Occupational Stress, Job Satisfaction, and Mental Health of Teachers in Indian Schools, Summaries of Psychology

Download Occupational Stress, Job Satisfaction, and Mental Health of Teachers in Indian Schools and more Summaries Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! Chapter 6 SUMMARY 137 Chapter 6 SUMMARY The place of the teacher in our country has been honourable in all was the concept and the place of the teachers used to be very vital as was of parents. In the past, few years, the changing values and social structure has influenced the previous status on the other side and the teacher of today does not enjoy the same respect and confidence which they did previously. It is mainly due to the social lag resulting from the changing situation. In England and Russia, the teacher is held in high esteem although they are affluent countries. But in India the picture is different in principle and practice. In words, teacher is the significant entity in the field of education. Therefore, the social lag got to be made up if the teachers are to become the builders of nation and they should be respected by all and sundry. Occupational Stress Occupational stress can be defined as the physical and emotional response/s that occurs when a worker perceives an imbalance between the work demands and the capability and/or resources available to meet these 140 School Policy and Ethos: mind, lack of clear boundaries of responsibility, adapting to change in policy, fear of abuse from parents, break, lunch and after school duties, covering for absent colleagues, fear of losing the job etc. Working conditions: Large classes, crowded staff areas, poorly lit rooms, lack of resources, working on school matters during vacations, rewards do not match efforts. The pupils: Lack of cooperation from pupils, pupils using bad language, pupil answering back, verbal abuse from pupils toward staff and attitude of pupils towards authority, attack on pride by discourteous students. Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction is basically a set of attitudes that employees have about their jobs. In other words, it is a psychological disposition towards their jobs (Schultz and Schultz, 1990). Job satisfaction depend upon a large number of factors and among them and the most surprising factors are those which are not directly related to job or work climate popularly called as extrinsic factors. The recent interest in job satisfaction also ties in directly with the rising concern in many countries about the quality of life. The recognition 141 is now being to the importance of the kinds of affective reaction that people experiences on the job and to the fact that these are not always tied to economic or material accomplishments. In recent years a reductionist approach has also been worked out which suggests that ultimately job satisfaction depends upon discrepancy prevailing with filled aspiration of the individual and his achievement, so mathematically it means. Satisfaction = Aspiration Achievement When it comes in minus it leads to satisfaction and when it is plus it leads to dissatisfaction or negative satisfaction. There are two types of factors on which job satisfaction depends. 1- Intrinsic 2- Extrinsic Mental Health In the world of today everyone is threatened by increasing population and degraded circumstances. Health is and has been always one of the most important areas where we need to focus. Concept of health extends beyond the proper functioning of the body. It includes controlled emotions, a sound and efficient mind. This means that mind and body both are working efficiently and harmoniously (Kaur, 2006-07). 142 The expression consists of two words- and . generally means sound conditions or well being or freedom from diseases. Mental health, therefore, means a sound mental condition or a state of psychological well being of freedom from mental disease (Singh, 2004). The word usually implies something context that is reflected by the relationship one establishes with others. refers to more than physical wellbeing. It also physic-structure with the external and social environment (Kaur, 2006- 07). Mental health stands for the health of the mind, The wholesomeness of mind analogous to the wholesomeness of the body as implicit in physical health. Accordingly, mental health is concerned with the health ans and their functioning. A public health approach to mental health, (WHO, report 2008) the concept of mental health has been defined as Which includes subjective well- being, perceived self- efficacy, autonomy, competence, intergenerational dependence, and emotional potential, among others. From a cross cultural perspective, 145 6. There would be a significant difference between government and private sector school teachers on mental health. 7. There would be a negative relationship of occupational stress with job satisfaction and mental health of teachers. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Gender Difference in Occupational Stress A general tendency exists in the research literature according to which females are supported to experience higher levels of occupational stress than males in work environment (Offerman & Armitage, 1993). Antoniou et al. (2006) observed that female teachers experienced significantly higher levels of occupational stress compared to their male counterparts. Quite contrary to this, female teachers tended to complain more of burnout than male teachers (Chan & Hui, 1995; Ravichandran & Rajendran, 2007; Bhadoria & Singh, 2010). Women are expected to be more oriented toward people than are men. They are supposed to be nurturant, sociable, and sensitive to people's feelings. They are also supposed to be very emotional. Men are supposed to be har stereotype). Because of these differences in the way men and women are brought up, they may have different strengths and weaknesses with 146 respect to burnout. To the extent that women are more likely to get emotionally involved with people, they run a greater risk of emotional exhaustion. To the extent that men are less oriented toward close contact with people, they are prone to exhibit depersonalization. In Indian context Jha (1988) has noted the pattern of stress and strain in three work groups namely production, personnel and data processing divisions in an organization. Results indicated that abort job- future ambiguity had negative effect on job satisfaction in all the three groups. The pattern of stress in was different among different levels of hierarchy. Reddy and Ramamurthi (1991) analysed the influence of age, personality and general ability in determining the perception of stress. It was found that only age influenced the perception of stress. There was only very limited contribution of personality and general ability of the individual to the intensity of stress experience of the individual. Rajeswari (1992) found significant negative relationship of age and experience with stress. This study also found negative correlation between family size and stress level. The level of stress did not differ between different levels of workers namely officers, and clerks. Monica (2004) found that the teachers of Punjabi medium schools are more stressed as compared to the teachers of English medium schools. 