Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemTeacher stress in day special schools for intellectually disabled students( 1987)The purpose of this study was three-fold to identify a) the sources of teacher stress b) the extent of teacher stress and c) the perceived health problems related to stress among 111 teachers in Victorian Day Special schools for intellectually disabled students. A confidential self report questionnaire based on the design context and measures of that used by Dr Rosemarie Otto was administered to teachers in six schools five of which were located in the Melbourne Metropolitan Area and one in a country town. Implicit to the design of the study was the assumption that teachers can provide reliable reports of their perceptions as to the sources of stress related to their work. The definition of stress used in this study was an alteration of physical and psychological homeostasis resulting from aspects of the teacher's job which are perceived as threats to the individual's well being and self esteem because they a) do not meet his/her needs or expectations or b) make demands which are beyond his/her resources to cope. There were four general findings. A significantly smaller percentage of teachers in Special schools perceive their job as 'highly stressful' (12/) when compared with the findings of Otto's studies of High Technical and Primary school teachers which consistently found more than 337. The major stressors for the Special Education teachers in this study were 1) disturbed and anti-social student behaviour 2) time and work-load pressures 3) problems related to the dual roles of work and home 4) negative community attitudes towards teachers and intellectually disabled students 5) a perceived alienation from the Ministry of Education and 6) aspects related to school administrative structures and staff tensions. The most commonly reported symptoms and medical conditions experienced (respiratory and throat) were closely aligned with those found by Otto. A small group (approximately 12/) of the Special educators perceived many aspects of teaching stressful and that these stresses occurred frequently The perceptions of this small group of teachers accounted for between a third and a half of all teacher reports of stress. Some aspects of being a Special Education teacher stress most teachers and should be alleviated Some teachers are stressed by most aspects of teaching and may well be advised to reconsider their vocation.
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ItemTeacher stress in secondary technical education( 1990)A questionnaire survey was used to investigate the prevalence and sources of stress, and coping actions, among 107 teachers from five inner suburban secondary technical schools in Melbourne. The study examined relationships between perceived teacher stress levels, certain biographical characteristics (gender, age, full-time teaching experience, classification, teaching area, previous part-time teaching experience, academic qualifications, and teaching qualifications), the personality dimension of "external locus of control" (as measured using the Rotter (1966) Internal-External (I-E) locus of control scale), three 'indicators' or response correlates of teacher stress (job satisfaction, absenteeism, and intention to leave teaching), sources of stress, and perceived ways of coping with stress. In particular, the study investigated the role of teacher biographical characteristics and the role of the teacher's belief in external control in the experience of perceived occupational stress, and looked critically at their respective usefulness in explaining any differences in the various stress experiences. Self-reported teacher stress was found to be negatively associated with job satisfaction (r=-0.34; p<0.01) and positively associated with both absenteeism (r=0.19; p<0.05) and intention to leave teaching (r=0.29; p<0.01). A principal components analysis of the source of stress, followed by varimax rotation, yielded four factors, labelled: 'Student Resistance', 'Professional Constraints', 'Time and Work Constraints', and 'Work Pressures'. A similar factor analysis of the coping actions yielded a three-factor solution. The factors were labelled: 'Personal Direct Actions', 'Psycho-Somatic Actions', and 'Interpersonal Actions'. Factor scores were generated and analysed for both sources of stress and coping actions. Significant differences were found for some biographical characteristics: gender, teaching area, and academic qualifications with the stress factor "Time and Work Constraints"; age with the coping factor "Interpersonal Actions". No significant differences were found for external locus of control (belief in external control) with stress factor perceptions while weak but significant associations were found for the coping factor perceptions "Personal Direct Actions" and "Interpersonal Actions". Significant differences were found for some response correlates: 'intention to leave teaching' and 'job satisfaction' with the stress factor "Student Resistance"; 'job satisfaction' with coping factors "Psycho-Somatic Actions" and "Interpersonal Actions". For the sample studied, the results indicated that student issues were clearly the major sources of stress for most teachers and that about one-in-four teachers were "highly stressed". The selected biographical characteristics, although bearing little relationship to overall self-reported teacher stress, did partially explain stress factor perceptions and coping factor perceptions of teachers. On the other hand, 'external locus of control', as measured by Rotter's (1966) I-E locus of control scale, was found to be an inappropriate personality variable for use in most considerations of the stress perceptions of teachers. Stress factor perceptions reflected the multidimensionality of the stress concept and were found to be relatively independent measures of perceived teacher stress. Further research in these and other areas was suggested.
