School Organisation, Teachers Work Stress and the Effect of an Intervention Programme

Many studies have recognised the prevalence of stress in teaching and the multifaceted nature of teacher stress (Dunham 1992, Brown and Ralph 1993, Boyle et al 1995). Some studies have however highlighted the importance of school organisational factors (Tollan 1990, Proctor 1993, Hart, Wearing and Conn 1995). This aspect has increased in importance due to the pace and extent of curricula and organisational changes within the teaching profession (McHugh and Kyle 1993, Badger 1994). This research has therefore focused on examining organisational factors and particularly their relationship with other stress factors. The stress model used throughout this research has been the theoretical model of processes involved in psychological stress causation, continuation and change 'PSYSTRESS' (Hinton and Burton 1992). Four studies were conducted for this research with a total of 212 teachers from both the Primary and Secondary sectors. One of the principal aims of the research was to develop and evaluate a whole-school stress management package focusing on issues arising from organisational factors and particularly organisational and curricular change. The studies examined the relationship between stress factors in teaching, the roles of perceived organisational change, personal planning, responsibility and concern and the relationship between stress variables and dimensions of the school organisational climate - some specially prepared questionnaires were constructed for these studies. A further study examined the effects of an intervention programme using three different treatment conditions - whole school, individual counselling and one dealing with an aspect of the curriculum. The results showed statistically significant relationships between the stress factors within the 'PSYSTRESS' model indicating its suitability for stress research with the teaching profession. The results also highlighted the relationship between organisational climate and work stress. A factor analysis with organisational climate and the 'PSYSTRESS' model identified three factors which were named 'leadership insight', 'workplace ethos' and 'innovatory climate'. The results of the evaluation of the intervention programme showed that all three factors - organisational, curriculum and individual counselling should be considered within a comprehensive package for stress management in schools as no one particular method was significantly more effective, in all the measures used in the evaluation, than any other. Each method showed merits in specific areas. An applied model of dealing with teacher stress in the workplace was developed - 'a reciprocal model for intervention' - this model highlights the interaction between the different factors all of which need to be considered if work stress in teaching is to be effectively addressed