147 Mokdad (2005) found that the major sources of stress were society, parents, teaching, the teaching environment, pupils, supervision, curriculum and administration. Singla (2006) found that doctors and teachers are highly stressed as compared to their professional groups. It was also noted that females are most stressed as compared to males. Several studies have tried to determine the link between stress and job satisfaction. Teacher job satisfaction and stress can have both economic and personal implications as it can lead to stress related absenteeism, burnout and a negative impact on pupil outcomes (Kyriacou,1987). According to Chandraiah et al. (2003) higher level of job stress and job satisfaction are significantly related across different age groups and are shown that the age was negatively correlated with occupational stress and positively with job satisfaction. One study of general practitioners in England identified four job stressors that were predictive of job dissatisfaction (Cooper et al., 1989). Ismail (2009) demonstrated that level of physiological stress has increased job satisfaction, and level of psychological stress had not decreased job satisfaction. 150 RESULTS Findings of the present study indicate that female teachers and teachers from private school reported higher on occupational stress. It was true for each domain as well as the total score. The effect of gender and type of school were highly significant for most of the domains of occupational stress. It was noted that female teachers and government school teacher reported higher level of job satisfaction in comparison to their counterparts. Results also indicated that male teacher and government school teacher reported higher level of mental health in comparison to female teachers and private school teachers. The MANOVA and ANOVA showed interaction of gender and type of school was significant for mental health. Correlation analysis of the data indicated that both the dimensions of job satisfaction and overall scores are negatively correlated with most of the domains of occupational stress. Results about mental health showed a same pattern. All the domains and overall scores on mental health were negatively correlated with occupational stress. 151 Qualitative Interview Sources of stress in government sector school teachers: 1. The discipline among students is one of the prime reasons of stress in teachers, because disciplinary atmosphere in government schools are vitiating and government mechanism is not very much effective in containing such problems. This affect atmosphere in schools and class rooms as well which adds to the stress in teachers. This affects more in female teachers. 2. In proper job satisfaction is also one of the most stress generators among teachers. In government schools job appraisal has got no procedural method this also giver stress to those working hard and doing their job properly. 3. The working conditions in government schools are not very conducive. Despite of different efforts from government side the mechanism is not so effective to make a working condition. As cited in above point female teachers are more sensitive and responsive to working condition and hence get more stress. 4. Teachers in age group 50 to 60 are much stressed about the settlement of their children. The same age group most problems to be stressed due to health. 152 5. Lower age group teachers 30 to 40 are much stressed about their 6. Lower and middle age group 30 to 50 is also stressed due to fewer opportunities of promotion and better job prospects. 7. Personal policy of government especially transfers also create panic among teachers which in turn stress. 8. Female teachers are more stressed as they are supposed to do work in schools and at home also. Sources of stress in private sector school teachers: 1. In stability of job is prime reason of stress among private school teachers. 2. Lower salary is also one of the most stress generators which are found very much prevalent. 3. The working conditions also in private schools are not very conducive. Despite of different efforts from private side the mechanism is not so effective to make a working condition. As cited in above point female teachers are more sensitive and responsive to working condition and hence get more stress. 155 Job Satisfaction Female teachers have more job satisfaction despite of being more stressed this is because they feel their salaries are an additional income to their family income and that way they feel proud of adding something more to their house hold. Mental Health In private schools male teachers have poor mental health compared to female teachers this is because of lower salaries and job instability. In our patriarchal society male member of the family are suppose to earn the livelihood and in private schools this is poor and unstable. In government school female teachers have poor mental health this is because of overburdening in our patriarchal society system of society female members of the family are suppose to do the house hold jobs along with their outdoor job. This over burdens them and consequently poor mental health among female teachers. Limitations There are some limitations of this study that should be mentioned. These are given bellow: 1- There is also need to study with those who are more young (i.e., the age level is 18-25). 156 2- This study was carried out with teachers who pertaining to government and private schools but it can also be explored others who belonging to government or private sector. 3- This study was carried out with 160 school teachers which are not sufficient for the generalization of findings. Therefore, there is need to study with more large No. of sample so that, the more authentic results could be found. Implications There are also some implications of this study that should be mentioned. These are given bellow: 1- The study helps to know the relation exists in government and private school teachers on occupational stress, job satisfaction and mental health. 2- The study also indicates the role of male and female employees of government and private schools. 3- This study helps to those researchers who want to study to know the occupational stress, job satisfaction and mental health of government and private school teachers.