This study explores the concepts of adversity, the facets of adversity and the nature of adversity and how teachers cope under these adversarial conditions. Adversity is a phenomenon that is challenging to grasp yet it affects people daily. In this study, “those people” are the teachers whom I have engaged with. Adversity comes in different forms and under different circumstances and is very much a part of every persons life. These forms include physical structures, emotional inter-relationships and social interaction with teachers, learners and the community. Adversity in the context of this study means to have a great measure of misfortune, hardships, difficulty, danger, harsh conditions and hard times as these have negative connotations to it. The participants in this study share, impart, reveal and disclose both their personal experiences at home, with their families and professional experiences at school with the main stakeholders being the learners. The professional experience of adversity includes teacher intensification, for example, more administrative work, large class sizes, teaching second and third language learners, lack of promotion opportunities, educators with HIV/ AIDS, lack of educational resources such as computers and overhead projectors, changing curriculum, multicultural educational challenges, more meetings during school time and school fund raising. Educators salaries and their qualifications were another issue that needed to be addressed. Teachers reflect on their efforts to pursue tertiary studies, the cost they have incurred and the sacrifices they have made to achieve their diplomas and degrees. With this in mind teachers find that the remuneration they receive for the sacrifices they have made certainly do not match the efforts of their endeavors. Years of studying and the intellectual capacity needed to acquire a teaching diploma and degree remain unrewarded. Teachers continue to compare the salaries of employees in the private sector to those of the public sector. Teaching therefore, seems to more of a service than that of a ‘job’. The financial rewards for teachers continue to allude them. The state does not provide sufficient incentives for teachers to remain in the profession. Therefore, many teachers look for ‘greener pastures’ .Teachers find employment outside the teaching profession in the private sector or even x emigrate to cities like London to seek better financial rewards. Teachers acknowledge that to teach, one requires passion and dedication and zeal for it. This study concentrates on how teachers cope, manage, handle and deal with such conditions in the school setting. These conditions include high volumes of administration, learner apathy, miscommunication with senior management and the employer, handling difficult learners and parents and coping with limited resources. This study reveals how teachers survive these difficult conditions. It further explores the reasons and factors that motivate these teachers to continue teaching. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

Teacher attrition is common in developed, developing and underdeveloped countries. School principals are tasked with a responsibility to oversee that teaching and learning takes place as smoothly and efficiently as possible and to handle whatever disturbance that takes place in a school including teacher. Teacher attrition affects them directly as it interferes with planning and daily routine in the school. There are many factors which influence teacher attrition such as poor working conditions, poor pay, stress, pursuit of “greener pastures” and many others. This study seeks to explore and document the experiences of school principals regarding teacher attrition. It is a case study of four school principals from Umlazi district. The main research question is: What are the experiences of school principals with regards to teacher attrition? The purpose is to document the experiences of school principals and; to identify factors which influence teacher attrition. I intend to examine challenges experienced by principals with regards to teacher attrition and to find out how principals manage these challenges. This is a qualitative study from an interpretive approach. It explores the experiences of school principals after a teacher transfers, resigns or even dies. Case study is used because of the nature of the study (small scale). Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. These recorded and transcriptions were done personally. Data was coded according to emerging themes during analysis then interpreted in order to make meaning. Sampling is purposeful and school principals both at Primary and Secondary school level are the respondents as I believed their experiences would not be the same. The findings revealed that the common experiences of school principals during teacher attrition were frustration and stress; disruption of learning and compromised student performance and lack of support of the Department of Education. Resignations were influenced by job dissatisfaction and jobrelated stress. These forced teachers to pursue “greener pastures” in the business sector as well as private sector. It also emerged that school principals were experiencing a lot of frustrating and stressful challenges during teacher attrition and most of them found it hard to cope with these challenges. They also complained about the lack of support from the education department. The findings are based only on data collected during interviews. v These findings are going to help the Department of Education to devise new strategies that will help school principals cope better with teacher attrition and also find ways of speeding up the teacher replacement process in order to prevent loss of contact time. Principals also got a platform to voice their concerns whilst they shared their experiences. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

