Pastoral Care and Teacher Stress

Charlton and David argue that counselling is not the only form of support available to pupils—and they in fact suggest that ‘counselling’ may be an overused term. They highlight pupils' need and right to be listened to. They go on to point out that in busy classrooms, teachers may not always find time to listen to and adequately support pupils. Alternative ‘listening’ facilities via peer support are discussed. Finally, the benefits of this peer resource are outlined for teachers as well as those administering and in receipt of help.     

Disruptive Pupils and Teacher Stress

Teachers have identified a number of stress situations in their work with disruptive children. They experience insecurity because of the unpredictability of the children's behaviour. They feel vulnerable as they doubt the effectiveness of their coping resources. They are frustrated in their attempts to establish good communications with each other and with the professional workers outside their schools. Residential workers report additional demands because of their feelings of isolation and limited social relationships.

Staff responses to these stress situations can be grouped into three main categories: (i) behavioural; (ii) emotional; (iii) psychosomatic. Their recommendations for the reduction of stress emphasize the importance of group support and good inter‐professional communications. Some suggestions have been made to promote the development of healthy schools in which staff can find opportunities for personal and professional growth. Further explorations need to be made in the identification and development of inter‐professional teamwork skills.     

Teacher Stress in the Low-Trust Society

Stress is a widespread feature of work in teaching. Recent accounts of teacher emotions and cultures of teaching have noted that unsatisfactory social relationships with adults, e.g. colleagues, headteachers, parents and inspectors, elicit hostile emotions from teachers and appear to be a source of stress in teaching. This article examines why this should be the case. Some commentators have used labour process theory to argue that the intensification of work and government policies promoting managerialism in schools are the roots of the problem. This article uses qualitative data from a study of primary teacher stress to examine staff relationships in the primary school. It argues that while intensification of teachers' work is certainly involved in eroding positive staff relationships, it is also the changing trust relations in high modernity that are shaping the social relations of low-trust schooling, and impacting negatively on teachers' physical and emotional well-being and their collegial professional relations.     

试论教师压力的负面影响及解决策略

分析了教师压力的含义及负面影响,提出了解决教师压力的相关策略。     

信息社会教师压力探源

教师是当今社会上承受压力较高的群体之一。信息技术催生知识经济时代,引发教育及课程改革,从而给当今教师群体带来了新的压力。压力不仅源于新的技术,更源于相关技术营造的环境。首先,从教师职业固有因素这一方面,分析社会寄予教师的期待所带来的压力,这种期待包括信息技术环境下社会对教师角色的新期待以及对教师素质的新要求;其次,从作为系统因素的教育改革、课程改革等入手,分析这些变化带给教师压力的形成机制;最后,外界情境能否使教师产生压力,产生多大压力,在很大程度上取决于个体的主观认知。     

国外教师压力研究综述

本文就国外关于教师压力的研究概况及趋势从以下七个方面进行了较为全面的总结:教师压力的定义模式、教师压力的研究方法与内容、教师压力存在的普遍性、教师面临的主要压力来源、教师压力的处理策略、学校在减少教师压力方面的作用、教师压力研究的趋势,并据此指出,我们应加强关于教师压力方面的研究.     

教师职业压力解析

教师职业是高压力职业。教师压力的缓解是当前教育界面临的极富挑战性的问题。文章以教师职业压力为主题，探讨了教师驱业压力的影响、产生的根源及缓解的对策，以期为解决我国教师职业压力问题提供参考。     

The alpha and split-half reliability of the teacher stress inventory

The internal consistency and split-half reliability of the Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI) was investigated based on data provided by 3,478 teachers, representing 22 individual and two aggregate samples from six states. The data indicate for both the strength and frequency dimensions that the TSI is highly reliable in terms of both its regular and short-form length, and that the two short forms are highly correlated with one another.     

教师压力分析及解决策略

教师职业是高压力职业。教师压力问题的解决成为当前教育界所面临的极富挑战性问题。教师压力来源具有多元化特征,教师压力解决策略也应从多角度加以考虑。     

The Parent Threat Inventory: development, reliability, and validity

OBJECTIVE: The goal was to develop a retrospective inventory of parental threatening behavior to facilitate a better understanding of such behavior's role in the etiology of psychological distress. METHOD: Inventory items were developed based on theory and 135 students' responses to a question eliciting examples of threatening parental behavior. Following item development, two additional student samples (n = 200 and n = 603) completed batteries of self-report measures. Responses were used to eliminate unstable or redundant items from the inventory and to examine the inventory's psychometric properties. RESULTS: Factor analysis of the inventory revealed three factors, accounting for 66.2% of variance; this factor structure is compatible with theory, and consistent across maternal behavior scores, paternal behavior scores, and combined maternal and paternal scores. Cronbach's coefficient alphas indicated acceptable internal consistency; Pearson correlation coefficients indicated acceptable 4-week test-retest reliability. Moderate intercorrelations with two retrospective measures of childhood experiences suggested construct validity. Regression analyses demonstrated the ability of the inventory to predict both anxious and depressive symptomatology and lifetime symptoms of anxiety and depressive disorder. Normative data on combined parent scores, maternal scores, and paternal scores are also presented. CONCLUSIONS: Initial psychometric testing of the Parent Threat Inventory (PTI) suggests it is a reliable and valid tool for investigating the developmental antecedents of adult psychological distress. Further research should focus on addressing two limitations: (1) lack of normative and psychometric data on men and women suffering from clinical disorders, and (2) lack of validation by parental reporting.     

