This paper reviews the literature on teaching conditions, stress variables, and demands placed upon teachers, focusing on the situation in Belgium. Researchers examined whether and how teachers in Flemish elementary schools experienced intense, stressful, and negative working conditions, focusing on which forms of stressors and negative conditions existed, the impact of growing demands and expectations upon teachers, mediating elements in this process, and characteristics of the school organization as a mediator. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews with a principal, a part-time teacher, and three classroom teachers, and from staff room conversations and informal chats with school team members. Results indicated that hard working team members stimulated each other to respond to the new demands. This happened without any structuring by the principal. Teachers evaluated the advantages to students when determining whether or not an external demand was valuable. Although respondents coped in different ways, they had one issue in common: all teachers wanted to balance their professional and personal lives without doing any harm to the students. (Contains 53 references.) (SM)