then that we realized there had to be something wrong with the amount of homework we were facing."

Butchko joined forces with another mother who was having similar struggles and ultimately helped get the homework policy in her district changed, limiting homework on weekends and holidays, setting time guidelines for daily homework, and broadening the definition of homework to include projects and studying for tests. As she told the school board at one meeting when the policy was first being discussed, "In closing, I just want to say that I had more free time at Harvard Law School than my son has in middle school, and that is not in the best interests of our children."

One barrier that Butchko had to overcome initially was convincing many teachers and parents that more homework doesn't necessarily equal rigor.

"Most of the parents that were against the homework policy felt that students need a large quantity of homework to prepare them for the rigorous AP classes in high school and to get them into Harvard," she says.

Stephanie Conklin, Ed.M.'06, sees this at Another Course to College, the Boston pilot school where she teaches math. "When a student is not completing [his or her] homework, parents usually are frustrated by this and agree with me that homework is an important part of their child's learning," she says.

As Timothy Jarman, Ed.M.'10, a ninth-grade English teacher at Eugene Ashley High School in Wilmington, N.C., says, "Parents think it is strange when their children are not assigned a substantial amount of homework."

That's because, writes Vatterott, in her chapter, "The Cult(ure) of Homework," the concept of homework "has become so engrained in U.S. culture that the word homework is part of the common vernacular."

These days, nightly homework is a given in American schools, writes Kohn.

"Homework isn't limited to those occasions when it seems appropriate and important. Most teachers and administrators aren't saying, 'It may be useful to do this particular project at home,'" he writes. "Rather, the point of departure seems to be, 'We've decided ahead of time that children will have to do something every night (or several times a week). … This commitment to the idea of homework in the abstract is accepted by the overwhelming majority of schools — public and private, elementary and secondary."

Brant had to confront this when she cut homework at Gaithersburg Elementary.

"A lot of my parents have this idea that homework is part of life. This is what I had to do when I was young," she says, and so, too, will our kids. "So I had to shift their thinking." She did this slowly, first by asking her teachers last year to really think about what they were sending home. And this year, in addition to forming a parent advisory group around the issue, she also holds events to answer questions.

Still, not everyone is convinced that homework as a given is a bad thing. "Any pursuit of excellence, be it in sports, the arts, or academics, requires hard work. That our culture finds it okay for kids to spend hours a day in a sport but not equal time on academics is part of the problem," wrote one pro-homework parent on the blog for the documentary Race to Nowhere , which looks at the stress American students are under. "Homework has always been an issue for parents and children. It is now and it was 20 years ago. I think when people decide to have children that it is their responsibility to educate them," wrote another.

And part of educating them, some believe, is helping them develop skills they will eventually need in adulthood. "Homework can help students develop study skills that will be of value even after they leave school," reads a publication on the U.S. Department of Education website called Homework Tips for Parents. "It can teach them that learning takes place anywhere, not just in the classroom. … It can foster positive character traits such as independence and responsibility. Homework can teach children how to manage time."

Annie Brown, Ed.M.'01, feels this is particularly critical at less affluent schools like the ones she has worked at in Boston, Cambridge, Mass., and Los Angeles as a literacy coach.

"It feels important that my students do homework because they will ultimately be competing for college placement and jobs with students who have done homework and have developed a work ethic," she says. "Also it will get them ready for independently taking responsibility for their learning, which will need to happen for them to go to college."

The problem with this thinking, writes Vatterott, is that homework becomes a way to practice being a worker.

"Which begs the question," she writes. "Is our job as educators to produce learners or workers?"

Slate magazine editor Emily Bazelon, in a piece about homework, says this makes no sense for younger kids.

"Why should we think that practicing homework in first grade will make you better at doing it in middle school?" she writes. "Doesn't the opposite seem equally plausible: that it's counterproductive to ask children to sit down and work at night before they're developmentally ready because you'll just make them tired and cross?"

Kohn writes in the American School Board Journal that this "premature exposure" to practices like homework (and sit-and-listen lessons and tests) "are clearly a bad match for younger children and of questionable value at any age." He calls it BGUTI: Better Get Used to It. "The logic here is that we have to prepare you for the bad things that are going to be done to you later … by doing them to you now."

According to a recent University of Michigan study, daily homework for six- to eight-year-olds increased on average from about 8 minutes in 1981 to 22 minutes in 2003. A review of research by Duke University Professor Harris Cooper found that for elementary school students, "the average correlation between time spent on homework and achievement … hovered around zero."

So should homework be eliminated? Of course not, say many Ed School graduates who are teaching. Not only would students not have time for essays and long projects, but also teachers would not be able to get all students to grade level or to cover critical material, says Brett Pangburn, Ed.M.'06, a sixth-grade English teacher at Excel Academy Charter School in Boston. Still, he says, homework has to be relevant.

"Kids need to practice the skills being taught in class, especially where, like the kids I teach at Excel, they are behind and need to catch up," he says. "Our results at Excel have demonstrated that kids can catch up and view themselves as in control of their academic futures, but this requires hard work, and homework is a part of it."

Ed School Professor Howard Gardner basically agrees.

"America and Americans lurch between too little homework in many of our schools to an excess of homework in our most competitive environments — Li'l Abner vs. Tiger Mother," he says. "Neither approach makes sense. Homework should build on what happens in class, consolidating skills and helping students to answer new questions."

So how can schools come to a happy medium, a way that allows teachers to cover everything they need while not overwhelming students? Conklin says she often gives online math assignments that act as labs and students have two or three days to complete them, including some in-class time. Students at Pangburn's school have a 50-minute silent period during regular school hours where homework can be started, and where teachers pull individual or small groups of students aside for tutoring, often on that night's homework. Afterschool homework clubs can help.

Some schools and districts have adapted time limits rather than nix homework completely, with the 10-minute per grade rule being the standard — 10 minutes a night for first-graders, 30 minutes for third-graders, and so on. (This remedy, however, is often met with mixed results since not all students work at the same pace.) Other schools offer an extended day that allows teachers to cover more material in school, in turn requiring fewer take-home assignments. And for others, like Stephanie Brant's elementary school in Maryland, more reading with a few targeted project assignments has been the answer.

"The routine of reading is so much more important than the routine of homework," she says. "Let's have kids reflect. You can still have the routine and you can still have your workspace, but now it's for reading. I often say to parents, if we can put a man on the moon, we can put a man or woman on Mars and that person is now a second-grader. We don't know what skills that person will need. At the end of the day, we have to feel confident that we're giving them something they can use on Mars."

Read a January 2014 update.

Homework Policy Still Going Strong

Ed. Magazine

The magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education

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Stress and The Dangers of Homework

The anxiety of not completing an assignment that you have been stuck on for the past hour can be overwhelming, right? What if I told you millions of people feel the same way you do and there can be consequences of it, I’m not talking grade wise, I’m talking mentally. Homework as we have experienced causes a great amount of stress which can lead you to a poor mental state, sleep deprivation, and many more bad things. Which can be prevented by decreasing the amount of homework significantly and/or being taught how to combat such stress. [A couple of such ways is by managing time, controlling emotions, and monitoring your motivation.] (https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1054844.pdf)

[Controlling Emotion] (https://www.rewireme.com/brain-insight/how-to-control-your-emotions/)

[Time Management] (https://www.liquidplanner.com/blog/7-essential-time-management-strategies/)

[Motivation] (https://ucsccaps.wordpress.com/2019/05/03/staying-motivated/)

A school can start to teach these things so life can be easier for the students, but not just for them though but their family and their teachers too. A study made in 2017 about [the effects of homework on middle class families] (https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1069&=&context=cup_commons_grad_edd&=&sei-redir=1&referer=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252Furl%253Fq%253Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fdigitalcommons.csp.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%25253D1069%252526context%25253Dcup_commons_grad_edd%2526sa%253DD%2526source%253Deditors%2526ust%253D1616434140114000%2526usg%253DAOvVaw0FRSYatcLU9NO7fYRvpdUB#search=%22https%3A%2F%2Fdigitalcommons.csp.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1069%26context%3Dcup_commons_grad_edd%22) shows that homework is the leading cause of stress in the household because it’s hard to have a “healthy balance of homework and family life”. This stress and less family time can lead to troubles in a family, and might even lead to divorce if it is disruptive enough.

The Parent Teacher Association (PTA), suggests there to be ten minutes of homework per grade level which is seemed to not be followed, [some kindergarteners are getting up to] (https://www.healthline.com/health-news/children-more-homework-means-more-stress-031114) 25 minutes of homework per day when they even aren’t supposed to get homework at all according to the National Education Association (NEA), and some second and third graders are even getting 28-29 minutes of homework per day taken in a survey in rhode island. It just doesn’t affect younger grades [but college students as] (https://mellowed.com/homework-stress/) well.

[Chart] (https://mellowed.com/homework-stress/)

The stress can be overwhelming sometimes but the United States is not the only country with a homework problem, Italy, UK, France, and many more suffer the consequences. A survey taken in the UK, in March of 2020 shows that 66% of students in the age range of 8-17 said that “they felt most stressed about homework and/or exams” compared to everything else. Which is pretty alarming considering that this was a survey with almost 2,000 kids, and 66% of 2,000 is 1,320. Just imagine how many people are struggling with it as well on a global level.

Now you might be wondering how can we stop this monstrosity of stress, well looking at countries like [Finland, Japan, and South Korea] (https://www.geekycamel.com/countries-give-less-homework-theyre-successful/#:~:text=Finland,they%20are%20seven%20years%20old.) which are countries that give very little homework per week, ranging from 2.9 hours to 3.9. They mostly rely on trust in the teachers and students, more testing, and new ways to learn that is more beneficial for the students later in life. And it seems to have paid off, Finland, South Korea, and Japan seem to be at the [top in the world for Math and Science at the age of 15.] (https://www.bbc.com/news/education-37716005) So why don’t we start making the change to no homework? Well, that’s the next step, students should start to spread awareness and make petitions to the school board calling for change.

