Factors and experiences of stress among primary school teachers

Stres je vsakodnevni spremljevalec našega življenja in na nas lahko deluje poživljajoče, še pogosteje pa v poklicnem življenju povzroča stiske in čustvene napore. Posebne stiske doživljajo delavci v poklicih pomoči, med katere sodijo tudi učitelji. Ti v začetku svojega poklicnega dela veljajo za navdušene, zagnane, polne energije, a med delovno dobo lahko izgubijo pedagoški eros. Razredne učitelje vsakodnevno spremljajo obremenjujoče razredne situacije, domače delo, ocenjevanje učencev, vodenje administracije, delo s starši, zahteve nadrejenih – vse to jim povzroča stres, ki ga učitelji pogosto ne prepoznajo kot ogrožajočega, dokler ne privede do skrajnosti – izgorelosti. Stres je odziv (reakcija) organizma na določene dejavnike, ki jih imenujemo stresorji. Stres dandanes večinoma razumemo kot nekaj negativnega, čeprav je sam po sebi nujen in ključen dejavnik življenja, ki človeka spodbuja, da je v življenju učinkovit. Negativni stres ali distres se pojavi, ko je posameznik postavljen pred zahteve, za katere čuti, da jim ni kos. Znaki stresa se lahko kažejo na telesni, vedenjski ali čustveni ravni. Posledice neučinkovitega spopadanja s stresom niso pomembne samo na ravni posameznika, ampak tudi na ravni organizacije, v kateri posameznik deluje, pa tudi širše družbe. Prav zato je stres pomembna tema raziskovanja. Glavni cilj raziskave je bilo ugotoviti: kakšno stopnjo stresa pri svojem delu doživljajo učitelji razrednega pouka, kateri stresorji so za učitelje najmočnejši, najpogostejši in najpomembnejši ter v kakšni povezavi so te ocene stresa z nekaterimi vidiki učiteljevega življenja (starost, dolžina delovne dobe, spol, organizacijska oblika šole, v kateri učitelj poučuje, zadovoljstvo s partnerskim odnosom, razred, ki ga učitelj poučuje, število otrok v družini in njihova starost, zaznavanje podpore sodelavcev in vodstva, pogostost ukvarjanja s športom in drugimi sprostitvenimi aktivnostmi). Uporabljeni sta bili deskriptivna metoda dela in kvantitativni raziskovalni pristop. Ugotovitve kažejo, da učitelji v povprečju doživljajo zmerni stres. Kot najmočnejši stresogeni faktor učitelji doživljajo odnose in vedenje staršev, kot najpogostejšega učiteljevo delovno obremenjenost, kot najpomembnejšega pa prav tako učiteljevo delovno obremenjenost. Najpomembneje jih obremenjuje stresor veliko administrativnega dela. Učitelji močneje doživljajo stres ob koncu šolskega leta. Stres v večji meri doživljajo ženske kot moški, najstarejša starostna skupina in skupina učiteljev z najdaljšo delovno dobo.Stress is our life\u27s companion and can have stimulating effects but more often than not causes anguish and emotional exertion in professional life. Employees working in helping professions, among which are teachers, experience special kinds of distress. Teachers are generally known to be enthusiastic and energetic at the beginning of their teaching careers, but can lose pedagogical eros during the years of service. Primary education teachers have to deal with burdening class situations, home work, student assessment, paperwork, need to deal with the demands of their superiors and have to work with the parents of their pupils. All of the previously mentioned factors cause stress, which is often not recognized as hazardous by teachers until they reach the point of burnout. Stress is a response (reaction) of organism to certain factors we call stressors. Stress is mostly referred to as something negative, although it is in fact a necessary and vital life factor, as it encourages an individual to be effective in one’s life. The negative stress or distress occurs when an individual is put up against tasks one feels one cannot cope with. Signs of stress can occur on physical, behavioural or emotional level. The consequences of ineffective dealing with stress are not only important on a level of an individual, but also on a level of organization the individual is a part of, as well as on a level of broader society. It is for this fact that stress makes for such an important research topic. The main purpose of the research was to establish the degree of stress experienced by teachers of primary education and to find out which stressors are the commonest, strongest, and most important in teachers. The goal was also to establish the connection between the previously mentioned evaluations of stress and some aspects of teachers\u27 lives (age, length of service, gender, organizational form of school in which a teacher is employed, satisfaction in romantic relationships, class in which a teacher works, the number of children in family and their age, perception of co-workers\u27 and management’s support, the frequency of sport and other recreational activities). In this part, descriptive and quantitative research methods have been used. The findings show that teachers generally experience moderate stress. The strongest stressor turned out to be the parent-teacher relationship and the behaviour of parents, while both the commonest and most important stressor proved to be the workload, that is to say, a lot of admin work. Teachers experience stress more at the end of the school year. Stress is strongly experienced by women, the oldest age group and the group of teachers with the longest service. In general, teachers who work at subsidiary schools and those in a romantic relationship, specially in an unhappy one, experience greater stress. Greater stress is also experienced by teachers who either teach a combination of three grades or the sixth grade, by those who have four or more children and those who have preschool children. The support of the superiors and co-workers is in a moderate positive correlation with the evaluation of stress. Frequent use of activities that teachers find relaxing helps reduce their stress. Teachers know there are many ways they can prevent stress themselves but also know they can get even more help within the school system, management, co-workers, parents, teachers... The data obtained through the questionnaires given to the primary education teachers shows the presence of stress and shows the field of teachers\u27 work where stress is strongly expressed. The data can be the basis for further research for the benefit of teachers\u27 well-being and consequently greater pedagogical efficiency