The main purpose of the study was to explore the relationships between self concepts of beginning teachers as measured before and after an internship year. The second purpose of the study was to examine whether there were significant differences between beginning elementary teachers' expectations/experiences, attitudes and views before and after a year of participation in the Beginning Teacher Internship Program. A comparison of differences in perceptions between the findings obtained from the beginning elementary teachers and their cooperating principals was also conducted.The populations for the study included 138 beginning elementary teachers and 120 cooperating principals.Nine research questions were developed and tested using the data from participants who responded to this research. The t test at the .05 level of significant difference was administered in this study.The following results were obtained:1. There were no significant differences in the self concepts of beginning teachers from before participation in comparison to those self concepts held after a year's participation in the Beginning Teacher Internship Program as measured by the Self-perception Inventory. Within the instrument, three items of 36 yielded significant differences.2. There were significant differences before the start of the internship year between the expectations (7 of 12 items), attitudes (6 of 10 items), and views (3 of 3 items) held by beginning teachers and those held by their cooperating principals. Beginning teachers held more positive expectations, attitudes and views than did their cooperating principals.3. There were significant differences in 11 of 12 items after a year's experience with BTIP between the reported experiences of beginning teachers and the observed experiences of beginning teachers as reported by their principals. Beginning teachers reported more positive experiences than their principals.4. There were significant differences between the expectations/experiences (11 of 13 items), and attitudes (6 of 10 items) held by beginning teachers before and after participation in the BTIP.The educational implications of these findings were presented. Recommendations for further research and replication were also presented. / Department of Educational Leadership

<p>The aim of this paper was to identify the sources of stress for teachers involved with inclusive education as well as whether there is a statistically significant difference in stress experienced by teachers based on their biographical details. In this research the focus was on intellectual disability.</p>

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Australian Centre for Educational Studies, Special Education Centre, 2006. / Bibliography: leaves 458-476. / Introduction -- Teacher perceptions of troublesome classroom behaviour -- Troublesome classroom behaviour and teacher stress in New South Wales secondary classrooms: Part I -- Troublesome classroom behaviour and teacher stress in New South Wales secondary classrooms: Part II -- Troublesome classroom behaviour and teacher stress in New South Wales secondary classrooms: Part III -- Student perceptions of the classroom environment in New South Wales secondary classrooms -- Natural rates of teacher approval and disapproval in the classroom -- Natural rates of teacher approval and disapproval in secondary classrooms in New South Wales -- Differential teacher attention to boys and girls in the classroom -- Differential teacher attention to boys and girls in New South Wales secondary classrooms -- Perceptions versus reality: behavioural interactions between teachers and students in New South Wales secondary classrooms. / The focus of this thesis is troublesome classroom behaviour and the behavioural interactions between teachers and students in secondary school. Following a review of the extant research literature, Section A of the thesis reports a study examining the perceptions of 145 secondary teachers from New South Wales with regard to behaviours they find troublesome in their classrooms. Talking out of turn was clearly identified as the classroom behaviour of most concern, most frequently occurring and, importantly, the main misbehaviour of the most troublesome individual students. In two studies completed in parallel, it was similarly shown that teachers who identified themselves as having particular difficulties with classroom behaviour, or who had identified ten percent or more of their class as troublesome, experienced higher levels of stress related to classroom behaviour and their students perceived the classroom environment to be characterised by differential treatment of students. Section B of the thesis comprises observational studies of teachers and classroom behaviour with a substantial focus on student and teacher gender. Reviews of the literature on teachers' "natural" use of approval and disapproval and on differential teacher behaviour towards boys and girls were followed by two parallel studies. The first study, involving 79 New South Wales secondary school teachers and their classes, showed that while teachers typically responded to students with more approval than disapproval, almost all approval was reserved for academic behaviour whereas approval for appropriate classroom behaviour was very infrequent. Teachers typically reprimanded students for inappropriate behaviour at a very high rate. The second study showed that boys attracted far more teacher responses than girls but that most of this involved reprimands for inappropriate behaviour. Section C of the thesis relates teacher perceptions to observed classroom behaviour. It was concluded that in classes with larger numbers of troublesome students there was reduced academic feedback to students and where teachers' rates of negative responding were higher there was a reduced perception of participation by students. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / vi, 500 leaves

