Teachers turning for help to school counsellors and colleagues: Toward a mapping of relevant predictors

ABSTRACT

Many studies have reported teaching to be a stressful occupation. One of the most valuable coping strategies that teachers may employ is turning for help when pressed. This research is aimed at encouraging a deeper understanding of the factors related to teacher's actual turning for help to a school counsellor or to a teacher colleague. 281 teachers working in 16 Israeli schools participated in the study. Our main findings pointed out the important roles fulfilled by teacher colleagues who were identified as teacher's main sources of support, and to the contribution of teachers’ burnout and self-efficacy as predictors of turning for help.

Keywords:

• teachers' coping strategies
• teachers' self-helping
• burnout
• teachers' self-efficacy