A STUDY COMPARING OCCUPATIONAL STRESS OF MALE AND FEMALE SCHOOL TEACHERS

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Ruchika Sharma

Research Scholar, Dept. of Education, Panjab University, Chandigarh.

ABSTRACT

The study was conducted in order to find the occupational stress of male and female school teachers. The sample was collected from 260 (130 male and 130 female) senior secondary school teachers. Data was collected from using stratified random sampling technique. Results showed that male teachers experienced higher level of stress than female teachers.

INTRODUCATION

Myers (1999) reported that stress is the body’s physical, mental and chemical reaction to

stressors or circumstances that frighten excite, endanger, stressors from these sources can work

independently or collectively. When most people talk about stress, it is usually in terms of

pressure they are feeling from something happening around them or to them. Students talk

about being under stress because of poor exam performance or impending deadline for a major

paper. Parents talk about the strain of raising teenagers and the financial burdens of running a

household. Teacher talk about the pressure of maintaining professional integrity while still

managing to keep on top of duties connected with the classroom teaching. Doctors, nurses,

lawyers and therapists talk about meeting the endless demands of their patients and clients (Rice,

1992).

In today’s world most of us are working, some people have to work to make both ends meet

where as others like to work by choice. Thus effectively most of us are spending majority of our

active time in a day fulfilling our occupational responsibilities. But sometimes this necessity or

choice to work leads to occupational stress. (Aldwin, Carolyn, 1994)

Jarvis (2002) defined occupational stress as a situation where occupation related factors interact

with the employees in a manner that disrupts or enhances his/her physiological conditions forcing

them to deviate from normal functioning.

Dunham (2003) defined occupational stress as being the harmful physical and emotional

responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources

or needs of the worker.

As we know in every profession there is some level of stress and teaching profession is no

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in teaching profession like job complexities, increased economic pressures and low social status.

Different studies have also concluded that teaching is a stressful occupation and that a significant

number of teachers are affected by work related stress (Dunham, 1994; Guglielmi and Tatrow,

1998; Kyriacou, 2001).

According to Dunham and Varma (1998), stress level of teachers are dependent on the individual

teacher and type of school, what is stressful for one teacher in one school may not be stressful for

another teacher in different school.

SYMPTOMSOFSTRESS

Health and Safety Department of New York (2006) mentioned some of the early symptoms of

stress related problems:

 Physical Symptoms: Headache, stomach problems, eating disorder, sleep disturbance,

fatigue, muscle ache and pain.

 Psychological and behavioural symptoms: Anxiety, irritability, low morale, depression,

alcohol and drug use, feeling powerless, isolation from co-workers.

Symptoms of prolonged stress:

 Physical symptoms: High blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, spastic colon, immune

system dysfunction, diabetes, asthma, musculoskeletal disorder.

 Psychological or behavioural symptoms: Serious depression, suicidal behaviour,

domestic violence, alcohol abuse, substance abuse, burnout.

STRATEGIES TO MANAGE STRESS AT WORKPLACE (VIJYALAKSHMI, 2012)

There are many strategies which have been developed to manage stress at workplace. These

strategies can be categorised into ‘Individual Coping Strategies’ and ‘Organizational Coping

Strategies’.

Individual Coping Strategies:

1. Exercise: Exercise is one of the best methods to deal with stress. Many researchers have

suggested that people who exercise daily feel less stress.

2. Relaxation: People can relax for a while on the job. It will help in increasing their work

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3. Time Management: Time management is often advised for managing stress. One popular

approach to time management is to make a list every morning of the things to be done

that day.

4. Role Management: It refers to working actively to avoid overload, ambiguity and conflict.

5. Support Group: A support group is group of family members or friends with whom a

person can spend time. It can help reduce the stress that builds up during the day.

Apart from above given suggestive measure, healthy diet, proper sleep and rest, disciplined

routine, pursuing a hobby etc. can prove helpful in managing stress at work place.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main objective of the study was:

To compare the occupational stress of male and female school teachers.

HYPOTHESIS

There exists no significant difference between occupational stress of male and female school

teachers.

SAMPLE

Data was collected from 260 senior secondary school teachers of Moga District. The sample was

taken by using stratified random sampling technique. These 260 teachers were categorized into

130 male teachers and 130 female teachers.

TOOL USED

Teacher’s Occupational Stress Scale constructed and standardized by Jamal and Raheem (2012)

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To test the hypothesis t-test was employed and results are shown in table 1

Table 1- t-VALUE FOR THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OCCUPATIONAL STRESS OF MALE AND FEMALE SCHOOL TEACHERS

Group/Category N Mean SD Df t-Value

Male Teachers 130 70.96 9.1883005

258 2.897317*

Female Teachers 130 66.71 13.993047

Significant value at ‘0.05’ level = 1.96; Significant value at ‘0.01’ level = 2.59

*Significant at ‘0.01’ level of significance.

From the above given table we can conclude that the hypothesis that there exists no significant

difference between occupational stress of male and female schools teachers is not accepted.

Researcher found that male teachers experienced higher level of occupational stress than that

experienced by female school teachers.

EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS

Occupational stress in teachers is a serious problem which is growing day by day. There are many

reasons of stress at work place. After finding the appropriate causes and symptoms of stress,

teachers and administration should take suitable preventive measure in order to reduce or

manage stress timely so that teachers can teach and work efficiently. School administration

should organize required seminars or workshops on managing stress at work place.

REFRENCES

Aldwin, M. & Carolyn. (1994). Stress, coping and development- An integrative perspective, New

York: London: The Guilford Press, p.21.62.

Dunham, J. (1994). Developing effective school management. Routledge: London.

Dunham, S.(2003). Teacher under stress. Australia educational research, 23(3), 1-16.

Dunham, J. and Varma, V. (1998). Stress in teachers: past, present and future. London: Whurr

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Guglielmi, R. and Tatrow, K. (1998). Occupational stress, burnout and health in teachers: a

methodological and theatrical analysis. Review of educational research 68(1), p 61-99.

Health and Safety Department New York (2006). Occupational stress factsheet. Retrieved from

uwf.edu.skass/documents/occupationalstressfactsheet.pdf. Dated 10th April, 2017. At 10.46 am

Jarvis, M. (2002). Teacher stress: a critical review of recent findings and suggestions for further

research directions, Stress news, 14(1).

Kyriacou, C. (2001). Teacher stress:direction for future research. Educational review, 53(1), p

27-35.

Myers, D.G. (1999). Close relationship and quality of life in D.Kehneman, E.D. & Schwarz, N. (eds.),

Wellbeing: The foundation of headonic Psycholigy, New York: Russel Sage Publication, pp.

374-391

Rice,P.L.(1992).Stress and health(2nd ed). Pacific Grove, California: Book/ Cole publishing

Company.