Teacher stress among Tawjihi teachers in Jordan and their adopted coping strategies to reduce stress

There has been increasing interest in occupational stress during the last two decades. While studies have been carried out in developed countries, few have been conducted in developing countries, particularly in the field of education. Since 1970s, the topic of teacher stress has generated more interest among researchers who initially studied stress in teachers in different school settings all around the world.

This research study was necessitated by a general lack of knowledge about teacher stress in general, and stress in Tawjihi teachers, particularly in Jordan. The study was conducted with Tawjihi teachers (12th grade), in the city of Karak, Jordan to explore levels of stress and the main sources of stress. It also explored coping strategies adopted by them and actions that should be taken by schools and the MOE to reduce teacher stress. This research consisted of two phases. Phase one was a survey using a self-administered questionnaire involving a sample of 513 Tawjihi teachers (229 male teachers and 284 female teachers), where 314 Tawjihi teachers replied to the questionnaire with a response rate of 73.68%. Phase two was a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews based on an open-ended interview schedule. Twelve Twajihi teachers, as well as sixteen other education staff, have been interviewed, which resulted in a 60.87% response rate.

Overall, results indicated approximately 95% of Tawjihi teachers revealed their work as a Tawjihi teacher was extremely to mildly stressful. Only 4.8% of Tawjihi teachers reported being a Tawjihi teacher was not stressful. The findings also showed some sources of stress Tawjihi teachers revealed were limited to them, and yet others were common among teachers in other countries. Results also showed some of the adopted coping strategies were limited to Tawjihi teachers, while others were shared with teachers in other countries. The finding regarding coping strategies also showed that Tawjihi teachers tend to use indirect actions more often than direct actions.

No significant differences in the level of stress in Tawjihi teachers due to gender, age, teaching experience, qualification and marital status were found. Moreover, significant positive correlations were found between the level of stress and each main source of stress. Tawjihi teachers also revealed the actions they desire schools and the MOE to take to help them reduce stress.

The increased understanding of the levels of stress, its sources, adopted coping strategies and the actions that should be taken by schools and the MOE to reduce stress will hopefully make a
significant contribution to the knowledge of teacher stress, not only in Jordan particularly, but in other countries generally.