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ItemSocial support and the stress process in organisations( 1990)A general process of stress in organisations is proposed. The process comprises four stages which describe the path from environmental events to outcomes such as dissatisfaction and absenteeism. The general process contrasts external with internal events as well as stressors with strains and is used to integrate diverse and contradictory concepts of stress. It is argued that generality enables comparison across organisational contexts and across levels of analysis. A review of the social support literature identified four major types of support proposed to operate in organisations and which influence the operation of the stress process in complex ways. A questionnaire was developed to explore the stress process as well as support from co-workers, immediate supervisors and senior managers. Employees from three occupations - nurses, teachers and public administrators - responded to the questionnaire and the results were explored through a combination of exploratory and confirmatory procedures. Analysis of the stress process established substantial similarities across occupations. Central to the interpretation of results was the distinction between qualitative and quantitative stressors. Qualitative stressors were related to a dimension of engagement in the work environment while quantitative stressors were associated with overload. Two consistent dimensions of support were established across occupations: emotional and feedback support. Although the stress process and the two types of support were substantially consistent in the three occupations, there were marked differences in the way support was incorporated into the stress process for each occupation. Implications for the general model and the incorporation of social support are discussed for each occupation. The general process provides a means for integrating diverse perspectives of stress and social support. The establishment of organisational similarities provides a basis for the elaboration of contextual differences.
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ItemTeacher burnout and its relationship to social support( 1989)The purposes of this study were to examine the nature of burnout and social support among Victorian Government high school teachers, and to describe the extent to which sources and types of social support were statistically significant predictors of teacher burnout. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected by a 52-item questionnaire which was mailed through school principals to a random sample of 550 Victorian Government high school teachers. The 491 usable returns represented an 89 percent response rate from teachers, and 229 or 82 percent of government high schools. The questionnaire developed for this study and entitled, Job Survey for Victorian Government High School Teachers contained four sections: Section A, Background Information; Section B, Social Support; Section C, Human Services Survey; and Section D, Personal Comments. The study was descriptive and used statistical techniques such as means, standard deviations and frequencies in the analysis of data. The study was also exploratory and used step-wise multiple linear regression analysis, analysis of variance, .t-tests and factor analysis in data analysis. Victorian Government high school teachers recorded low to moderate mean scores for Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization burnout compared with the established norms, but a higher than average level of Personal Accomplishment burnout. Male teachers reported higher levels of Depersonalization burnout compared with female teachers. Higher levels of burnout across all sub-scales were recorded by teachers who stated a preference to leave education, who indicated their work was not at all or seldom interesting, and who perceived their work to be considerably to extremely stressful. The youngest teachers recorded the highest levels of Emotional Exhaustion burnout, and the most experienced teachers recorded the lowest on this sub-scale and on Depersonalization burnout. Higher levels of Personal Accomplishment burnout were recorded by teachers who had been in their current position for more than six years, who reported a fifty percent consistency between teacher .training and task, and who desired to leave education. Teachers considered types of social support were more helpful in coping with burnout than sources of support. Listening/concern/trust was identified as the most helpful type and peer group teachers the most supportive source. The youngest teachers reported the principal provided the least support: and female teachers provided more support and considered social support more helpful to them than did male teachers. The principal as a source of support was the statistically significant predictor of each of the burnout sub-scales. Emotional Depersonalization burnout were Exhaustion best predicted and by listen.ing/concern/trust and time as types of support, while Personal Accomplishment was best predicted by advice/information, listening/concern/trust and feedback. Sources and types of social support identified by teachers as the most helpful to them in coping with burnout were peer group teachers, listening/concern/trust, and feedback. It was concluded that the high level of Personal Accomplishment burnout in Victorian Government high school teachers was related to insufficient recognition and rewards, and inadequate administrative support.