Stress in the school has been a conceptualization of difficult agreement and therefore, of complex description. The main research carried out in this area comes from educational psychology whose interest lies in describing the skills, strategies and evolutionary characteristics that facilitate coping with stressful situations in children and adolescents, allowing the deployment of both internal and external responses that are adaptive and adaptive. that do not predispose to subsequent developmental pathologies or interfere with academic achievement.
The term stress in the school has not been defined by the clinical literature. However, children and adolescents in school are faced with situations of high demand and require the deployment of all their coping skills to adapt to stressors. both internal and external, according to the evolutionary stage reached. The symptoms associated with stress accompany adaptive, anxious, behavioral and emotional conditions that affect the balance of the psychic, affective, cognitive and social state of the students.
Most of the stress time or situations that cause stress occur in the daily space in which children and adolescents develop, so without a doubt the school is a place of daily development that can affect the general stability of the student. To evaluate the individual meaning of stressors, it is important to consider the content of the stress-generating situations and the intensity or subjective meaning that each individual attributes to what they experienced. According to Lazarus and Folkman, to define psychosocial stress, it is important to consider the “particular relationship between the individual and the environment, which is evaluated by the latter as threatening or overflowing their resources and endangering their well-being”. From this point of view, the psychological resources of each individual play a preponderant role when evaluating a certain environmental situation as a generator or not of stress.
School stress can be understood as the body’s response to stressors that occur within the educational space and that directly affect student performance. If a student assesses that the requirements or demands placed on him in a given school situation exceed his competence, he feels stressed. Some factors that should be considered as precursors of school stress are excessive responsibilities, high workload or tasks inside and outside the educational establishment, teacher evaluations, competitiveness, fear of failure or not achieving self-imposed goals. or stipulated from outside, parental pressure, peer group acceptance, peer rivalry, changes in eating habits and sleep schedules, and cognitive fatigue.
PRESENT SYMPTOMS IN PEOPLE UNDER STRESS
• INVOLUNTARY PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS
- Tachycardia
- Increased blood pressure
- Increased respiratory activity
- Hyper-sweating
- Pupillary dilatation
- Tremors
- State of general arousal
- Insomnia-Hypersomnia
- Dry mouth
- Headaches
• PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS
- Concern
- Unrest
- Irritability
- Diffuse fear
- Decreased vigilance
- Disorganization of the train of thought
- Decreased intellectual performance
- Temporo-spatial disorientation
- Scattered attention
• BEHAVIORAL SYMPTOMS
- Inability to relax
- Perplexity
- Alert situation
- Muscle tension
- Aimless walks
- Frequent crashes
- Disproportionate responses to external stimuli
Stressors that occur within the educational space and that directly affect student performance. If a student assesses that the requirements or demands placed on him in a given school situation exceed his competence, he feels stressed. Some factors that should be considered as precursors of school stress are excessive responsibilities, high workload or tasks inside and outside the educational establishment, teacher evaluations, competitiveness, fear of failure or not achieving self-imposed goals. or stipulated from outside, parental pressure, peer group acceptance, peer rivalry, changes in eating habits and sleep schedules, and cognitive fatigue.
The World Health Organization, as part of the school mental health program, raises the need to promote the healthy comprehensive development of students, thus preventing the early appearance of developmental pathologies. Despite the lack of a clinical approach to school stress, among the protective factors, the need to develop the ability to cope with stress and manage stressful situations stands out.
The clinical guide prioritizes the prevention and early treatment of initial symptoms in schoolchildren and provides some intervention indications for pathologies associated with stress.
Breathing exercises
• Gradual muscle relaxation
• Problem solving techniques
• Enhance strengths and skills
• Identify parents or relatives who provide emotional support
• Return to adaptive habits and schedules
• Resume rewarding recreational activities