Whilst stress in teaching has received much attention in recent years, for teachers of children with special educational needs (SEN) specific stress‐related research is relatively rare. This study sought to address this issue by investigating stress, burnout and workload in teachers of children with special educational needs. A postal questionnaire was sent to 56 ordinary schools and eight schools for children with moderate learning difficulties (MLD), eight for children with severe learning difficulties (SLD) and eight for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD). The schools were situated in inner city, urban and rural areas in the south‐east of England. A total of 221 teachers responded. Results indicated that, whilst generalised claims for burnout may not be justified, within all three special school settings there was evidence of a high level of emotional exhaustion as measured by the education version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). In addition, all groups were subject to long hours of work, and work overload was high for ordinary school SEN teachers and teachers working in MLD and SLD settings. Reference to sources of intense stress indicated some differences according to setting but generally implicated workload and challenging behaviour. The conclusions are that further research into stress and burnout of SEN teachers is required if effective coping and preventative strategies are to be designed.

This paper addresses the possibility that teachers of children with severe learning difficulties (SLD) may be especially vulnerable to heightened stress levels. A postal questionnaire posing investigative questions relating to workload and sources and quality of stress was sent to eight SLD schools in inner city, urban and rural areas in the south-east of England. Fifty-seven SLD teachers responded. Results indicated that SLD teachers were subject to high workload and long hours of work. High scores were obtained for the variable Emotional Exhaustion as measured by the education version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Qualitative data identified workload and challenging behaviour as the most frequently cited sources of intense stress. Results are discussed with reference to the need to develop effective job-related coping strategies for SLD teachers.

Eighteen children referred to clinics because they lacked adequate motor competence and 18 well-coordinated children were compared on measures of goal-setting, selfconcept and locus of control. The results showed that the children with movement difficulties were unrealistic in the way they set goals for themselves, had lower selfesteem and were less inclined to accept responsibility for what might happen to them. The three different measures of self-regard did not, however, correlate with one another.

Summary. It is claimed that teacher stress research to date has addressed practical issues at the expense of theory, and that such theory as exists has been too cognitive. A theoretical account is developed which gives representation, (a) to affective as well as cognitive constructs, and (b) to clinical as well as experimental evidence. The account also recognises that triggering of disturbances is frequently non‐conscious or automatic, as well as the fact that stress can be experienced retrospectively or merely reflectively when no threat is present. Explanatory priority is assigned to the teacher's present emotional state which is seen to moderate “appraisal” of both interpersonal and intrapersonal sources of disturbance. For a given episode, the most general determinant of this present emotional state is located in the personality as core stress. The individual teacher then relates to potential stress situations via modes of interpersonal transaction which can offer varying degrees of stress protection. The model thus generated can be understood heuristically; within the present paper it is also used to develop an agenda for future research.