Against the background of the broad-ranging and significant educational changes introduced in South Africa since 1994, school teachers are challenged to cope with and adapt to difficult working conditions, job stress and large classes. As a result, teaching is now experienced as a more demanding and challenging profession. However, education takes place within the context of a particular community. The role of the environment, as context for education, is therefore also important. As such, a deprived environment can exacerbate the challenges experienced in teaching by teachers. Such an environment is often characterised by high poverty levels, undesirable living conditions, escalating social and health problems, malnutrition, unemployment, parental illiteracy, parental absence or uninvolvement, child abuse, sexual harassment, teenage pregnancies, corruption, crime, conflict, violence, and high TB and HIV infection rates. In schools in a deprived environment, lack of resources and learning materials, overcrowded classes, children dropping out of school, an unattractive, an unsafe physical environment, a lack of electricity, as well as broken windows and leaking roofs, are often the order of the day. These factors increase the burden on the teachers who work in such an unsupportive context. How well teachers cope amidst the broad-ranging transformational changes introduced in post-Apartheid South African education, while teaching in a deprived environment, depends to a large extent on their emotional stability, personal skills and cognitive functioning. Their emotional strengths should enable them to be aware of their own emotions, and the emotions of their learners, as well as to guide those emotions appropriately and form healthy relationships. It should further enable teachers to make provision for the effective learning, development and well-being of the learners in their classrooms. Against this background, the aim of this study was to investigate the following research questions: Primary research question: What are the characteristics of emotional intelligence that teacher is working in a deprived environment display? Secondary research questions: • What is the relationship between the characteristics that the teachers display and the components of emotional intelligence? • What are the implications of the research findings for teacher education? • What guidelines can be provided from the research findings to teachers working in a deprived environment, to further promote their effective teaching? The focus of the study was on the two primary schools and one secondary school located in the Walmer Gqebera Township in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, which are in close proximity to the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, being the University’s neighbouring township. Constructivism and interpretivism formed the philosophical foundation of the study, while critical theory and pragmatism also applied.

This treatise examined the relationship between psychological capital (PsyCap) and employee well-being (EWB) and its sub-dimensions among primary school teachers. Self-efficacy, hope, resilience and optimism were examined as sub-dimensions of PsyCap. Positive and negative affect were used as dimensions of EWB. A sample (n = 104) was drawn from primary school teachers employed by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) - West Coast District (WCD). Convenience sampling was used in a cross-sectional design. A composite questionnaire was used to collect data. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 23 was used to analyse data. Cronbach’s coefficient alphas for all variables were above 0.60 except for the optimism variable (0.47). Results indicated a significant moderate relationship between PsyCap and EWB (r = 0.56, p<0.01). Limitations of the study included: common method variance may affect results due to the use of self-report measures and results cannot be generalised to other settings. Future studies could focus on the factors influencing the significant difference between age and self-efficacy among primary school teachers in South Africa.

This study focused on a 1978 teacher strike in the Verde Unified School District, Verde, Arizona, and was designed to investigate the impact the strike had on these teachers' attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors. These factors were examined in terms of: perceptions of the strike issues and causes; influences by significant others to strike or not to strike; personal relationships with significant others prior to, during, and after the strike; viewpoints or perceptions of the strike; personal attitudes concerning professionalism and what it meant to be a professional; and experienced feelings of stress. A questionnaire was developed and administered to forty junior high school teachers to investigate their attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors concerning the strike. The theoretical framework developed for this study, drawn from the literature of perceptual psychology, was used to examine and discuss the data regarding the teachers' attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors. The theoretical framework consisted of the following five categories: The Development and Maintenance of an Adequate Self, The Perceptual Field as a Determinant of Behavior, The Concept of Resistance to Attacks on the Self, The Concept of Economic Welfare as Related to Politics and Human Dignity and the Concept of Self-Maintenance of an Organization or System. Teacher respondents reported the following perceptions regarding the strike and their participation in it: (1)Issues and Causes of the Strike: The most significant perceived issue of the strike, as reported by the junior high school teacher respondents, was "The loss of the established negotiating policy" and a "Challenge to personal dignity." The respondents felt that the strike resulted because of "The way the Board and the District's central administration handled the issues." (2)Influences by Others to Strike or Not to Strike: The respondents reported that they were significantly influenced to strike or not to strike by the teachers' association and by teachers in their respective schools. The respondents indicated that they communicated with teachers in other schools when they were unable to talk to fellow teachers in their own schools. (3)Personal Relationships with Significant Others Prior to, During, and After the Strike: Personal relationships figured as a significant influence in each teacher's decision to strike or not to strike. At the building level, principals were perceived by the respondents as administrative representatives and as such were viewed as threatening and lacking empathy. The striking teacher respondents reported that a special feeling of camaraderie developed among the strikers on the picket lines. The strikers, furthermore, reported supportive relationships existing between themselves, the parents, and the students. (4)Viewpoints or Perceptions of the Strike: From the striking respondents' point of view, the strike was perceived as a phenomenon which they had hoped would never occur. From the non-strikers' point of view, though, the strike was perceived as a battle between two major forces, the National Education Association and the National School Board Association. (5)Personal Attitudes Concerning Professionalism and What it Meant to be a Professional: Professionalism, the teacher respondents reported, meant being involved with and having input into such issues as curriculum development, classroom management, class size, and discipline procedures. The respondents indicated that they had been denied the opportunity to participate in these matters. (6)Experiences of Stress: Stress played a significant role in the strike process from beginning to end. The data indicated many stressful and agonizing moments spent reaching the decision to strike or not to strike. Strained personal relationships developed and appeared to have evoked much stress. For non-strikers especially, the entire stike process was reported to have been stressful.