[Bibliography] (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JCUpxbJm75pB3KNpx6rgm3gX1t_oSuAePhx-5FVyNws/edit#)

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Stress, Burnout, Anxiety and Depression among Teachers: A Scoping Review

Associated data.

Not applicable.

Background: Worldwide, stress and burnout continue to be a problem among teachers, leading to anxiety and depression. Burnout may adversely affect teachers’ health and is a risk factor for poor physical and mental well-being. Determining the prevalence and correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among teachers is essential for addressing this public health concern. Objective: To determine the extent of the current literature on the prevalence and correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among teachers. Method: This scoping review was performed using the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews). Relevant search terms were used to determine the prevalence and correlates of teachers’ stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Articles were identified using MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online), EMBASE (Excerpta Medica Data Base), APA PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus (Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature), Scopus Elsevier and ERIC (Education Resources Information Center). The articles were extracted, reviewed, collated, and thematically analyzed, and the results were summarized and reported. Results: When only clinically meaningful (moderate to severe) psychological conditions among teachers were considered, the prevalence of burnout ranged from 25.12% to 74%, stress ranged from 8.3% to 87.1%, anxiety ranged from 38% to 41.2% and depression ranged from 4% to 77%. The correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression identified in this review include socio-demographic factors such as sex, age, marital status, and school (organizational) and work-related factors including the years of teaching, class size, job satisfaction, and the subject taught. Conclusion: Teaching is challenging and yet one of the most rewarding professions, but several factors correlate with stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among teachers. Highlighting these factors is the first step in recognizing the magnitude of the issues encountered by those in the teaching profession. Implementation of a school-based awareness and intervention program is crucial to resolve the early signs of teacher stress and burnout to avoid future deterioration.

1. Introduction

The teaching profession can be highly stressful, and this stress may lead to reduced job satisfaction, burnout, and poor work performance. Stress is a normal response to upsetting or threatening events and becomes pathological when chronic [ 1 ]. Chronic stress can impede day-to-day functioning and emotional balance, and it is a risk factor for developing other psychiatric illnesses, such as anxiety and depression [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Prolonged teacher stress negatively correlates with job satisfaction and positively correlates with intending to leave the teaching profession. It may also result in withdrawal behaviour, including physically or psychologically leaving the work setting [ 4 , 5 ]. Chronic stress may also lead to inappropriate anger and increased alcohol and drug consumption [ 6 , 7 ], and it can cause an individual to experience excessive anxiety, mental fatigue, and burnout, while also predicting increased depression [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. According to Maslach, stress occurs when a person perceives an external demand as exceeding their capability to deal with it [ 11 ]. Teacher stress can be associated with demoralization, and a disrupted sense of self-consistency [ 8 , 9 ]. Canadian teachers, like their global counterparts, also experience high-stress levels. A study by Biron et al. showed that the proportion of Quebec teachers who reported a high level of psychological distress was twice as high (40%) as that reported for a Quebec-wide general population sample (20%) [ 12 ]. During the COVID-19 pandemic, survey results indicated that nearly 70% of respondents worried about their mental health and well-being [ 13 ]. Meanwhile, a cross-sectional study showed that two-thirds of teachers perceived stress at work at least 50% of the time [ 14 ]. Teacher workload is one of the most common sources of stress [ 15 ]; however, there is a lack of systematic understanding about how stress is measured, its prevalence globally, what factors lead to stress and what causes the associated negative outcomes among teachers.

Burnout is considered a stress-related problem for individuals who work in interpersonally oriented occupations such as healthcare and education [ 16 , 17 ]. According to Shukla et al., burnout among professionals such as teachers can result from excessive demands on their energy, strength and resources [ 7 ]. There is increasing evidence that burnout as a negative stress response represents a risk factor not only for depression but also for cardiovascular and other somatic diseases [ 17 ]. Researchers conceptualize burnout as having three interrelated components: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment [ 6 , 7 , 11 , 16 ]. Emotional exhaustion represents emotional depletion and a loss of energy. Depersonalization is the interpersonal dimension of burnout. It refers to a negative, callous, or excessively detached response to other people. There is evidence that job satisfaction is negatively associated with emotional exhaustion and positively associated with self-perceived accomplishment, but not significantly related to cynicism [ 18 ]. Additionally, reduced accomplishment describes the self-evaluation dimension of burnout, including feelings of incompetence and a lack of achievement and productivity at work [ 6 , 16 , 18 , 19 ]. Mild burnout involves short-lived irritability, fatigue, worry, or frustration. Moderate burnout has the same symptoms but lasts for at least two weeks, whereas severe burnout may also entail physical ailments such as ulcers, chronic back pain, and migraine headaches [ 20 ]. Research suggests that workplace improvements to reduce burnout could prevent adverse sequelae, improve health outcomes, and reduce healthcare expenditures [ 21 ]. More systematic research is needed to further understand the factors in the workplace to address burnout and improve teacher health outcomes.

Anxiety and perceived stress are predicted by workload, student behaviour, and employment conditions [ 22 ]. According to Kamal et al., a considerable lack of administrative support is the single biggest factor increasing anxiety [ 23 ]. Those with low job satisfaction are more susceptible to experiencing burnout, high anxiety levels and depression [ 24 , 25 ]. Teacher stress contributes to teacher anxiety and may trigger anger, further intensifying anxiety [ 5 , 26 ]. The published literature shows that participants who reported high anxiety levels also reported high burnout levels [ 27 ]. Moreover, some studies report a very high prevalence of stress (100%), anxiety (67.5%), and depression (23.2%) among teachers [ 28 ], prompting calls for research and interventions to address this critical issue [ 23 ]. Despite this, more research is needed to understand what factors play key roles in triggering anxiety symptoms among educators and how stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression relate to each other.

Depression can lead to numerous deficiencies and is considered the worldwide primary cause of work disability [ 29 , 30 ]. Depression among teachers can also significantly impact their health, productivity, and function [ 31 ], with particularly pervasive effects on personal and professional life [ 32 ]. Individuals with depression often experience difficulties meeting interpersonal, time-management, and productivity demands. They may also encounter psychological problems, decreased work quality, absences due to illness, and increased work disability, all of which can profoundly impact worker productivity [ 30 , 31 , 33 ]. One study found that teachers’ most robust major depressive disorder (MDD) predictors included a low job satisfaction, high perceived stress, somatization disorder, and anxiety disorder [ 31 ]. Like with anxiety symptoms, more research is needed to understand what factors play key roles in triggering depression symptoms among educators and how depression relates to other psychological conditions including stress, burnout, and anxiety.

Currently, the authors are planning a study to assess the prevalence and correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among elementary, junior high and high school teachers in Alberta and Nova Scotia, Canada [ 34 ]. This planned study will also evaluate the effectiveness of a daily supportive text message intervention, the Wellness4Teachers program, to address stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among elementary and high school teachers in Canada [ 34 ]. Within this context, this scoping review aims to identify and summarize the literature on the prevalence and correlates of teachers’ stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression and to determine the problem’s extent in different jurisdictional contexts. The review also aims to identify the gaps in knowledge for future research. Identifying the correlates of these emotional and mental conditions may also facilitate the research and development of early interventions which can be implemented to address this phenomenon.

2.1. Study Design

This scoping review was planned and conducted in adherence to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) statement [ 35 ]. We adopted a comprehensive search strategy that allows replicability, reliability, and transparency. This scoping review also followed Arksey and O’Malley’s five-stage approach to scoping reviews: identifying the research question, searching for relevant studies, the study selection, charting the data, and collating, summarizing and reporting the results [ 36 ].

2.2. Developing the Research Question

Our research question was: “What are the prevalence and correlates of primary and secondary teachers’ stress, burnout anxiety and depression in different jurisdictions?”

2.3. Information Sources and Search Strategy

The search was performed by using relevant terms to identify and select articles in the following databases: MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online; Ovid MEDLINE ALL), EMBASE (Excerpta Medica Database; Ovid interface), APA PsycINFO (Ovid interface), CINAHL (Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature) Plus with Full Text (EBSCOhost interface), Scopus Elsevier and ERIC (Education Resources Information Center (EBSCOhost interface). The search consisted of keywords representing the concepts of stress, burnout, depression and anxiety among teachers and their correlates and prevalence. The specific MeSH terms, keyword and descriptors included: (depress* OR depression OR “depressive disorder” OR “depressive symptoms” OR “major depressive disorder” OR anxiety OR “anxiety disorder” OR “generalized anxiety disorder”) AND (burnout OR “burn out” OR stress OR “occupational stress” OR “mental exhaustion” OR “emotional exhaustion”) AND (teacher* OR educator* OR tutor* OR schoolteacher* OR “school teacher*”). The database search was completed on the 20th of February 2022.

2.4. Selection of Studies

The search strategy was developed based on specific inclusion criteria. Articles were considered eligible for inclusion in this scoping review if they addressed either the prevalence or correlates of burnout, stress, depression, or anxiety among teachers or educators. The articles were limited to original, peer-reviewed quantitative articles written in English. Articles were excluded from the review if the study participants were tertiary or university teachers or students. Studies on interventions’ outcomes, case reports, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, opinion pieces, commentaries, editorials, or grey literature such as non-peer-reviewed graduate student theses, non-research articles or conference reports were excluded. The search was not limited by publication year. Two researchers independently reviewed the citations during the title, abstract screening, and full-text review phase. All discrepancies were resolved through discussion and consensus. We identified 190 articles for full-text review, of which 120 articles were excluded. The PRISMA flow diagram summarizes this information in detail ( Figure 1 ).

PRISMA flow chart.

2.5. Data Charting and Extraction Process

The research team extracted data for each selected article according to the following domains: author(s) name, year of publication, country of study, study design, assessment tools used, sample size (N), age, main findings, and conclusion.

