A Study Of The Status Quo Of College Counselors’ Work Pressure

Work pressure, also called occupational stress, refers to a worker’ abnormal reaction, both physical and mental, to changes of the surroundings in his work. Work pressure as a term came into being in the 1920s. Since then, research on college counselors’ work pressure has become gained increasing attention. College counselors is a special group of teachers in colleges, therefore, their work pressure is more special. Since the 1990s relevant research in China has been in full swing. College counselors are the backbone of guides to the healthy growth of college students and ideological and political education. However, due to the heavy work load, blocked promotion channels, low pay, ambiguous role positioning and the unreasonable expectations of from the mass, counselors are under great pressure. Heavy pressure causes them to feel less happiness, more job burnout and severe apathy towards their work. These adverse consequences will have a negative effect on the stability of college counselors as a whole and on the cultivation of qualified graduates. This study, by means of questionnaire survey and individual interviews, analyzes the status quo of the work pressure of counselors in Zhengzhou University, Henan University of Technology and SIAS International College of Zhengzhou University, especially the harms caused by the pressure, explores the reasons behind and proposes suggestions to lessen their work pressure.