Recognizing Anxiety in Students and Teachers By Olusola

Imagine a child who is usually enthusiastic, yet cries every morning when it is time for school, or an educator who snaps at every simple correction. Who would rather sleep at home than have a catch-up time with other colleagues? These and more are ways by which we can identify anxiety in both students and educators. 

Anxiety is a natural human emotion characterised by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes like an increased heart rate. While normal anxiety helps people cope with temporary challenges such as public speaking, debates or presentations.  Chronic or excessive anxiety can interfere with daily life. When this emotional state is triggered by the academic, social, or professional pressures of education, it manifests as school-based anxiety.

For many individuals, a school is not just a place of learning or employment; it is a high-pressure environment that triggers a constant state of vulnerability and physical distress. School-based anxiety compromises the nervous system, disrupting the ability to perform, socialise, and function, and this is not only about the students or pupils but also the educators. 

Root Causes of Anxiety

Anxiety doesn't appear in a vacuum. It's usually caused by the following:

1. Highly sensitive and judgmental environment: For a child, this may include constant shouting or excessive scolding for every misstep. For an educator, this includes an environment of condemnation rather than constructive criticism, where nothing is ever "good enough" or where staff are pitted against one another as watchdogs.

2. The struggle to discern right from wrong: Constant second-guessing in an unpredictable environment.

3. Labelling and Condemnation: think of any form of Verbal abuse, such as being told "your writing is bad," "you’re not trying," or being called "lazy" or "not smart."

What Anxiety Looks Like in a Student

Student anxiety often centers on evaluation, peer perception, and academic performance, turning routine school days into monumental hurdles. Aside from headaches and stomach aches, the physical signs include:

 Morning Dread: Waking up with a tight chest, nausea, or a racing heart before the day begins.

Sensory Overload: Feeling overwhelmed by loud hallways and slamming lockers, or a total disinterest in activities.

Cognitive and Academic Hurdles

 Brain Fog: An inability to focus on lectures or retain reading material because the brain is prioritising perceived threats over processing data.

Perfectionism Paralysis: Excessive worrying over making a mistake, causing students to delay or entirely fail to hand in assignments, and avoidance of class participation, except when they are explicitly called upon.

Fear of Performance: Experiencing intense panic when called on unexpectedly, resulting in a completely blank memory despite knowing the answer.

Social and Behavioural Friction

Hyper-Self-Consciousness: Living with the persistent feeling that every peer is judging or laughing at your clothes, walk, or speech.

Avoidance Tactics: Skipping specific classes, hiding in restrooms,  or feigning illness to be sent home or to the sick bay.

Defensive Outbursts: Exhibiting misinterpreted irritability, defiance, or sudden emotional meltdowns triggered by accumulated stress.

What Anxiety Looks Like in a Teacher

Teachers carry the heavy burden of managing dozens of students while meeting strict administrative demands. When an educator experiences anxiety, it directly affects their instructional delivery, stamina, and emotional resilience, and it can manifest in the following ways:

Classroom Performance and Control

Hyper-Vigilance: Scanning the classroom constantly, anticipating behavioral issues or disruptions before they happen, making it impossible to relax.

Imposter Syndrome: Living in perpetual fear of a surprise observation by administration or colleagues, feeling exposed or inadequate despite years of successful teaching.

Over-Preparation: Spending exhaustive, unpaid hours creating overly detailed lesson plans to control every micro-second of the day, driven by a fear of losing classroom order.

Physical and Emotional Exhaustion

Sunday Scaries: Experiencing severe insomnia, racing thoughts, and gastrointestinal distress over the weekend in anticipation of Monday morning.

Vocal and Physical Tension: Experiencing a tight throat, shallow breathing, or a shaky voice while lecturing, alongside physical exhaustion from constant muscle bracing.

Compassion Fatigue: Becoming emotionally drained by absorption of student traumas, leaving the teacher with no emotional bandwidth for their own life.

Professional and Social Withdrawal

Isolation from Peers: Avoiding the faculty lounge, skipping staff meetings when optional, and keeping the classroom door locked during prep periods to escape interaction.

Irritability and Low Tolerance: Responding to minor student infractions or sudden administrative changes with uncharacteristic frustration, snapping, or visible agitation.

Hyper-Sensitivity to Feedback: Interpreting constructive critiques from principals or minor complaints from parents as catastrophic proof of professional failure.

What an anxious School Day looks like

Morning 

Students: Procrastinating, refusing to get dressed, and complaining of sickness.

Teachers: Extreme fatigue, dreading difficult classes, checking email excessively.                  

In Class    

Students: Keeping the head down, avoiding eye contact, freezing when called on

Teachers: Rapid pacing, rushing through material, and overreacting to minor disruptions.          

Lunch/Breaks

Students: Hiding in quiet zones, social withdrawal, playing or sitting alone.

Teachers: Locking the classroom door, skipping lunch, and grading obsessively to stay busy.

After School

Students: Total exhaustion from masking stress, emotional venting at home.  

Teachers: Bringing massive piles of grading home, inability to mentally "switch off."

Moving Forward

School anxiety is highly treatable, and identifying these signs in both students and staff is the first step toward relief. Approaches like Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT), institutional workflow adjustments, mental health days, and targeted classroom accommodations can make a profound difference.

If severe anxiety continues to disrupt the educational environment, consulting a healthcare professional or an occupational support specialist can provide the necessary framework for recovery.

Whether you are a parent noticing "morning dread" at home or an educator feeling the weight of "perfectionism paralysis," you don't have to navigate this alone. Open communication is the first step toward a healthier school environment.

YOUR TURN 👇

What is one strategy you’ve used to help a child (or yourself) feel more secure during a high-pressure school week? Share your thoughts in the comments below.