2.6. Collating, Summarizing, and Reporting the Results

This study presents an overview of existing evidence relating to the prevalence and the correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among teachers. All the relevant data were organized into tables and validated by at least two team members. The characteristics and results reported in each included article were summarized. In addition, the prevalence range for the psychological conditions in high-quality studies were determined after identifying the high-quality studies for each psychological condition in this scoping review using the Joanna Briggs Institute’s (JBI) critical appraisal checklist for prevalence studies [ 37 ]. The JBI checklist includes: studies with an adequate sample size, studies which provided an appropriate sample frame to address the target population, studies with an adequate response rate, studies which had a high response rate, studies in which a systematic approach was used for the data capture to ensure the study sample was representative of the study population, and studies with an adequate statistical analysis.

3.1. Study Characteristics

The search strategy identified 10,493 citations. Covidence software [ 38 ] was used to automatically remove 5711 duplicates. One hundred and ninety articles remained for a full-text screening, and seventy of these were eligible for inclusion. Overall, 67 articles were quantitative cross-sectional studies. One study was a mixed quantitative and qualitative study, and two studies were randomized controlled trials. The seventy articles included a total of 143,288 participants, who were all teachers. The sample size for an individual article ranged from 50 to 51,782 participants, with an age range from 18 years to 75 years. The minimum response rate was 13% and the maximum was 97.4% with the median response rate of 77%. The articles included studies from 1974 to 2022. Most studies (79%) were published between 2007 and 2022, and 21% were from 1974 to 2006. Most of the studies were conducted in Europe (40%), followed by Asia (30%) and North America (19%). In contrast, African, South America and Oceanian studies represented 6%, 1% and 4%, respectively, as shown in Figure 2 . One study [ 39 ] was conducted across multiple continents.

Summary of studies by continents.

From Figure 3 : Most studies reported on multiple outcomes, indicating the interrelatedness of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Some articles reported on a single outcome, such as stress (N = 9), burnout (N = 8), or depression (N = 6). Burnout and depression (N = 15), stress and depression (N = 5), burnout and anxiety (N = 2), anxiety and depression (N = 4), and stress and anxiety (N = 4), were commonly paired outcomes. One study (N = 1) specifically examined the paired outcomes of burnout and stress. In addition, the outcome of the interaction between three or four of these psychological problems were explored by some studies: anxiety, depression, and stress (N = 10); anxiety, burnout and depression (N = 1); stress, burnout and anxiety (N = 1); stress, burnout, and depression (N = 2). Finally, two articles reported the interaction between stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression.

Distribution of stress, burnout, anxiety and depression among the included studies.

Figure 4 shows that depression was the most reported psychological problem among the included studies and the least reported was anxiety.

Number of studies reporting each psychological problem.

Most of the articles (27 of 32; 84%) used Maslach’s Burnout Inventory to explore the three interrelated components of burnout. Five of thirty-two (16%) studies used the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, the Shirom–Melamed Burnout Inventory, or the Teacher Burnout Scale. The most frequently utilized scales for measuring depressive or anxiety symptoms (55 studies) were the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) (N = 14; 25%), Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS), (N = 10 18%), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), (N = 9; 16%), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), (N = 6; 11%). The less popular scales included the Goldberg Anxiety and Depression Questionnaire, COVID-19 Anxiety Scale, Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and the Manifest Anxiety Scale. For the 29 studies measuring stress, the most common scales utilized were the (DASS) (N = 9; 31%), the Teacher Stress Inventory (N = 5; 17%), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (N = 3; 10%). Other scales included: the Occupational Stress Inventory, Job Stress Inventory, Ongoing Stressor Scale (OSS), Episodic Stressor Scale, and Bruno’s Teacher Stress.

3.2. Prevalence and Correlates of Burnout, Stress, Anxiety and Depression

The prevalence and correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression as identified in the literature search are summarized in Table A1 and Table A2 in Appendix A .

3.3. Prevalence of Stress

The reported stress prevalence rates were heterogenous, which may reflect, in part, the use of different stress measures. The prevalence of stress in all forms ranged from 6.0% to 100% [ 28 , 40 ], with a median of about 32.5%. In addition, the lowest, highest and median stress prevalence ranges from 2020 to 2022 (after the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 6.0% [ 40 ], 66.0% [ 41 ] and 10.7%. Similarly, the lowest, highest and median stress prevalence up until 2019 (prior to the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 7.0% [ 42 ], 100% [ 28 ] and 33.9%.

Early studies of teacher stress found a relatively high degree of stress. For example, 76% [ 43 ] and 87.1% [ 44 ] of teachers described their stress levels at their school as moderate or significant, respectively. In some studies, 45.6% reported “much stress” [ 44 ] or “almost unbearable” stress (20%) [ 43 ]. Another study echoed these findings, reporting 32% ‘slightly’ stressed and 67% ‘extremely’ stressed teachers, with only 1% indicating no stress [ 45 ].

Earlier studies on teacher stress are consistent with more recent findings, indicating teacher stress is a long-standing issue and is challenging to tackle. A 2021 study completed during the COVID-19 pandemic reported a 6.0% prevalence of severe to highly severe stress among teachers [ 40 ]. This is similar to another recent but pre-pandemic study which reported a 7.0% prevalence of “severe to extremely severe” stress, a 32.3% prevalence of stress, and 25.3% prevalence of mild to moderate stress [ 42 ].

3.4. Prevalence of Burnout

Published studies have identified three different burnout profiles among teachers with the prevalence ranging from 25.12% to 48.37% [ 11 , 46 ]. These are, (1) groups of teachers with predominantly low levels of emotional exhaustion and high levels of personal accomplishment, (2) teachers with high levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and (3) teachers with low levels of depersonalization and personal accomplishment [ 46 ]. These groups show the combination of the three interrelated components of burnout reported by Maslach et al. [ 6 , 7 , 11 , 16 ].

Variable prevalence of burnout and psychological distress have been reported among teachers [ 47 ], with the burnout prevalence at all levels ranging from a low of 2.81% [ 7 ] to a high of 70.9% [ 48 ], with a median of 28.8% ( Table A1 ). The lowest, highest and median burnout prevalences from 2020 to 2022 (after the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 3.1% [ 48 ], 70.9% [ 48 ] and 27.6%. Similarly, the lowest, highest and median burnout prevalences up until 2019 (prior to the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 2.81%, 63.43% [ 7 ] and 25.09%.

In an early study, only 11% of the teachers were classified as burnt out, and more than half (68.5%) of the teachers reported they did not experience any burnout [ 49 ]. Some studies reported burnout prevalence in the three subdimensions [ 50 ]. For instance, four studies reported a burnout prevalence of 11% to 40% for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and for reduced personal accomplishment [ 3 , 46 , 49 , 50 ]. Studies have also reported that 18.3% to 34.9% of teachers may be at risk of or are threatened by burnout syndrome [ 3 , 25 , 51 ]. Higher burnout scores and subdimensions such as emotional exhaustion and depersonalization burnout were significantly higher among female teachers than male teachers [ 51 , 52 , 53 ]. Likewise, a higher percentage of males (59.38%) showed low burnout than did females (53%) [ 54 ]; however, other studies have reported contradictory results where males had a slightly higher burnout prevalence of 56.0% than females of 53.0% [ 55 ] and 31.88% of males and fewer females (25%) reported a lack of personal accomplishment [ 54 ].

There are also studies reporting various levels of burnout ranging from low/no burnout (58.12%) to moderate (2.81% to 70.9%) and severe levels of burnout (3.1% to 33.3%) [ 7 , 25 , 47 ]. Regarding the subjects taught by teachers, science stream and science teachers reported experiencing slightly more burnout (14.38% to 26.26%) than arts stream and art teachers, who reported an average burnout prevalence of 12.5% to 25% [ 7 ].

3.5. Prevalence of Anxiety

The anxiety symptoms prevalence ranged from 4.9% to 68.0% [ 42 , 56 ], with a median prevalence of 26.0%. Furthermore, the lowest, highest, and median anxiety prevalences from 2020 to 2022 (after the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 10.5% [ 57 ] 66.0% [ 41 ] and 38.9%. Similarly, the lowest, highest, and median anxiety prevalences up until 2019 (prior to the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 7.0% [ 28 ], 68.0% [ 42 ] and 26.0%.

Early studies indicated that teachers’ anxiety prevalence ranged from 26% for borderline anxiety, 36% for minimal or no anxiety, and 38% for clinically significant anxiety [ 45 ]. Recent studies have reported a similar prevalence for low anxiety at 17.6%, mild at 23.2% [ 28 ] and 7.0% to 23.3% for severe to extremely severe anxiety [ 28 , 39 , 41 ]. Another study reported an anxiety prevalence of 43% among teachers. The prevalence of anxiety did not change significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, with most teachers (56.2%) reporting no change in their anxiety during the pandemic compared with before the pandemic, and only 4.9% of teachers reported an increase in anxiety levels from the baseline during the first week of the 2020–2021 school year [ 58 ].

3.6. Prevalence of Depression

The prevalence of depression among teachers ranged from 0.6% to 85.7% [ 48 , 59 ], with a median of 30.7%. The lowest, highest, and median depression prevalences from 2020 to 2022 (after the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 0.6% [ 48 ], 85.7% [ 59 ] and 23.5%. Similarly, the lowest, highest and median depression prevalences up until 2019 (prior to the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 0.7% [ 28 ], 85% [ 60 ] and 24.1%.

Early studies showed a highly varied prevalence of depression, with 79% of teachers scoring at the low or no depression levels in one study. This study also reported that 17% of teachers had borderline depression scores, and 4% had scores that indicated clinical depression [ 45 ]. Studies from 2008 onwards identified that the prevalence of depression ranged from 17.86% to 49.1% [ 3 , 41 , 55 , 60 , 61 ] and the prevalence of severe to extremely severe depression ranged from 0.7 to 9.9% [ 42 ], whilst the prevalence of mild depression ranged from 20 to 43.9% [ 41 , 42 , 60 , 62 ]. Soria-Saucedo et al. reported a particularly high prevalence (16%) of severe depression symptoms among teachers [ 61 ]. Depression was also found to range from 45% to 84.6%, depending on the educational level and teaching experience, and was highest among those with a lower education level, followed by teachers with more teaching experience [ 42 ].

