Stress in School Teachers

Abstract

The study was conducted on 256 (196 males and 60
females) elementary, junior, and high school teachers. Its major
purpose was to assess me sources of stress among teachers. 80th
quantitative and qualitative meth9ds of analyses were employed.
The first task performed was correlating stress and job satisfaction
indicators. The results indicated that self reported stress score was
negatively associated with job satisfaction, career commitment and
with intention to leave teaching. Its association with total days of
absence was positive but the association failed to reach significance
in the casf] of intention to leave teaching (p= 0.05). About sixty
seven percent of the teachers rated teaching as 'very' or 'extremely'
stressful. Many of these teachers (36 percent) aspired job change
outside teaching. Younger, less experienced, and less qualified
teachers felt greater experiences of stress than older, more
experienced and more qualified teachers. In general, teachers
seemed to be in a very stressful condition. Generally, conditions of
employment such as poor working conditions, Jow pay, low
professional recognition, ineffective administration and evaluation
were identified as major sources of stress and/or dissatisfaction
more than professional aspects of. teaching. Therefore, due
consideration should be given to teachers' conditions of employment
so that the severity of stress among teachers could be reduced.