Teacher Anxiety: A Review with Recommendations. Research and Development Memorandum No. 123.

This paper reviews studies of teacher anxiety (stress and tension) with a focus on the incidence, sources, and effects of anxiety, and methods of reducing it. Previously, global definitions of anxiety have been used, and assessment has been largely restricted to paper-and-pencil measures. The incidence of anxiety among teachers, both beginning and experienced, appears to be remarkably high, and its causes are usually associated with a variety of personal, social, and physical events. The functional relationships between these events and teacher anxiety and between teacher anxiety and other teacher behavior as well as pupil behavior are unknown. It is recommended that teacher anxiety be conceptualized in performance terms and measured directly in classroom situations through external observation and self-observation. Data from such techniques would provide the basis for investigations of functional relationships between particular events and teacher anxiety as well as between anxious teacher behaviors and student performance. Promising techniques for reducing teacher anxiety, such as systematic desensitization, are considered. It is suggested that such techniques be incorporated in teacher education and evaluated experimentally. (Author)