Studies during the pandemic demonstrated higher rates of mild depression but similar rates of severe depression symptoms among teachers. In one study, 58.9% of teachers had mild depression, 3.5% had moderate, and 0.6% had severe depression. [ 48 ]. Another study reported that 3.2% of teachers had severe to extremely severe depression [ 40 ]. According to Keyes, ‘flourishing’ denotes being filled with positive emotion and functioning well psychologically and socially while ‘languishing’ in life signifies the individual has poor mental health with low well-being [ 59 , 62 ]. Capone and Petrillo reported that 38.7% of ‘flourishing’ teachers reported a lower prevalence of depression but higher levels of job satisfaction. A severe rating of depression was also reported by 85.7% of ‘languishing’ teachers [ 59 ].

3.7. Prevalence Range and Median for Stress, Burnout, Anxiety and Depression Reported in High Quality Studies

After applying the JBI checklist [ 37 ] to identify high-quality studies, the clinically meaningful (moderate to severe) burnout among teachers recorded by three studies ranged from 25.12% to 74% [ 25 , 46 , 47 ]. Similarly, three studies reported stress at clinically meaningful levels which included severe, extremely severe, moderate to high or very stressful, and a great deal of stress, with a prevalence ranging from 8.3% to 87.1% [ 43 , 44 , 57 ]. Likewise, two studies reported the prevalence of clinically meaningful anxiety among teachers ranging from 38% to 41.2% [ 45 , 57 ]. Furthermore, five studies [ 44 , 47 , 57 , 63 , 64 ] reported the prevalence of depression in clinically significant levels, which included terminologies such as major, moderate, moderate to severe, and extremely severe depression symptoms. The lowest prevalence in this category was 4% [ 45 ] and the highest category was 77% [ 65 ]. Finally, the median prevalence of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among these studies were, respectively, 67.0%, 60.9%, 39.6%, and 14.%.

3.8. Correlates of Stress, Burnout, Anxiety and Depression

The correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression, as extracted from Table A1 and Table A2 , are summarized in Table 1 . A wide range of variables are significantly associated with teachers’ stress, burnout, anxiety and depression and can be divided into socio-demographics, school, organizational and professional factors, and social and other factors, including intrapersonal factors. The most reported correlates were sex, age, gender, marital status, job satisfaction, subject taught and years of teaching [ 28 , 40 , 57 , 63 , 66 , 67 ]. Socio-demographic factors, such as age and sex, and work-related factors correlate with depression, anxiety and stress [ 42 ]. Emotional exhaustion is correlated with age, gender and marital status. [ 39 , 52 , 53 , 68 ]. Other studies, however, refute these, indicating that no significant demographic variable correlations were found between burnout and depression, and that depressive symptoms in men and women were similar [ 64 , 69 ]. Capone et al. also noted that all the school climate factors, such as social support, were negatively related to depression [ 70 ]. Higher levels of co-worker support were related to lower levels of anxiety and depression [ 71 ].

Demographic, school and professional correlates of burnout, stress, anxiety and depression.

Organizational factors associated with anxiety included: work overload, time pressures causing teachers to work during their free time, and role conflict. There were significant correlations between the reported anxiety and those stressors relating to pupils and parents [ 45 ]. In addition, interpersonal conflict, organizational constraints and workload were reported to result in depression through increasing job burnout [ 73 ]. Furthermore, depressive symptoms correlated with teaching special needs students and had a significant and robust relationship with the general burnout factor [ 50 ]. Self-perceived accomplishment was also positively associated with autonomy and negatively associated with low student motivation [ 18 ]. Personal accomplishment had a significant positive relationship with the number of teaching hours per week [ 40 ]. On the contrary, a cross-sectional study by Baka reported that increased work hours are usually accompanied by job demands, job burnout, and depression [ 73 ]. Job strain, job demand and job insecurity all showed positive associations with depressive symptoms [ 80 , 94 ]. Work-related factors, such as workload, were also correlated with stress, burnout, depression, and anxiety [ 42 , 73 ].

Furthermore, the educational level and teaching experience also predict depression. Depression was highest among teachers with a lower education followed by teachers with the most teaching experience [ 42 ]. Teacher stress was reported to be significantly associated with psychological distress, and social support could moderate the influence of stress; hence, the high-stress and the low-support group were most vulnerable to anxiety [ 74 ]. Studies have also reported that 55% of teachers without spousal support had depression [ 42 ]. In addition, stress was reported to be associated with missed work days, high anxiety and high role conflict [ 43 , 89 ] and 53.2% of teachers identified work as a source of long-term stress, leading to burnout [ 55 ]. According to Fei Liu et al. resilience significantly correlated with job burnout and turnover intention, and low resilience could result in a high job burnout [ 86 ]. The research also showed that personality trait neuroticism was the best predictor of burnout (28–34%) [ 67 ].

3.9. Association between Stress, Burnout, Anxiety and Depression

A significant overlap was reported between stress, burnout, anxiety and depression. Eighteen articles reported a correlation between burnout and depression, with differences in depressive symptomatology depending on the prevalence of burnout [ 3 , 18 , 25 , 41 , 42 , 48 , 50 , 52 , 54 , 60 , 64 , 69 , 84 , 86 , 92 , 95 ]. Three articles reported a correlation between burnout and anxiety symptoms [ 52 , 64 ]. Seven articles reported a correlation between stress and anxiety [ 28 , 58 , 65 , 71 ]. Six articles reported a correlation between stress and depression [ 28 , 31 , 43 , 61 , 68 , 71 ]. A correlation exists between moderate depressive disorder and anxiety disorder as well as stress [ 31 , 96 ]. Negative affectivity (a tendency to feel depression, anxiety, or stress) plays a role in the development of burnout among teachers. Teachers who developed a more markedly negative affectivity also felt more burnt out, and the opposite was true [ 41 ]. This may be related to rumination. According to Nolen-Hoeksema, rumination is a pain response which entails a recurrent and passive focus on the symptoms of pain and their likely causes and outcomes [ 97 ]. Ruminative responses may prolong depression by overly focusing on negative thinking and may affect one’s behaviour and problem-solving [ 97 ]. Liu et al. reported that rumination moderated the association between job burnout and depression and that burnout was a stronger predictor of depression in teachers who experienced low rumination rather than high rumination [ 98 ]. This was explained by the importance of rumination for depression; with an improvement in the rumination level, job burnout had less ability to predict depression for those with high rumination levels.

There is a strong association between burnout and depression, as reported in several studies. High frequencies of burnout symptoms were identified among clinically depressed teachers [ 92 ], with 86% to 90% of the teachers identified as burnt out meeting the diagnostic criteria for a depressive disorder [ 60 , 64 ], mainly for major depression (85%) [ 60 ]. In 25% to 85% of teachers with no burnout, depression ranged from 1% to 15% of the study sample. Specifically, only 1% to 3% of the participants in the no-burnout group were identified as having minor depression or depression not otherwise specified (2%) [ 60 , 64 ]. A history of depression was reported by about 63% of the teachers with burnout and 15% of the burnout-free teachers [ 60 ]. The high overlap between depression and burnout was emphasized in one study, which categorized depression as “low burnout-depression” (30%), “medium burnout-depression” (45%), and “high burnout-depression” (25%) [ 92 ]. Notably, the report suggests that although teacher burnout leads to subsequent depressive symptoms, it is not true vice versa [ 95 ]. Furthermore, burnout symptoms at ‘time one’ did not necessarily predict depressive symptoms at ‘time two’ [ 99 ]. Another study reported a positive relationship between burnout and depression [ 84 ]. This was confirmed by a study which suggested that depressive symptoms had a significant and robust association with the general burnout factor [ 50 ].

Anxiety disorder is also associated with higher perceived stress and major depression [ 65 ]. In one study, higher ongoing stressors were positively associated with higher anxiety levels. Continuous and episodic stressors were significantly and positively associated with anxiety and depression. They accounted for 28% (adjusted 25%) of the variability in anxiety and 27% (adjusted 24%) of the variability in depression. [ 71 ]. In contrast, higher levels of co-worker support were related to lower levels of anxiety and depression [ 71 ]. Teachers reported a high prevalence of depressive symptomatology relating to subjective and school-related stress [ 43 ].

4. Discussion

This scoping review included 70 articles. The prevalences of stress, burnout, anxiety and depression reported in this scoping review are similar to those reported in two systematic reviews and meta-analysis conducted among teachers during the pandemic. For example, the prevalence of stress reported by Ma et al., from a meta-analysis of 54 studies was 62.6%, whereas the prevalence of anxiety was 36.3% and depression was 59.9% among teachers during the pandemic [ 100 ]. In another meta-analysis, the prevalence range of anxiety was 10% to 49.4%; depression was 15.9% to 28.9%; and stress was 12.6% to 50.6% [ 101 ], which all fall within the range reported in this scoping review for stress [ 28 , 40 ], anxiety [ 42 , 56 ], and depression [ 48 , 59 ]. However, the minimum in all cases was higher during the pandemic, suggesting an increase in psychological problems during the pandemic.

