People who are attracted to teaching jobs are naturally dynamic. They have to manage so many aspects of their pupils' learning, development and lives it is often little wonder they can neglect their own health.

Since 2000, it has been shown by Health and Safety Executive figures that teaching is the most stressful profession in the UK, with almost half of people reporting themselves as ‘highly stressed’. The average profession in the UK sees only 20 per cent of workers classifying themselves as highly stressed.

Last year, statistics released under the Freedom of Information Act revealed the number of teachers taking time away from the classroom due to stress had actually increased by ten per cent over the past four years, with 15 councils across the UK actually recording a 50 per cent increase in the number of stress-related absences.

There is no doubt there are many causes of stress in the UK teaching profession. Firsthand research from TLTP Education has shown growing student indiscipline and increasing instances of abuse are taking their toll, while professional considerations such as Ofsted inspections and league tables in which the results may be taken out of the teacher's hands are also a huge source of anxiety.

With so many possible problems it is vital that teachers are aware of the signs of stress. If they are oblivious, the chances are a person will not be able to manage their stress levels effectively and this leads to a higher likelihood they will need time off work to recover.

What is stress? 

Stress is a natural biological response to events that can either make people feel threatened or upset. When something either physically or emotionally dangerous occurs - even if it is an imagined threat - the body's defences respond in a way that is known as the 'fight-or-flight-or-freeze' reaction - otherwise called the stress response.

It is a method or protection and when all is working well, it allows people to stay focused on the task in hand, meet previously unattainable challenges or in emergency cases can save their lives.

However, the stress response can be put out of kilter. Once it activates too many times or over a prolonged period it, can have detrimental impacts on overall wellbeing and go on to affect all aspects of a person's life, including their ability to perform in the classroom.

What are the symptoms?

The signs of stress vary from individual to individual but look out for cognitive issues such as: loss of memory, inability to concentrate, bad judgment, pessimism and worrying.

Behavioural symptoms include: moodiness, agitation, isolation, depression and feeling overwhelmed, eating too much, increased reliance on vices such as smoking and nervous habits such as nail biting.

Although stress is a mental issue it can have physical signs, these include: aches and pains, both diarrhea and constipation, nausea, rapid heartbeat, constant colds and a loss of sex drive.

How do you cope?

Spotting the signs of stress is the first step to dealing with it. There are many factors that will come into play in the management of stress, some which depend on character traits and some which depend on a working environment.

Support network: This can be within the school, but you can also seek guidance from family and loved ones with no experience of teaching. Support creates an effective buffer which protects against a job's stressors, while people who are left isolated are more exposed to them

Self control: Stress is created when control is lost. A person who has the confidence to know they can manage in these situations is less likely to have stress.

Attitude: Optimism can be a great rebuttal of stress.

Experience and preparation: People who are new to teaching may find it hard to see how it is going to get better. At that point, stress can be overwhelming. People who prepare themselves for hard days and weeks are more able to cope with it when it occurs.

There is no doubt about it, teaching jobs are stressful jobs.

The constant threat of inspection, the continued governmental fixation with exam results, the changes to remuneration and the increasingly prominent levels of ill discipline among pupils all add up to make cortisone levels spike before the end of the school day. TLTP Education's own research has shown uncertainty around resource levels and increased workload is creating unhelpful anxiety adding to levels of stress in the profession, while 40 per cent of teachers have been the victims of verbal abused in school.

It is clear there will not be much help from Ofsted or the government in the near future. While teachers' unions threaten industrial action based in large part on the difficult working conditions that many members face, governmental and regulatory advice has been limited.

Education secretary Michael Gove offered a simple reiteration of the existing sanctions teachers can use to curb poor student behavior, while Ofsted has declared it will be focusing on teachers' classroom attire come June.

While the merits of both actions are up for debate, all teachers could agree that more needs to be done to help combat growing levels of stress within the industry that are playing a huge part in scaring many suitable educators away from the classroom. 

To stop the detrimental shift of talent away from teaching jobs, perhaps the more experienced in the profession will need to take matters into their own hands.

Bill Rogers is an international guru on educational behaviour, although he is based in Australia he spends three months of the year working in UK schools, education workshops and seminars and has written books on how teachers can improve their stress levels. He explains there will always be the potential for stress in a role such as teaching, but teachers can learn to deal with it in a more efficient manner.

He writes on the Guardian Teacher Network: "Managing what is naturally stressful in our profession does not mean the absence of tension but our ability to collegially cope with, and support one another in that naturally stressful environment."

To do this, people in teaching jobs must learn to creatively live with natural tension and stress, and mentoring is a great way of doing this.

The primary thing mentoring will bring is support. A teacher who is struggling with high stress levels may often feel as though they are alone. A very challenging class of pupils can bring with it concern and anxiety that sucks the life out of a whole day and stops teachers from enjoying the profession they feel they were born to be in.

If possible, the mentor would be one with a free period in which they can link-up with the stressed teacher and work together to control the class and the stress levels.

"It is this existential sharing; this teaching with them (in their most challenging classes) that enables the sort of collegial trust that can utilise non-judgemental professional self-reflection," explained Mr Rogers.

Mentoring also fosters a different and more productive method of evaluation than simple appraisal - which in itself can be a source of stress. A method that is built out of a collegial culture in which all members of staff share common needs and senior staff can work on tailoring the working environment to these overt needs rather than guessing and tackling assumed needs. If teachers work together they can create a connected and engaged workforce, which will help stressed individuals cope more effectively with their concerns. 
 
It can be more than a simple stop-gap until those responsible at policy level can do anything to lower stress levels in the teaching profession. As things stand, many teachers are bullied in the classroom. Without a supportive network, the stressed teacher may automatically think that is the result of 'poor teaching' and this can exacerbate their concerns with their career choice.

If a collegially supportive school structure exists, teachers can explain problems to other staff, realise it may not be their fault without fear of implied or open censure and find extra confidence to deal with the issues and keep their stress levels from getting out of hand.