SMK Georgetown teachers honed their resilience skills in handling challenges in the workplace at a workshop conducted by DISTED College.

“Some teachers encounter a lot of stress as they don’t know how to manage workload and deal with students,” said Farah Sheikh Abdul Rahman, SMK Georgetown principal.

“In my school, we’ve to deal with a student population of 700 boys and 200 girls. To better handle the students, effective leadership and counselling skills are essential for our teachers,” she said.

SMK Georgetown teachers at the stress, anxiety and leadership mangement training held at DISTED.

Farah and her teachers attended a workshop on stress, anxiety and leadership management conducted by DISTED College on 20 June 2009.

“This training is part of our in-service programmes,” said Susie Lim, the school’s in-service training secretary.

“Stress handling skills are useful as teachers have to cope with a lot of paperwork and deal with student indiscipline besides the teaching tasks,” said Susie, who is also the library and media teacher.

SMK Georgetown principal Farah Sheikh Abdul Rahman (second from right) attending the stress, anxiety and leadership management workshop at DISTED with her teachers including administration senior assistant Chew Feng Boo (right).

The teachers took a professional life stress test with the guidance of trainer Sydney David Marshall De Silva.

“The stress questionnaire is a guide for them to identify their individual level of stress and the stressors as well as to clarify their thinking about their own lives,” he said.

“Oftentimes the problem about stress is not stress itself but that we do not take action to address it,” said Sydney, who is also DISTED hospitality lecturer.

On coping with stress, he advised: “Feeling good about yourself can be an effective buffer against stress.”

He also spoke about de-stressing from the physical, mental and spiritual perspectives.

“Self-management skills such as task prioritising are essential to handle stress. Taking up a hobby, learning something new and doing physical exercise are helpful too,” Sydney told the teachers during the event held on 20 June 2009 at the college.

DISTED lecturer Sydney David Marshall De Silva (standing) speaking on stress management to SMK Georgetown teachers.

Kolej Disted-Stamford
340 Macalister Road, 10350 Penang, Malaysia
Tel: 604-2296579
E-mail: info@disted.edu.my
Website: www.disted.edu.my