The varying prevalence for stress, burnout, anxiety and depression reported by different studies in this review may be attributable to heterogeneous study designs, including the sample size, location, period of data collection, diversity in the standardized scales used for the assessment, and other factors such as the class size and grade taught [ 102 , 103 ]. In this scoping review, the studies used combinations of terminologies such as “none,” “slightly,” “significant,” “much,” “extremely,” “considerably”, “almost unbearable”, “quite a bit” or “a great deal” to describe the level of stress experienced by teachers according to the measures utilized,, such as the Teachers Stress Inventory [ 44 , 77 ] or the Bruno Teachers Inventory [ 43 ]. The prevalence rates also varied with population, for example, in the case of Fimian, the teachers were teaching special needs students, and this may explain the relatively high prevalence (87.1%) recorded [ 44 ]. More recent studies which used other scales, such as the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS), used terminologies such as “symptoms of stress”, ranging from “mild,” “moderate,” “mild to moderate” or “extremely severe”, to describe the stress levels. For burnout, although most studies used a combination of the three interrelated components of burnout reported by Maslach et al. [ 6 , 7 , 11 , 16 ], some studies focused on reporting the sub-dimensions of burnout, whilst others reported general burnout. Varying expressions such as “low burnout”, “high burnout, “severe burnout”, and moderate were used to describe burnout, making it difficult to make an effective comparison. It was also not clear whether the stress and burnout experienced by the participants were everyday existential life experiences that everyone faces or chronic ones that needed intervention, as these were not specifically stated in the studies. It is essential that future research clarifies this to estimate their prevalence rates more accurately. Secondly, as indicated in the review, the studies applied various scales to measure the prevalence of psychological disorders; however, there was a lack of consensus. This scoping review provides a comprehensive picture of the prevalence of the target outcomes and sets up a foundation for future systematic reviews and meta-analysis to accurately estimate the prevalence of these outcomes among teachers.

The essential correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression identified in this review include socio-demographic factors such as sex, age, gender, marital status, school (organizational) factors and work-related factors (years of teaching, class size, job satisfaction, subject taught and absenteeism). Most studies were published in the last fifteen years (2007–2022), indicating a recent increase in interest in this area of research.

4.1. Socio-Demographic, School and Work-Related Factors as Determinants of Stress

Socio-demographic factors such as sex, age and marital status significantly influence teacher stress [ 54 ]. Sex correlates with stress although there are some conflicting reports [ 42 , 53 , 76 ], especially between the levels of stress experienced by males and females. Some studies suggest that female teachers experience more stress than their male counterparts [ 28 , 75 , 77 ]. Working women often have additional demands at home, and trying to accomplish both roles may increase their stress levels [ 104 ] compared to males who may have less demand from home. However, this may be context-dependent, as no sex difference in occupational stress was reported among police officers [ 105 ], for example. The demand from female teachers’ personal lives, including marital issues and home, may be a source of increased stress levels [ 104 ]. Among the general workforce, work–family conflict has been reported to be significantly associated with work stress [ 106 ], and this is not confined only to females. This argument is confirmed in three separate studies, which reported that gender, per se, was not a significant predictor of perceived stress [ 39 , 85 , 89 ]; thus, it is possible that these differences may, rather, be due to differences in the scales used or the effect of organizational factors. For example, the organisational effect experienced by female teachers in a female only elementary or high school may differ from that experienced in a male only or mixed sex teaching environment; however, further research is needed in this area of gender influencing stress factors. Findings from the Canadian Community Health Survey data nonetheless endorsed a difference between males and females regarding work stress, in particular supervisor support. Higher levels of supervisor support seemed to lower work stress amongst women but not men [ 107 ]. Among the general population, social support at work could be more strongly related to a stress reduction in women than in their male counterparts [ 108 ] Sex difference was also observed in relation to student behaviour, with women experiencing increased stress [ 42 , 77 ]. In particular, female teachers’ collective efficacy and beliefs about their school staff group capabilities may lower their stress from student behaviour. Findings from the study by Klassen support the hypothesis that teachers’ collective efficacy serves as a job resource that mediates the effect of stress from student behaviour [ 77 ]. Interventions addressing gender/sex differences may also be considered in supporting female educators’ mental health and work productivity.

A study among refugee teachers also endorsed sex differences in stress [ 42 , 57 ]; however this was in relation to self-care and the association was moderated by age [ 57 ]. Higher occupational stress scores were observed among teachers over 40 years [ 28 ]; nonetheless, among the general population, the published literature reports that the ageing process can worsen or counter the effects of stress [ 109 ], indicating that age does not necessarily increase stress. The cause of increased stress, hence, shifts to other factors such as the poor academic performance of students, or a lack of assistance [ 78 ], which may be influencing an increase in stress.

The class size, grade level taught, workload, poor student performance or lack of progress and other work and school-related factors contribute to teachers’ stress. According to Fimian et al., when stressful events or the perception of them are not ultimately resolved or improved, this may result in several physiological manifestations [ 44 ]. There is clear data indicating that teacher stress was intensified among primary school teachers, special needs teachers, and teachers in private schools who provided more support and input to students than other teachers [ 28 , 78 , 85 , 110 ]. The additional time and energy teachers may invest in primary school kids, who are usually much younger and may require more support, may explain the increased stress among primary school teachers. Again, teaching special needs students may require significant teacher input and assistance, depending on the nature and degree of the disabilities. There is also an increased expectation from teachers in private schools regarding the students’ performances, leading to increased stress [ 28 ]. A study conducted among primary and secondary school teachers in Pakistan concluded that government school teachers were more satisfied with their working conditions than private school teachers [ 110 ], and thus, may experience less stress. In addition, the school location (rural vs. urban), teacher role ambiguity and coherence further exacerbated teacher stress [ 3 , 75 , 89 , 111 ]. An excessive use of technological devices, such as mobile phones, has also been associated with social disruption [ 112 ] and may result in a lack of concentration or poor student performance at school [ 112 , 113 ], leading to teacher stress. Teachers experiencing more significant stress were also burnt out [ 68 ]. For example, during the pandemic, teachers had to adopt and adjust to teaching online, and virtual instruction teachers had the most increased anxiety [ 58 ]. Nonetheless, a rapid systematic review with a meta-analysis reported that teacher stress during the pandemic was still comparatively lower in school teachers with a prevalence of 13% ([95% CI: 7–22%]) in comparison to studies with university teachers as the participants of 35% ([95% CI: 12–66%]) [ 114 ].

While there are complex interactions among several factors which contribute to teacher stress, there have been limited evidence-based interventions to help teachers alleviate these stress sources despite some self-reported coping strategies. This research gap started to receive attention during the COVID-19 pandemic through the application of mindfulness-based interventions [ 115 ], warranting more advanced research on how to best address these challenges in education.

4.2. Socio-Demographic, Years of Teaching, School and Work-Related Factors as Determinants of Burnout

Burnout continues to pose problems within the teaching profession, and factors such as gender, sex, age, marital status and the number of years teaching correlated with the degree of burnout [ 40 , 47 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 63 , 67 , 68 , 72 , 73 ], although conflicting results were reported with potentially different explanations. Differences in the study design, particularly the scales used to assess burnout as well as geographical and organizational factors, may account for some of the conflicting results. In addition, there could be an interplay between some personal and professional factors. For example, younger teachers are more likely to be enthusiastic about their new teaching careers, whilst older teachers may experience boredom leading to increased exhaustion. Consistent with this hypothesis, one study reported that teachers who had taught for the fewest (0–5) years experienced the lowest burnout prevalence [ 54 ]. On the contrary, more experienced teachers were likely to have gained exposure, learnt students’ characteristics and classroom management skills and the necessary tools to help them prevent and address burnout. Additionally, teachers who lacked self-fulfilment may have been mostly younger and lacked personal accomplishments [ 47 ], leading to more burnout.

Significantly higher burnout scores, including for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and intellectual burnout were found among female teachers than among male teachers in some studies [ 51 , 52 , 53 ], whilst other studies reported that burnout was higher among male teachers. These results are contrary to findings reported among police officers, which indicated no significant difference in the levels of occupational burnout reported by male and female police officers [ 105 ]. Further studies are needed to investigate the contradictory gender differences in teachers’ burnout by different studies. In addition, research is needed on innovative gender-neutral ways of addressing burnout in teachers. Other structural factors, such as the number of children teachers have and class sizes which are associated with increased teacher burnout, require an increased investment in teachers and schools to address them. Governments providing teachers with affordable childcare and other supports for their own children, and building more schools to reduce the class sizes, may lead to a reduced burnout among teachers.

There is also a relationship between burnout and school or work-related factors. The subjects and grades taught and the medium of instruction all contribute to teachers’ burnout [ 7 , 51 ]. Teachers’ perceptions of the difficulty of a subject taught appears to determine their degree of burnout experienced; however, no particular subject seems to be the leading cause of burnout. High school teachers may perceive an increased workload in terms of the amount of time attributed to class preparation due to the difficulty of a subject taught. A cross-sectional study among nurses also found that role overload contributed to higher levels of emotional exhaustion [ 116 ] and this was also endorsed among healthcare managers where prolonged job strain resulted in burnout and an increased turnover intention [ 117 ]. This suggests there is a complex interaction between self-perception and burnout, which makes burnout in teachers a complex problem to address. Differences were also noted in the prevalence of burnout among teachers working in different countries [ 84 ]. For example, 58% of the variance in burnout in Cyprus could be explained by job satisfaction and anxiety, whereas 57.5% of the variance in burnout in Germany was explained by job satisfaction alone [ 84 ]. Different countries have different working conditions which may explain the differences in job satisfaction and associated burnout prevalence among teachers in different countries.

4.3. Effect of Resilience on Burnout

Resilience involves adapting well in the face of stress, difficulty, trauma, disaster, and threats. Resilient people use positive emotions to rebound and find positive meaning even in stressful circumstances [ 118 ]. Resilience had a significantinverse correlation with job burnout and turnover intention, and resilience could negatively predict job burnout [ 86 ]. Resilience was also reported to have an inverse association with burnout symptoms [ 119 ]; thus, increased resilience is linked to decreased burnout and, hence, the tendency for a teacher to remain in their job and thrive no matter what they encounter. Job burnout had a significant positive predictive effect and correlation with turnover intention, which suggests that the more severe the job burnout is, the higher the turnover intention [ 86 ]. Teachers require positive emotions and an increased resilience to remain in the profession and succeed without quitting. Conversely, among physicians, a survey indicated that the burnout prevalence was still significant even among the most resilient physicians; however, West et al. suggested that physicians exhibited higher levels of resilience than the general working population [ 119 ], including teachers. Additionally, resilience was also a significant predictor of depression and anxiety [ 88 ]; thus, the higher the resilience, the less likely teachers will experience depression or anxiety.

