Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Sielkundige Opvoedkunde)

The purpose of the study was to determine if a relationship existed among perceived stressful situations in the classroom and the amount of perceived stress among female secondary classroom teachers in Indiana.The population of the study consisted of 268 female secondary classroom teachers randomly selected by computer at the Indiana Department of Education.Three instruments were used in the study. The first instrument, General Information, was used to gather demographic data pertaining to Age Group, Years of Experience, Type of School System, Population of School System, Enrollment of Secondary School, Subject Area taught, and Grade Level(s) taught. The second instrument, Perceived Stress Questionnaire, was used to indicate the amount of perceived stress experienced by respondents. The third instrument, Perceived Needs in Stress Counseling, was used to indicate the type of counseling respondents perceived needed in order to help teachers deal with stress. The Perceived Stress Questionnaire and Perceived Needs in Stress Counseling Questionnaire employed a Likert-type scale with five degrees provided from which to choose: About 10% or less of the time, About 25% of the time, About 50% of the time, About 75% of the time, and About 90% or more of the time.The data were analyzed by frequency response percentages and cross tabulation for the General Information items, Perceived Stress Questionnaire items, and for Perceived Needs in Stress Counseling items.The following findings and conclusions were based on a review of the literature as presented in the study and the results of the data collected:1. Student threats and physical attacks are major sources of stress among discipline problems for teachers.2. Administrators not supportive of teachers in conflict situations in the presence of students are a predominant stress factor.3. Students not cooperative in class are a major source of stress for responding teachers.4. Student Apathy and lack of volunteerism in class are not major sources of stress among respondents.5. Parents defending their child's misbehavior are a major source of stress among Lack of Parental Support items.6. The majority of teachers responding did not desire stress counseling to assist them in dealing with classroom stress.

There is little or no information regarding stress levels among teachers in semi-rural government secondary schools in South Africa. Furthermore, findings regarding the relationship between gender, age and teaching experience and teacher stress appear to be equivocal. The present study aims to examine the levels of stress among a group of semirural secondary school teachers, and whether there is a relationship between stress levels and gender, age, teaching experience and medical/psychiatric treatment. The researcher employed a survey using the Professional Life Stress Scale (PLSS) to assess teachers' stress levels. The demographic checklist consisted of the following items: gender, age, length of service in the teaching profession, psychiatric or medical treatment during the previous 3 months. Participants included 102 teachers, 38 of whom were males and 64 were female, from 9 selected government schools in the Durban semirural area. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the sample. T-tests were used to determine the relationship between gender and total stress scores, as well as to determine gender differences on individual items on the PLSS. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to determine the relationship between age and teaching experience and total stress scores. Chi squares were used to determine whether there was a relationship between gender and category of stress. In addition, reasons for obtaining medical/psychiatric services were examined. The research findings indicate that these secondary teachers are experiencing high levels of stress and that gender, age, teaching experience have no significant effect on their levels of stress. In addition, few participants seek psychological and medical services and most participants report psychosomatic symptoms. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Sielkundige Opvoedkunde)

M.Ed. (Psychology of Education) / This research study originated from the belief that teachers in general, and secondary school teachers in particular, are under an inordinate amount of stress brought about largely as a result of their work as teachers and educators. Moving from that basic premise the research unfolded towards exploring at both theoretical and empirical level, the major causes and management of stress in education within a South African educational context. The study starts with a carefully structured Statement of the Problem, which provides valid reasons why this research is needed (i.e. the motivation for this study), it lists the key areas of concern under 'specific statement of problem', the details regarding the purpose and plan are made clear and finally the method of research is stated. The point is made in this chapter that the basic motive of this research study is to help teachers understand and manage stress in a far more efficient we. The second chapter introduces the challenges of Defining Stress and attempts to appraise several current definitions and approaches to this problem. After a consideration of the now classical General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), some pertinent reactions to stress are listed, the experience of stress is discussed and the three current approaches, or definitions of stress, namely: response-based, stimulus-based and interaction, are defined and debated.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Work in the field of Occupational Social Work, September 2017 / School violence over the years has been on an increase. It has been particularly known and researched that learners have been affected by such a persistent phenomenon (Burton & Leoschut, 2013). Notably, teachers themselves are increasingly becoming victims of school violence. It has been said that much of the school violence stems from the violent nature of society; violence in society being complex in nature (Mncube & Harber, 2012). Limited research has been directed towards exploring victimisation of teachers by their learners, hence the interest in the topic. In order for one to gain knowledge and insight in this topic, the qualitative approach and a case study design was used. The unit of analysis consisted of 5 high school teachers within the Johannesburg South Region. Snowballing, which is a type of non – probability sampling was used to identify participants. A semi – structured interview scheduled was used as a data gathering tool, during the face – to face interviews. The thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data collected, so as to find common themes and topics relevant to the study. As predicted, the study helped in gaining insights in understanding the consequences of school violence and bullying on teachers. It helped in understanding teachers’ experiences of school violence and the consequences it has in the workplace. Additionally, it assisted in gaining insight on what may contribute towards the creation of a healthier work environment. / XL2018

