ADVERSITY QUOTIENT OF TEACHERS

RONA D. REYES

Workload, pressure and stress. These are words that you will see in the social networking sites and all of them are pertaining to the herculean tasks given to the public school teachers. The volume of workload are said to put pressure on teachers and will result in stress and worst is depression that may lead to death.

Even before we are hired to the public schools, we already know that teaching is not only confined within the four corners of the classroom. Many write ups are already published and printed stating the situation of the teachers inside and outside the school premises. It is already a public knowledge that teachers have enormous duties and responsibilities, which makes the profession the noblest one.

In this situation, teachers just need to be prepared and strengthen their adversity quotient. According to Stoltz, AQ refers to the ability of an individual to withstand, conquer, and overcome challenges or adversities of life either personal or professional.

Teachers do face different adversities that contributes to the pressure and stress they feel. However, it is also noted that teachers should know how to handle these adversities. Stoltz noted that they should have control over themselves. Having a strong composure despite challenges is the start to overcome them. In addition, they should own the problems and blame no one for the cause of challenges. Their strong reach on the problems contribute on how they can withstand the challenges. Lastly, they should learn how to endure these challenges so their works will not be affected.

To lessen pressure and stress, improving teachers’adversity quotient will be of great help.

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The author is Teacher III at Jalung Elementary School