4.4. Socio-Demographic, School and Work-Related Factors as Determinants of Depression and Anxiety

Socio-demographic, school and work-related factors are all associated with both anxiety and depression [ 42 , 50 , 51 , 80 ]. This association is consistent with what was reported in a systematic review and meta-analysis by Ma et al., which suggested that teachers’ experiences of psychological issues were associated with various socio-demographic factors such as gender, institutional factors, teaching experience, and workload volume [ 100 ]. In this scoping review, conflicting results were found in relation to the association between teacher gender and depression. Whilst some studies reported that female teachers have higher depression levels than male teachers [ 42 , 51 , 70 , 79 , 81 , 82 ], other studies have reported no gender differences in teacher depression levels [ 53 ]. Contradictory results were also reported for the association between the age of teachers and depression, with some studies reporting higher depression levels in younger teachers [ 42 ] and others reporting higher depression in older teachers [ 51 ]. As discussed previously, it is likely that the use of different scales, coupled with organizational factors, contributed to these contradictory findings among the different studies. The findings also indicated that most female teachers who suffered from depression had been working for about 11 to 15 years [ 120 ].

A poor workplace environment has also been associated with increased anxiety and depressive symptoms [ 121 ] and school-related stress may transition to depressive symptoms among teachers [ 80 , 94 ]. As teachers’ workloads increase, their working hours will invariably increase, resulting in a rise in job demand and ultimately a surge in stress, leading to anxiety and depression. A systematic review reported similar findings where the main risk factors associated with anxiety and depression included job overload and job demands. [ 122 ]. The research also shows that teachers are not the only exception regarding experiencing a poor workplace environment which may lead to increased anxiety and depression [ 122 , 123 ]. Improving teachers’ workplace environments may, therefore, reduce the prevalence of anxiety and depression among teachers. Anxiety has also been linked to stressors relating to pupils and parents. For example, the possibility of a parental complaint increased anxiety scores [ 45 ]. Generally, parents want their children to succeed academically, which sometimes creates friction between teachers and parents. The underperformance of students or failure may be blamed on teachers or construed as the responsibility of schools and teachers [ 124 ], which may result in increased stress and subsequently anxiety and depression for teachers.

Social support was also reported to predict anxiety and depression symptoms, with high support levels indicating fewer symptoms related to anxiety and severe depression [ 121 , 125 ]; thus, teachers who perceived social support at school (e.g., the personnel relation dimension) expressed a lower stress level than those who did not [ 75 ]. According to Peele and Wolf 2020, anxiety and depressive symptoms increase for all teachers over the school year, and poor social support plays a significant role in the development of anxiety and depression symptoms [ 121 ]. Organizational policies that include the provision of adequate social support for teachers may, therefore, be a useful strategy to prevent and mitigate anxiety and depressive symptoms among teachers.

5. Limitations

The scoping review is not without limitations. This scoping review searched for articles in the English language only. Though every effort was made to identify all relevant studies for this review considering our eligibility criteria, we may have left out some relevant studies, particularly those published in other languages. Our search included six databases, yet the overall search strategy may have been biased toward health and sciences. Searching other bibliographic databases may have yielded additional published articles. Furthermore, different studies included in this scoping review used various screening tools and worldwide diagnostic classifications to determine stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression, leading to variations in the prevalence estimates. The scoping review included studies from 1974 till date; therefore, it is possible that the theoretical approaches to the concept of burnout may have changed. Notwithstanding these potential changes in the theoretical approaches to the concept of burnout, the burnout prevalence among teachers has appeared to have remained stable over the years. There was also no evaluation of the risk of bias for the included studies. Despite these limitations, this scoping review provides an excellent perspective on the prevalence and correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety and depression among teachers.

6. Conclusions

Teachers’ psychological and mental health is of utmost importance as it indirectly affects the students they teach. The stress associated with the teaching profession can be linked to three major overlapping issues: burnout, anxiety, and depression, which have a myriad of effects, including an impact on teachers’ health, well-being, and productivity. A wide range of prevalences and correlates were reported for stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Differences in the severity were observed in different articles resulting in the diverse prevalence reported among the various studies. The differences in the measurement instruments creates critical knowledge gaps, making it difficult for researchers to make effective comparisons between the different studies. Future research should focus on addressing these research gaps arising from methodological issues, especially the use of different scales to allow for a meaningful comparison. Researchers, educators, and policy makers could benefit from an international consensus meeting and agree on common scales to be used when assessing stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression in teachers. Such an international consensus meeting can also help to streamline the definition of stress and can be used as a forum for addressing other methodological issues related to research and innovations involving elementary and high school teachers. Future research can also focus on exploring the gender differences in these psychological issues further, especially, defining the various subsets of gender being referred to and the specific prevalence in each case. In addition, the high prevalence of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression reported particularly by several high-quality studies suggests that these psychological problems are widespread among teachers and deserves special attention both at the level of policy and practice.

This scoping review also highlights the risk factors associated with stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Identifying these risk factors is a significant step toward addressing these issues among teachers. Schools need to prioritize and promote interventions aimed at teachers’ personal wellbeing. Testing and implementing the interventions aiming to improve teachers’ well-being and ability to cope are important to address stress and burnout, with the expectation that this will prevent or reduce anxiety and depression. This may include school-based awareness and intervention programs to detect the early signs of teacher stress and burnout, or programs that incorporate meditation techniques or text-based support. Meditation techniques have been proposed to be effective in improving psychological distress, fatigue and burnout [ 126 ]. For example, mindfulness practice has been suggested as beneficial in coping with job-related stress, improving the sense of efficacy and reducing burnout in the teaching profession [ 127 ]. Interventions such as mobile text technology are an evidence-based, unique, and innovative way that offers a convenient, low cost and easily accessible form of delivering psychological interventions to the public with mental health problems [ 128 , 129 , 130 ]. Mobile text-based programs can be easily implemented at the school level to support teachers’ psychological needs. Future studies need to explore the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of intervention programs for improving mental health outcomes among teachers. For instance, the Wellness4Teachers program which is planned for implementation in Alberta and Nova Scotia, Canada [ 34 ], is expected to provide evidence of effectiveness for the use of daily supportive text messaging to combat stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among teachers. Finally, governments, school boards and policymakers need to collaborate with researchers on the design and implementation of measures to enhance teachers’ mental health, productivity (teaching) and quality of life.

Summary of studies with prevalence and correlates of Burnout/Stress.

* Katsantonis 2020 (15 countries)—Japan and Korea form the East-Asian model. France and Spain form the Latin model. Denmark and Sweden form the Northern model. Australia and the United Kingdom represent the Anglo-Saxon model and finally, Belgium and the Netherlands form the Germanic model. Sample Size: SS; Emotional Exhaustion: EE; Personal Accomplishment: PA; Depersonalization: DP; Occupational Stress: OS; Sense of Coherence: SOC; Science Stream: SCIS; Art Stream: AS.

Summary of studies with prevalence and correlates of Depression/Anxiety.

Sample Size: SS; Major Depressive Disorder: MDD.

Funding Statement

This study was supported by the Mental Health Foundation and the Douglas Harden Trust Fund.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, B.A; software, and validation, B.A., G.O.-D. and L.B.; methodology and formal analysis, B.A.; data curation, B.A. and G.O.-D.; investigation and resources, B.A. and Y.W.; writing—original draft preparation, B.A.; writing—review and editing, B.A, G.O.-D., L.B. and Y.W.; supervision, L.B. and Y.W. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, the interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the results for publication.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Is Homework a Waste of Students' Time? Study Finds It's the Biggest Cause of Teen Stress

As the debate over the need for homework continues, a new study found that it's the biggest cause of teen stress, leading to sleepless nights and poor academic performance

Julie Mazziotta is the Sports Editor at PEOPLE, covering everything from the NFL to tennis to Simone Biles and Tom Brady. She was previously an Associate Editor for the Health vertical for six years, and prior to joining PEOPLE worked at Health Magazine. When not covering professional athletes, Julie spends her time as a (very) amateur athlete, training for marathons, long bike trips and hikes.

It’s the bane of every teen’s existence. After sitting through hours at school, they leave only to get started on mountains of homework. And educators are mixed on its effectiveness . Some say the practice reinforces what students learned during the day, while others argue that it put unnecessary stress on kids and parents , who are often stuck nagging or helping.

According to a new study, conducted by the Better Sleep Council , that homework stress is the biggest source of frustration for teens, with 74 percent of those surveyed ranking it the highest, above self-esteem (51 percent) parental expectations (45 percent) and bullying (15 percent).

Homework is taking up a large chunk of their time , too — around 15-plus hours a week, with about one-third of teens reporting that it’s closer to 20-plus hours.

The stress and excessive homework adds up to lost sleep, the BSC says. According to the survey, 57 percent of teenagers said that they don’t get enough sleep, with 67 reporting that they get just five to seven hours a night — a far cry from the recommended eight to ten hours. The BSC says that their research shows that when teens feel more stressed, their sleep suffers. They go to sleep later, wake up earlier and have more trouble falling and staying asleep than less-stressed teens.

“We’re finding that teenagers are experiencing this cycle where they sacrifice their sleep to spend extra time on homework, which gives them more stress — but they don’t get better grades,” said Mary Helen Rogers, the vice president of marketing and communications for the BSC.

RELATED VIDEO: To Help Or Not To Help: Moms Talk About Whether Or Not They Help Their Children With Homework

Another interesting finding from this study: students who go to bed earlier and wake up earlier do better academically than those who stay up late, even if those night owls are spending that time doing homework.

To end this cycle of sleep deprivation and stress, the BSC recommends that students try setting a consistent time to go to sleep each night, regardless of leftover homework. And their other sleep tips are good for anyone, regardless of age — keep the temperature between 65 and 67 degrees, turn off the electronic devices before bed, make sure the mattress is comfy and reduce noise with earplugs or sound machines.

