Thesis (Ph.D.)--George Mason University, 2009. / Vita: p. 167. Thesis director: Margo A. Mastropieri. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed June 10, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-166). Also issued in print.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1987. / Title from title page screen, viewed August 8, 2005. Dissertation Committee: Jeanne B. Morris, Kenneth H. Strand (co-chairs), James J. Johnson, Kathryn W. Smith, Fred A. Taylor. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-91) and abstract. Also available in print.

The purpose of the research was to investigate the level of job satisfaction of primary and secondary rural and farm school teachers in Gauteng West - D2. The following research questions were addressed: „X What is the nature of job satisfaction? „X What are the factors responsible for the job satisfaction and/or dissatisfaction of rural and farm school teachers? „X How can managers or those responsible for education create job satisfaction among rural and farm schoolteachers? In this study the researcher developed a questionnaire which was used as a measuring instrument for the research. The questionnaire was designed within the framework regarding levels of job satisfaction to improve performance. The questionnaire can be used for future research studies. The results of the study indicated that three of the 27 factors showed statistically significant differences, namely, types of school, highest educational qualifications and racial groups. The main conclusion drawn from the research is that rural and farm school teachers in Gauteng West-D2 are not satisfied with their environment and available facilities. Finally there is a need for a follow - up study to be conducted on all teachers in Gauteng West ¡V D2 to determine the level of job satisfaction of all teachers. / Ms. D. Groenewald

D.Ed. (Educational Management) / The learner teacher ratio is one of the factors that affects the quality of education provided in schools the national department of education (1992:6) indicated that one of the problems adversely affecting the overall quality of education in south Africa was, among others, not the shortage of educators but their unequal distribution. This unequal distribution of educators in schools was mainly due to the massive discrepancies in the amounts spent by the apartheid government on education departments (National Department of education, 1992:6 Coutts, 1996:131; University of Witswatersrand, 1997: 1)...

Classical management theory holds that an individual within a complex organization should receive orders from only one superior; thereby providing the worker with unity of command. While functional specialization within large organizations prevents the explicit application of the unity of command principle, current organizational theory recognizes the merit of the basic concept. The British Columbia Public Schools Act divides administrative functions above teachers between the Department of Education and local Boards of School Trustees. The Department is given complete authority for classification of teachers for certification, for curriculum content and textbooks, for work methods within the classroom, and for supervision and evaluation of teachers. The local Board is given complete authority for selection, hiring, promotion, assignment, and termination of teachers. This division of authority between the Department of Education and Boards of School Trustees violates the principle of unity of command; and produces fragmentation of authority in the administration of teachers and their employment. It was hypothesized that the degree to which a teacher recognized this fragmentation of authority would be directly related to the innovativeness of the teacher; and that job satisfaction would be inversely related to the recognition of authority fragmentation. Those teachers who are more innovative in their teaching methods should encounter the dichotomy in the process of obtaining authorization/equipment for novel teaching techniques. When the authority fragmentation thwarts the teacher's innovative efforts, job satisfaction should suffer. A teacher who is not innovative should have less opportunity to encounter the authority dichotomy, and should therefore feel greater job satisfaction. A questionnaire was designed to measure the degree to which teachers recognize authority fragmentation, the innovativeness of the teacher, and job satisfaction felt by the teacher. The questionnaire was validated using a panel who completed the form and were interviewed for their impressions of the items, and through a pilot mail survey. The questionnaire was then mailed to a random sample of B.C. school teachers. 121 useable responses were obtained from a total sample of 508 subjects. Item analysis was performed on completed questionnaires to detect set responses, and to establish construct validity. The items in the job satisfaction section of the form were factor analyzed to determine the number of satisfaction dimensions tapped by the instrument. The results of the questionnaires were scored to produce one score for innovativeness, five scores for recognition of authority fragmentation (one score for each dimension isolated), and five scores for job satisfaction (one score for each dimension of satisfaction isolated). Linear regression analysis was performed between innovation scores and authority fragmentation scores; and between authority fragmentation scores and job satisfaction scores. Regression analysis was also performed between job satisfaction and innovativeness directly to check for contradiction of the hypothesized mediating function of perception of authority conflict. Hotelling's T² statistic and t-tests were performed on job satisfaction scores when S's were sorted into subsets above and below the sample mean on both innovation and one authority fragmentation dimension at a time. Statistically significant correlations (p≤0.05) were found between innovativeness and four of the five dimensions of authority fragmentation, supporting the first stage of the hypothesis. Three of the twenty-five pairs of authority fragmentation dimensions and job satisfaction dimensions showed significant correlations, T-tests did not reveal significant differences between satisfaction scores when S's were sorted on innovation and authority fragmentation scores. The second stage of the hypothesis was not supported. The scatter of points around the regression line was large in each significant correlation. While the second stage of the hypothesis was not statistically supported, suggestive evidence was found which warrants further research. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of the influential factors of teacher stress in the special education settings: specifically, some cognitive aspects of the coping process. The importance of the study was summarized in terms of the reported incidence of teacher stress and the need to develop more effective stress intervention and prevention programs. A two-part study was designed to determine the differences in the coping processes of high- and low-stressed teachers in terms of particular cognitive variables. In the first part, high- and low-stressed teachers were differentiated on the basis of the responses of approximately 150 teachers to the Teacher Stress Inventory. In the second part, eleven subjects from each of the low- and high-stressed groups were interviewed. The interviews involved the recollection and report of stressful teaching-related incidents. Teachers were asked to rate each of their incidents in terms of self-evaluation, self-efficacy, outcome evaluation, and incident resolution. As well, they were asked to describe their coping behaviours and to explain what the consequences of the situations meant to them. Statistical and descriptive comparisons were made to determine if there were differences in the responses of the high- and low-stressed teachers. The most significant results of the study were that low-stressed teachers attributed more positive meaning to the consequences of stressful incidents, and that the responses of the low-stressed teachers reflected established philosophies and attitudes. These results have implications for counsellors who are interested in developing intervention and prevention programs and for individuals who conduct teacher-training programs. As well, teachers who feel ineffective at coping with stress are encouraged to seek guidance and to gain awareness of how they contribute to their experience of stress. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