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Relationships are regarded as an important aspect of any organization's life. The purpose of this study was to investigate staff perceptions and experiences of interpersonal relationships between management and lecturers in a Namibian College of Education. I conducted a case study at the College where I teach. Two methods were used to collect data. Firstly, semi-structured interviews with two management members, two senior lecturers and two lecturers. Secondly, observation where practical aspects of interpersonal relationships in the College were observed. I used the interpretational data analysis technique to analyse my data. Themes and patterns were identified in the data, coded and sorted into categories. The study revealed staff unhappiness about the current situation in the College as far as communication is concerned. The College's hierarchical structure was described as top-down. As such, it does not allow for face to face communication. There is an absence of any social cohesion or sense of community. Relationships at a College level are characterized by personal conflict and difference. However, the study revealed a satisfaction with communication and relationships at a dl'partmentallevel. Five key features of interpersonal communication that are lacking in the College and that contribute to the unhealthy relationships in the College were identified. These are trust, respect, openness, feedback and the sharing of ideas and knowledge. Due to their absence, the College is divided into cliques. A strong desire for the establishment of interpersonal norms of openness, respect, honesty and trust was expressed. Participants expressed the need to establish an organization structure that allows for interaction with others in the College, flatter structures, teamwork and a collaborative cultu re. The study also emphasized participative democracy in building relationships. Participation in decision making is seen as satisfying the personal need to experience a sense of influence and achievement. There is evidence of a desire for distributed leadership where the College staff as a group of professionals lead the College collectively and collaboratively. There is a strong desire for a College where people are liked , valued, accepted by others and recognized for their efforts. Finally, Organization Development is recommended as an approach to enhance College staff relationships.

M.Com. (Human Resource Management) / This research focused on the measurement of job satisfaction in two related faculties in a higher education institution comprising 300 academic staff. The research was quantitative and non-experimental. The Job Descriptive Index was used as the basis to determine the most significant factors that contribute to job satisfaction. Five factors were identified, namely the actual job, supervision, relations with co-workers, remuneration and promotion. Sub-factors relating to these factors were identified through an in-depth literature study. A questionnaire was compiled Oil the basis of essence of each of these sub-factors. A statistical analysis was done' using forced ranking, factor analysis, reliability analysis (Cronbach alpha), Friedman tests, spiderweb plots and correspondence analysis. From the results it is apparent that academics consider their work to be interesting, rewarding and challenging. Academics feel respected in their work context. Academics are satisfied with their supervision, which includes adequate planning and communication and the acknowledgement of excellent work. Academics are satisfied with their relations with co-workers. This includes a pleasant work environment, responsible co-workers and team work. Academics do not agree about remuneration. Most of the academics feel underpaid and regard promotion as a sensitive issue. Deviations in the results include routine work, fairness in remuneration, promotions based on equity policies and infrequent promotions. On the basis of the results of the study, it was recommended that the workload of academics should be examined, fairness in remuneration should be apparent, sound communication between the institution and its employees and the benefit of equity policies in promotions should be highlighted.

This study investigated job satisfaction/ dissatisfaction among business administration faculty at selected public Iranian universities. It also examined the relationship between faculty job satisfaction/ dissatisfaction and selected demographic and professional activity variables. Finally, the extrinsic and intrinsic factors associated with faculty job satisfaction were analyzed. It was also concluded that, despite a positive correlation of the intrinsic and the extrinsic factors, Herzberg's two-factor theory is a useful model in a faculty job satisfaction research. Furthermore, Hill's FJS was found to be reliable and valid for use in faculty job satisfaction studies in the colleges and universities in Iran.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between online readiness scores and online faculty job satisfaction. Online readiness was assessed using the Readiness for Education At a Distance Indicator (READI) assessment. The READI assessment tool incorporated the independent variables of learning preference, technical competency, technical knowledge, personal attributes, on-screen reading speed and comprehension, and typing speed and accuracy. Online faculty job satisfaction was assessed using the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF) job satisfaction questions. Analysis of variance was used to determine whether there was a difference in satisfaction based on individual instructor learning preferences. Correlation coefficients were used to analyze the relationships between the remaining independent variables and online instructor satisfaction. The sample population (N=110) consisted of online faculty members at Tarrant County College. Most of the statistical analyses revealed non-significant results at the .05 alpha level. However, a significant difference in satisfaction with equipment and facilities was found based on instructor learning preference. Additionally, a statistically significant negative correlation was found between online instructor technical competency and satisfaction with benefits.