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Is Homework Necessary? Education Inequity and Its Impact on Students

The Problem with Homework: It Highlights Inequalities

How much homework is too much homework, when does homework actually help, negative effects of homework for students, how teachers can help.

Schools are getting rid of homework from Essex, Mass., to Los Angeles, Calif. Although the no-homework trend may sound alarming, especially to parents dreaming of their child’s acceptance to Harvard, Stanford or Yale, there is mounting evidence that eliminating homework in grade school may actually have great benefits , especially with regard to educational equity.

In fact, while the push to eliminate homework may come as a surprise to many adults, the debate is not new . Parents and educators have been talking about this subject for the last century, so that the educational pendulum continues to swing back and forth between the need for homework and the need to eliminate homework.

One of the most pressing talking points around homework is how it disproportionately affects students from less affluent families. The American Psychological Association (APA) explained:

“Kids from wealthier homes are more likely to have resources such as computers, internet connections, dedicated areas to do schoolwork and parents who tend to be more educated and more available to help them with tricky assignments. Kids from disadvantaged homes are more likely to work at afterschool jobs, or to be home without supervision in the evenings while their parents work multiple jobs.”

[RELATED] How to Advance Your Career: A Guide for Educators >> 

While students growing up in more affluent areas are likely playing sports, participating in other recreational activities after school, or receiving additional tutoring, children in disadvantaged areas are more likely headed to work after school, taking care of siblings while their parents work or dealing with an unstable home life. Adding homework into the mix is one more thing to deal with — and if the student is struggling, the task of completing homework can be too much to consider at the end of an already long school day.

While all students may groan at the mention of homework, it may be more than just a nuisance for poor and disadvantaged children, instead becoming another burden to carry and contend with.

Beyond the logistical issues, homework can negatively impact physical health and stress — and once again this may be a more significant problem among economically disadvantaged youth who typically already have a higher stress level than peers from more financially stable families .

Yet, today, it is not just the disadvantaged who suffer from the stressors that homework inflicts. A 2014 CNN article, “Is Homework Making Your Child Sick?” , covered the issue of extreme pressure placed on children of the affluent. The article looked at the results of a study surveying more than 4,300 students from 10 high-performing public and private high schools in upper-middle-class California communities.

“Their findings were troubling: Research showed that excessive homework is associated with high stress levels, physical health problems and lack of balance in children’s lives; 56% of the students in the study cited homework as a primary stressor in their lives,” according to the CNN story. “That children growing up in poverty are at-risk for a number of ailments is both intuitive and well-supported by research. More difficult to believe is the growing consensus that children on the other end of the spectrum, children raised in affluence, may also be at risk.”

When it comes to health and stress it is clear that excessive homework, for children at both ends of the spectrum, can be damaging. Which begs the question, how much homework is too much?

The National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association recommend that students spend 10 minutes per grade level per night on homework . That means that first graders should spend 10 minutes on homework, second graders 20 minutes and so on. But a study published by The American Journal of Family Therapy found that students are getting much more than that.

While 10 minutes per day doesn’t sound like much, that quickly adds up to an hour per night by sixth grade. The National Center for Education Statistics found that high school students get an average of 6.8 hours of homework per week, a figure that is much too high according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It is also to be noted that this figure does not take into consideration the needs of underprivileged student populations.

In a study conducted by the OECD it was found that “after around four hours of homework per week, the additional time invested in homework has a negligible impact on performance .” That means that by asking our children to put in an hour or more per day of dedicated homework time, we are not only not helping them, but — according to the aforementioned studies — we are hurting them, both physically and emotionally.

What’s more is that homework is, as the name implies, to be completed at home, after a full day of learning that is typically six to seven hours long with breaks and lunch included. However, a study by the APA on how people develop expertise found that elite musicians, scientists and athletes do their most productive work for about only four hours per day. Similarly, companies like Tower Paddle Boards are experimenting with a five-hour workday, under the assumption that people are not able to be truly productive for much longer than that. CEO Stephan Aarstol told CNBC that he believes most Americans only get about two to three hours of work done in an eight-hour day.

In the scope of world history, homework is a fairly new construct in the U.S. Students of all ages have been receiving work to complete at home for centuries, but it was educational reformer Horace Mann who first brought the concept to America from Prussia. 

Since then, homework’s popularity has ebbed and flowed in the court of public opinion. In the 1930s, it was considered child labor (as, ironically, it compromised children’s ability to do chores at home). Then, in the 1950s, implementing mandatory homework was hailed as a way to ensure America’s youth were always one step ahead of Soviet children during the Cold War. Homework was formally mandated as a tool for boosting educational quality in 1986 by the U.S. Department of Education, and has remained in common practice ever since.  

School work assigned and completed outside of school hours is not without its benefits. Numerous studies have shown that regular homework has a hand in improving student performance and connecting students to their learning. When reviewing these studies, take them with a grain of salt; there are strong arguments for both sides, and only you will know which solution is best for your students or school. 

Homework improves student achievement.

• Source: The High School Journal, “ When is Homework Worth the Time?: Evaluating the Association between Homework and Achievement in High School Science and Math ,” 2012. 
• Source: IZA.org, “ Does High School Homework Increase Academic Achievement? ,” 2014. **Note: Study sample comprised only high school boys. 

Homework helps reinforce classroom learning.

• Source: “ Debunk This: People Remember 10 Percent of What They Read ,” 2015.

Homework helps students develop good study habits and life skills.

• Sources: The Repository @ St. Cloud State, “ Types of Homework and Their Effect on Student Achievement ,” 2017; Journal of Advanced Academics, “ Developing Self-Regulation Skills: The Important Role of Homework ,” 2011.
• Source: Journal of Advanced Academics, “ Developing Self-Regulation Skills: The Important Role of Homework ,” 2011.

Homework allows parents to be involved with their children’s learning.

• Parents can see what their children are learning and working on in school every day. 
• Parents can participate in their children’s learning by guiding them through homework assignments and reinforcing positive study and research habits.
• Homework observation and participation can help parents understand their children’s academic strengths and weaknesses, and even identify possible learning difficulties.
• Source: Phys.org, “ Sociologist Upends Notions about Parental Help with Homework ,” 2018.

While some amount of homework may help students connect to their learning and enhance their in-class performance, too much homework can have damaging effects. 

Students with too much homework have elevated stress levels. 

• Source: USA Today, “ Is It Time to Get Rid of Homework? Mental Health Experts Weigh In ,” 2021.
• Source: Stanford University, “ Stanford Research Shows Pitfalls of Homework ,” 2014.

Students with too much homework may be tempted to cheat. 

• Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education, “ High-Tech Cheating Abounds, and Professors Bear Some Blame ,” 2010.
• Source: The American Journal of Family Therapy, “ Homework and Family Stress: With Consideration of Parents’ Self Confidence, Educational Level, and Cultural Background ,” 2015.

Homework highlights digital inequity. 

• Sources: NEAToday.org, “ The Homework Gap: The ‘Cruelest Part of the Digital Divide’ ,” 2016; CNET.com, “ The Digital Divide Has Left Millions of School Kids Behind ,” 2021.
• Source: Investopedia, “ Digital Divide ,” 2022; International Journal of Education and Social Science, “ Getting the Homework Done: Social Class and Parents’ Relationship to Homework ,” 2015.
• Source: World Economic Forum, “ COVID-19 exposed the digital divide. Here’s how we can close it ,” 2021.

Homework does not help younger students.

• Source: Review of Educational Research, “ Does Homework Improve Academic Achievement? A Synthesis of Researcher, 1987-2003 ,” 2006.

To help students find the right balance and succeed, teachers and educators must start the homework conversation, both internally at their school and with parents. But in order to successfully advocate on behalf of students, teachers must be well educated on the subject, fully understanding the research and the outcomes that can be achieved by eliminating or reducing the homework burden. There is a plethora of research and writing on the subject for those interested in self-study.

For teachers looking for a more in-depth approach or for educators with a keen interest in educational equity, formal education may be the best route. If this latter option sounds appealing, there are now many reputable schools offering online master of education degree programs to help educators balance the demands of work and family life while furthering their education in the quest to help others.

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Homeworking: isolation, anxiety and burnout

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Emma Jacobs

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The coronavirus pandemic has sparked a mass retreat of white-collar workers from the office to home amid economic turmoil. While some have found it a relief to give up the daily commute and work at their own pace, others find it stressful, feeling remote from the office at a time when companies are making cuts and furloughing workers.

Disrupted sleep, difficulty controlling moods, and dysphoria [a generalised unease] are common problems, says Richard Chaifetz, chief executive of Chicago-based ComPsych, which provides employee assistance programmes to companies around the world. “Even someone who is relatively healthy mental health wise is going to feel the effects of an abrupt change of their lifestyle: not being able to go out [and the fear of] the unknown, fear of losing their job or having lost their job.”

Nick Bloom, a senior fellow at Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, who has researched the impact of homeworking on productivity, says “forcing everybody home, often around kids, in shared rooms or bedrooms and no escape socially in non-work time will be generating major mental stress”. “This typically leads to loneliness and depression,” he adds, “which is mentally costly and often leads to physical health declines too.”

In the UK, Bupa, the private healthcare provider, reports that workplace psychologists are fully booked for virtual consultations and its health and wellbeing advice line has received 300 per cent more calls since the coronavirus crisis unfolded. In response, they are hiring more professionals trained in mental health. ComPsych says calls sharply rose in Asia when the pandemic took hold, while in the US there was a 20 per cent increase in requests to discuss mental health issues. “Obviously people are feeling the effects economically, people are losing their jobs, spouses are losing their jobs and [they are] concerned about the future,” Mr Chaifetz says.

More drinking, more anxiety

A snap survey of 500 home workers by the Institute for Employment Studies found that 20 per cent of respondents admit to increased alcohol consumption, a third say they are eating less healthily, 60 per cent are doing less exercise. While 64 per cent report problems sleeping due to anxiety and 48 per cent are working irregular work patterns and long days. A third feel lonely.

