Identifying elementary teachers' stressors and their coping strategies as a means to determine whether stress has been managed in the workplace

Abstract

Many studies revealed that teaching was an extremely stressful professional, and that teacher stress being emotional and/or physical was an increasing problem. Therefore, the study used a quantitative survey design to investigate the main sources of stress among Lebanese elementary school teachers, and to determine whether there was a relationship between elementary teachers’ stressors and emotion-focused coping and whether there was a relationship between elementary teachers’ stressors and problem-focused coping strategies. The study involved 30 teachers who worked in a private school in Keserwen, Lebanon. Two instruments were used to conduct the study: the Teacher Stress Inventory (Fimian, 1998) and the Brief Cope (Carver, 1997). The results revealed that the main sources of stress among the participants were work-related stressors and time management. The teachers who had a B.A. did not experience more stress that those who had an M.A. Moreover, the participants who had 1-15 years of teaching experience did not face more stress that those who had 16-30 years of experience. Finally, the findings showed that the relationship between elementary teachers’ stressors and emotion-focused coping strategies was moderate, while the relationship between those teachers’ stressors and problem-focused coping strategies were weak. More specifically, the participants were not able to cope with the different types of stressors (time management, work-related stressors, and professional investment). They were only trying to cope with professional distress by using emotion-focused coping, and with discipline and motivation by using problem-focused and emotion-focused coping. It was concluded that teacher stress was not managed in the workplace. Recommendations were given.