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the inhibitors affecting classroom teaching by surveying the perceptions of secondary teachers. This purpose was based on the growing crisis of "teacher burnout" which was thoroughly documented. Since it appears that burnout most often affects those teachers who work in conventional classrooms, characteristics of teaching effectiveness within these classrooms were the basis for inhibitor comparison. Seven characteristics were produced by a crosstabulation of studies on effective teaching spanning the last fifty years. The inhibitor choices presented with these seven characteristics were extracted from an extensive list produced by the literature and classified under six areas of origin. The characteristics and inhibitors ultimately selected were surveyed among teachers in a large Southwest metropolitan area.

A three-phase study was conducted. In the first phase, individual interviews were conducted with 15 secondary school teachers to develop indigenous items for assessing teacher burnout and lack of reciprocity. In the second phase, 187 secondary school teachers were included to determine the items of newly-developed instruments and to examine their psychometric properties. In the third phase, the aims were to examine the validity and reliability of each measurement, to analysis the relations between teacher burnout and demographic variables, and to explore the relationship among lack of reciprocity, ERI, meaning of life and teacher burnout in a sample of 509 teachers from 25 secondary schools in Changchun, China. / According to the relationship between teacher burnout and demographic variables, results indicated that younger teachers reported more EE and DP. Teachers of junior rank reported more burnout. Teachers who taught Chinese, mathematics and English reported more experience of EE than teachers who taught other subjects. / Based on the social exchange theory of burnout, the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model, and the existential theory of burnout, the purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship among investment-reward imbalance, meaning of life, and burnout among Chinese secondary school teachers. As one of the key variables in this study, investment-reward imbalance included two operational definitions which were named lack of reciprocity and ERI. / Limitations, theoretical and practical implications of the findings were also discussed. / Results showed that, based on the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the newly-modified Burnout Measurement consisted of three subscales: emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and reduced personal accomplishment (RPA). The self-developed Reciprocity Scale included three dimensions, namely, reciprocity in the relationship with students, intangible reciprocity in the relationship with the school, and tangible reciprocity in the relationship with the school. All measurements in this study were found to possess good validity and reliability. / Structural equation modeling was used to test a set of hypothetic models of the relationship among lack of reciprocity, ERI, meaning of life and teacher burnout. Results showed that, lack of reciprocity in the relationship with students positively influenced FE and RPA. Lack of intangible reciprocity in the relationship with the school was positively associated with RPA. Lack of tangible reciprocity in the relationship with the school was positively associated with EE. Among the three dimensions of lack of reciprocity, lack of reciprocity in the relationship with students is a more important predictor to teacher burnout than other components. ERI was positively associated with EE. Considering the two operational definitions of investment-reward imbalance in the prediction of teacher burnout, lack of reciprocity predicted RPA better than ERI, while ERI predicted EE better than lack of reciprocity. Meaning of life was negatively associated with EE, DP and RPA. In addition, results supported the hypothesis that EE influenced DP on the structure of teacher burnout. / 李歆瑤. / Advisers: Patrick S. Y. Lau; Alvin S. M. Leung. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-03, Section: A, page: 0875. / Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 138-153). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / School code: 1307. / Li Xinyao.