To combat isolation, employers have instigated virtual meetups, such as online happy hours, talent competitions and quizzes. Goldman Sachs offers cooking classes via Zoom, virtual prayer sessions and virtual story time for children. Linklaters, the law firm, launched virtual choir workshops.

This is a “culture shift”, says Kate Dodd, an employment lawyer who advises law firm Pinsent Masons on diversity and inclusion. “Who’d have thought a law firm would be having guided meditation sessions [to help] people to distinguish work from home. We’re learning as we go on. In week one, we were advising that people turn on their cameras in meetings and then realised some people find it quite overwhelming [and] were struggling with this.”

Lloyds Banking Group offers access to its Your Resilience tool. More than 8,000 colleagues have registered and can access new Covid-19 related content in the form of articles, animations, podcasts and webinars. Linklaters has virtualised some of its existing mental health resources such as on-site psychologists in Hong Kong, Singapore and the UK. Other online resources include webinars on the psychological impact of working in isolation. Some departments have set up a weekly working parents call to share ideas on working patterns, home schooling, occupying younger children, challenges for carers, and keeping in good mental and physical health.

A survey by Mercer found that 43 per cent of workers thought their company had addressed the issue of psychological stress at this time. But only 15 per cent of employers had surveyed staff to understand their needs. As Trent Henry, EY’s global vice-chair for talent, puts it: “You don’t change culture overnight.”

Mental health on everyone’s agenda

Jonathan Moult, a lawyer turned counselling psychologist whose private practice clients are predominantly City workers, says that for many employers the “inescapable reality [is] that sometimes the demands of jobs are so considerable that they don’t match wellbeing” goals. “Prior to coronavirus, mental health was seen as someone else’s responsibility, part of diversity and inclusion. but now it applies across the board. Maybe [a small percentage of us] will get coronavirus but 100 per cent of us are psychologically affected by it.”

Dealing with remote workers’ concerns is hard. Line managers are having to adapt at speed, says Poppy Jaman, chief executive of City Mental Health Alliance. They are struggling “to recognise stress when not seeing people face to face”. Key, she says, is being attuned to behaviour changing and asking people how they are repeatedly, including through one-to-one chats.

Rachel Suff, public policy adviser at the CIPD, the body for HR professionals, says “anxiety can be quite complex and nuanced.” With so much economic uncertainty, the fear of losing their job, says Ms Suff, can “alter people’s behaviour”. Moreover, if they feel their job might be cut or pay reduced they will feel unable “to raise their hand and admit to struggling”. In response, some companies have introduced a buddying system whereby employees are paired with someone outside their department to check on their mental welfare.

Long term impacts

The mental health fallout of coronavirus will be uneven among workers. The Lancet review of the psychological impact of quarantine through studying past epidemics including Sars and Ebola, found that those on low incomes showed “significantly higher amounts of post-traumatic stress and depressive symptoms” because a temporary loss of income had a greater impact than on wealthier peers. Overall, it noted that “separation from loved ones, the loss of freedom, uncertainty over disease status, and boredom can, on occasion, create dramatic effects”.

Those with pre-existing poor mental health would be particularly vulnerable. Frontline workers, such as health professionals, risking infection and looking after vulnerable patients and their distressed relatives, are particularly susceptible to burnout and anxiety.

Employees’ home lives vary considerably. “The issues differ significantly,” says EY’s Mr Henry . Even if employees are able to work safely from home, their spouse might be facing unemployment or be a key worker; they might have to care for vulnerable relatives. “The mental health challenge is very hard,” says Mr Henry. “Some of our employees live by themselves. That is different to someone with three generations under the same roof. Some people are putting in too many hours and over the long-term that’s not sustainable.” Others are “not feeling busy enough” and are worried about the future of their job.

As the social isolation extends, he says, they have observed workers finding it “gets tougher and tougher”, especially for those cooped up in small flats. Mr Chaifetz of ComPsych says that relaxing lockdown rules and then reimposing them may have a “deleterious effect”. It is, he says, like an organisation laying people off. “We always say that you should do it quickly, the drip drip effect is probably worse.”

The challenges of lockdown

Isolation has prompted a rise in domestic violence cases. Refuge, a UK charity helping those affected, has reported a 700 per cent rise in calls to its helpline in one day. Anna Purchas, head of people at KPMG UK, has distributed guidance on domestic abuse to managers. “The main advice is to ask open questions. Open the conversation and signpost help.”

Angela Ogilvie, global human resources director at Linklaters says junior members are typically in smaller flats, have lots of housemates and struggle with finding work space. “It’s trying to make sure that junior staff are adding value and that they have discrete work that they can deliver on so they don’t feel adrift. There are different challenges for the younger workforce.”

Lucy Doubleday, managing partner of Wearesocial, a social media creative agency, says that many of the company’s young workforce are living in flatshares with friends that “have been laid off, [some] done in really horrible ways . . . and that affects them”. The company’s shadow board, a group chosen by staff, is a useful sounding board on the workforce’s mood. “We get feedback from them on how some of the communications have been interpreted.”

Furloughed staff and anxiety

For furloughed staff, there is a huge amount of uncertainty. “It’s creating a lot of anxiety,” Mr Chaifetz says. “They don’t know what they’re coming back to — there’s a lot of ‘what-ifs’ [with regard to] the status of the business. It’s hard to be definitive if you are experiencing financial crush as a CEO.”

Even those on paid leave, Ms Suff says, it is no holiday. “[They’re] in limbo which can breed a lot of anxiety. If you’re working, you’ve got a purpose. You still have a duty of care to them, they still need to feel valued.”

Research found that working just eight hours a week can preserve people’s mental health. “There’s a massive difference in terms of mental health between not working and working,” says Brendan Burchell, reader at the department of sociology, University of Cambridge and one of the authors of the report. He proposes that government furlough schemes could allow people to do some work, perhaps for the public sector — or redistributed tasks within companies.

“Work imposes a structure to people’s life, so you have something to do, so [you are] not ruminating all the time. Maintaining contact with people outside the house,” he says. “The most important factor is having meaningful goals. It can be altruistic, [such as] helping nurses, or [it] can be goals like selling. It just has to be important to you and that’s what keeps you going.”

Anthony Wheeler, professor of management at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, says that “typically, with a furlough, employees will experience morale problems that will fuse with stress and burnout”. It can also be divisive. “If some employees are called to work while others get furloughed, companies should have articulated policies around why they make the decisions they make relative to who works and who does not,” he says.

Generally, if people believe that the processes are applied fairly, they might not like the outcome but will feel that the outcome was justified, Prof Wheeler adds. “People can handle that. What they can’t handle is when the processes lack fairness and transparency. In those circumstances, companies will experience a host of negative outcomes related to its employees — poor performance, more turnover, counterproductive work behaviours.”

Get comfortable with discomfort

Cate Murden, founder of Push, which provides coaching and counselling to companies, says that many employees are finding it hard to cope with uncertainty. “When this first started we continued to go at 100mph to make ourselves feel safer. We’re not very good at sitting in discomfort. The solution is to get more comfortable with dealing with uncertainty. People are desperately trying to plan their way out of it. We can’t.”

Pinsent Mason’s Ms Dodd says that they have learnt from Asian colleagues not to plan too far ahead. “It’s so counter-intuitive for law firms. We’re trying to say don’t plan in future. Let’s take things week by week. Don’t make too many predictions. People are saying they are worrying about six weeks’ time. We try to say, don’t ruminate on that.”

And some good news

For some, working from home is a chance to spend time with family or pause to reflect. Mr Moult says, “often in the chaos of daily life we don’t have an opportunity to think about our purpose.” The pandemic has exposed the fact that the best-paid are not essential, triggering soul-searching among financiers and lawyers. “There’s a recalibration,” says Mr Mount. “We have had a society that has privileged moneymaking, agency and self-determination.” Now public service and social connections are prioritised.

Ollie Dearn, who works in marketing at Havas, the advertising group, says that as an introvert working in an industry dominated by extroverts, he has found he has “more energy, my head is clearer and I’m getting a lot done.” Though by week four, the novelty had worn thin and turned into a “slog”.

While technology allows him to do the majority of his work remotely, it doesn’t replicate the day-to-day human interaction the office brings. “I miss gossip, laughing, bouncing ideas off people and general small talk. That’s difficult to replicate on Zoom. Everything has become diarised, to the detriment of spontaneity,” he says. “For me, ‘work’ and ‘life’ has begun to blend into one — although I am now fiercely protecting my weekends. While everyone has adapted to working from home remarkably well, the longer it goes on, the more exhausting it gets.”

‘Humans saved me — including my employers’

In the past four years — in the UK alone — nearly 20,000 people have committed suicide. That’s a terrifying statistic for anyone; but it’s especially poignant for me because, following a mental breakdown in September 2016, I was very nearly one of them, writes Josh Roberts .

There are lots of reasons why I didn’t end-up killing myself; but if I had to summarise them in a single word it would be “humans”. Humans saved me — my parents, my family, my friends, my girlfriend and, perhaps surprisingly, my employers.

When I am speaking about my book about the experience, Anxious Man , business leaders often ask if there’s anything they can do to encourage mental wellbeing among their employees. And these concerns have only grown more acute in recent weeks.

The answer, of course, is yes. There is a lot that businesses can do to both prevent and cure mental health problems like mine.

They can, for example, implement comprehensive employee assistance programmes that provide access to counselling. Or they can provide medical insurance that emphasises mental as well as physical health. Or they can insist on ways of working which promote mental wellbeing (no emails after 8pm, no weekend working).

Most importantly, businesses and their leaders can embed a culture of honesty when it comes to mental health. Mental health problems — be they anxious, depressive or obsessive — are cancers of the mind. The longer they are left, the bigger they become and the harder they become to operate on. Early intervention — getting folks to admit they need help — is key. And businesses can play a vital role in encouraging this.

‘ Anxious Man’ , by Josh Roberts, is published by Yellow Kite, £14.99

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