Stress management

In the classroom, students and teachers face a variety of academic challenges. Stress, as a natural response to these challenges, can have adverse effects on performance and learning. The act of teaching is inherently an emotional activity, requiring teachers to be sensitive to and understand how to manage and regulate emotions. This ability is crucial for facilitating and promoting interpersonal interactions, as well as for managing conflicts inherent in the teacher-student dynamic and between students themselves, without forgetting that the presence of positive emotions during lessons is associated with greater student engagement and higher academic performance.

For students

It is now known that students' academic performance is compromised by high levels of stress, as the presence of negative emotions is associated with lower engagement and possibly lower academic performance. Stress management in the classroom is currently an important dimension for the academic performance and emotional well-being of students and teachers.

Promoting an environment conducive to learning depends on mitigating stress. Various pedagogical strategies contribute to this:

• ­ Encouraging resilience and collaboration
• Emotional support
• Developing time management and organisational skills
• Teaching students techniques for coping with the demands of the curriculum
• Creating moments of pause and reflection during lessons
• Implementing an environment that promotes student autonomy
• Nurturing an intrinsic desire to learn

For teachers

Studies on teaching work show that there are a number of challenges faced by this professional group, including the occupational overload resulting from the responsibilities associated with teaching, research and leadership positions. This overload can lead to stress and is a substantial threat to physical and mental health, possibly jeopardising the quality of teaching.

The development of emotional intelligence makes it possible to manage one's own emotions and to deal appropriately with the emotions of students. It is therefore of great importance to develop competences that enable teachers to articulate, identify, understand and evaluate their own feelings and those of their students.

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