Occupational stress in private schools: a teacher profile

Authors

John P. Davies, Florida International University

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Major/Program

Educational Leadership

First Advisor's Name

Sarah Pell

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Paul Rendulic

Third Advisor's Name

Joan Lutton

Fourth Advisor's Name

Peter Cistone

Date of Defense

9-22-1997

Abstract

The purpose of this study was threefold. The primary purpose was to develop a stress profile for teachers in private schools. This study also addressed two exploratory issues. The first, consisted of an examination of the possible differences in the levels of on-the-job stress among teachers in different types of private schools. A second issue was to discuss the findings on private school in light of the extant literature on public schools, specifically using the data collected by Fimain to develop the Teacher Stress Inventory. This study was conducted utilizing 316 full time teachers from seven schools from six different states.

The instrument employed in this study was the Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI) developed by Fimian (1988). The TSI is a 10 factor, 49 item self-report measure. The 10 factors consist of five Stress Sources and five Stress measure. The 10 factors consist of five Stress Sources and five Stress Manifestations subscales. The mean for these 10 factors yields the stress construct termed "Total Stress." Of the 437 surveys mailed, 316 usable surveys, i.e., 72.3%, were returned.

The results suggest that private school teachers experience moderate levels of stress. The mean score was 2.27 indicating a lower than average stress level as measured by the TSI. Comparisons between types of private schools revealed that there were no significant differences between the stress levels of teachers in boarding and nonboarding schools. Teachers in large schools experience significantly higher levels of stress than teachers in small and medium size schools. However, the measurable difference between them translates into a very small difference in terms of the real stress levels of these teachers in their professional lives. A significant difference was also found between the stress levels of public (M=2.60) and private school teachers (M=2.27). Both means fall within the moderate range, however, while private school teachers experience lower than average levels of stress, the stress levels of teachers in public schools falls in the higher than average range.

Recommendations for reducing stress levels in both private and public schools are presented as well as suggestions for future research.

Identifier

FI14062207

Recommended Citation

Davies, John P., "Occupational stress in private schools: a teacher profile" (1997). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2741.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2741