A music teacher’s place of work—the school, the geographical focus of this dissertation—is always in a state of reform and thus what constitutes quality work within this space is also in constant flux. Contemporary schooling exists in and as a marketplace shaped by neoliberal policies, with goods managed by a cacophony of entities from governmental programs to private organizations. These policies are not only a structural change, but also a method of forming and reforming teachers. Necessarily—inevitably— policy changes what learning looks like, how it is accomplished, and who the music teacher is. The purpose of this study is to explore the lived experiences of music teachers who work and interact within the phenomenon of contemporary neoliberal-influenced schools. I examine how music teachers operate and think, maneuver and resist, choose and refuse, submit and comply within the forces that define the conditions of contemporary schools. This topic was examined through a phenomenological case study of a private non- profit organization that manages music teachers in public school settings. Data came from the lived experiences of 8 music teachers, which were elicited through interviews and observations, as well as participant-researcher journals and document collection. Analysis indicated that the phenomenon of contemporary schooling is unique in the ways that teachers enter into the new space, the ways in which work towards or in opposition to performance expectations, and the ways in which they find support in working through perceived contradictions. Implications reveal the ways that education policies shape teacher identity and quality teaching and learning.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

M.A. / Employee assistance program (EAP) is one service model that are designed to assist troubled employees in the workplace. Its feasibility has been experienced in many different contexts. However, the school is somewhat neglected in this respect, and few EAP’s are known to exist in the school system. This study will contribute to the introduction of EAP’s within the school environment because EAP is perceived as only applicable on the companies and organisations. The goal of the study is to conduct a need assessment of teachers regarding the feasibility of an EAP in the school environment. The objectives of the study is to conduct literature study of EAP models, to develop a questionnaire for data collection, conduct survey on the teachers of the target schools, analyse data and test hypothesis and make recommendations regarding the feasibility of an EAP. The study was conducted with teachers from the low veld region in northern province. 50 teachers have completed a questionnaire. In the results the researcher found that the teacher like any other employee has problems, which can affect their well-being and the school productivity. Most of the secondary teachers have a need for employee assistance programs. / Dr. W. Roestenburg

All in all, the research findings had confirmed the hypotheses of this study. Demographic differences among secondary school teachers were related to stress. Self-efficacy, resiliency and school environment in various extents was related to secondary school teacher stress. This study has theoretical and practical contributions to the understanding of secondary school teacher stress in Hong Kong. Lastly, implications, limitations of this study and suggestions for future research directions were also discussed. / Moreover, structural equation modeling analysis was conducted to test and compare the goodness of fit of an overall direct effect model, a mediating model and a modified direct effect mediating model. Results indicated that the modified direct effect mediating model provided the best model fit with the data. School environment, self-efficacy and resiliency were found to be all negatively correlated to teacher stress. School environment exerted significant impact on teacher stress. Among the factors of school environment evaluated, affiliation, student support and work pressure had high correlation with secondary school teacher stress in Hong Kong. / Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to test for main effect of demographic variables on teacher stress. Findings revealed that years of teaching and school banding had significant main effect on stress. Teachers with more teaching experience were found to exhibit more stress than teachers with less experience in emotional manifestation and cardiovascular manifestation. Teachers worked in band three schools were found to be more stressful than teachers of band one and two schools in behavioural, emotional, fatigue and gastronomical manifestation of stress. / Reliability test and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the Teacher Stress Inventory, Generalized Self-efficacy Scale, Ego Resiliency Scale and the School-Level Environment Questionnaire and the instruments were found to be reliable and valid. / The purpose of this study are to examine whether demographic variables are related to teacher stress, if individual factors including self-efficacy and resiliency and systemic factor, school environment are related to teacher stress and how the individual factors together with the systemic factor jointly affect stress. The study is comprised of a convenient sample with 390 secondary school teachers. / Hung Oi Ling. / "April 2008." / Adviser: Alvin Leung Seung Ming. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-03, Section: A, page: 0797. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 208-231). / 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 English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.