The Comprehensive Childhood Maltreatment Inventory: early development and reliability analyses

OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to develop a reliable measure of childhood maltreatment that could be used to evaluate retrospective memories among adults across a broad range of potentially abusive caregiver behaviors. METHOD: These behaviors were organized into 31 items that query age at onset, frequency across 4 developmental periods, relationship of the perpetrator(s), and respondents' perception of the experience. Additional factors directly relevant to each of the individual 4 categories of childhood maltreatment were also queried. RESULTS: Preliminary data collected from 95 college students, find the measure to have excellent test-retest reliability, and 2 of 4 subscales to possess adequate internal consistency. CONCLUSIONS: Reasons for low internal consistency for the Physical Maltreatment and Physical Neglect categories and the relative importance of test-retest reliability as compared to internal consistency in a questionnaire of this type are discussed.     

A Note on the Validity of the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory (MTAI)

Abstract

Student teachers who scored high on the MTAI were rated more favorably by secondary school students who did not plan to attend college than by students who planned to attend college. The teachers who scored low on the MTAI were rated more favorably by their college-bound students.     

Teacher Stress over a School Year

Abstract: Mäkinen, R. & Kinnunen, U. 1986. Teacher Stress over a School Year. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 30, 55‐70. The accumulation of and recovery from stress among teachers was studied longitudinally over a period of 14 months. Variables related to psychological state and health together with hours of work, free time and night time rest, and the quality of interpersonal relations were measured repeatedly (17 times) in a group of 187 teachers. The results indicate accumulation of stress during the autumn term with the result that weekend recovery disappears in November‐December. The Christmas, mid‐winter and Easter holidays seem to prevent stress accumulation during the spring term. As to inter‐individual differences in stress indicators, moderate concurrent correlations with time budget variables (up to .40) as well as with social relations (up to .59) were revealed. True predictive correlations from the autumn term to the spring term, however, were shown only by the quality of teacher/pupil relations.     

Stability of the factor structure of a short form of the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory

A 60-item short form of the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory (MTAI) was compared to the present 150-item form to determine whether the same constructs were common to both sets of items. Correlations computed between scores on the two forms for 675 undergraduate elementary, secondary, and all levels education majors yielded coefficients of .96, .97, and .96, respectively. The factor structure of the short form was analyzed separately for each major. Five factors were found to be highly consistent for each group and with the results reported in the literature for experienced teachers using all 150 items. The results were interpreted as support for a multidimensional short form of the MTAI.     

The Kempe Family Stress Inventory: a review

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this article is to review the Kempe Family Stress Inventory (KFSI), a 10-item scale that measures risk for parenting difficulties based upon responses to a thorough psychosocial interview. The article provides a historical overview, as well as reviewing research regarding its reliability and validity. METHOD: Research and documentation regarding the KFSI were gathered from journals, book chapters, presentations, workshops, and intervention evaluation reports. RESULTS: The KFSI has been used to predict parents' future risk of maltreating their children. The scale covers a variety of domains, including psychiatric history, criminal and substance abuse history, childhood history of care, emotional functioning, attitudes towards and perception of child, discipline of child, and level of stress in the parent's life. Although construct validity has been demonstrated with the KFSI, questions remain about its specificity and sensitivity. In addition, there has been minimal reliability work done on the measure. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that the KFSI may have clinical utility, but should be used as part of a more comprehensive risk assessment that includes multiple measures. Acceptable accuracy in predicting child abuse and neglect when used by itself has not been demonstrated. There is a need for more demonstration of reliability and validity. Suggestions for future research are noted.     

The Relationship of Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory Scores to Certain Biographical Information

Abstract

The student teaching experience was investigated for changes in attitudes as determined by pre- and post-responses to the MTAI. Further, inventory statements were categorized and placed in five dimensions. The total results were treated by the t test and no significant changes resulted. The analysis of variance was applied to the dimensional MTAI responses. A significant difference between dimensions (P = 3.80 < .05) resulted. No significant treatment or Interaction differences occurred. When the simple effects were evaluated by the 8ign Test, only one of the five dimensions revealed a significant shift In attitude. The results suggest that attitude changes resulting from experimental condition may be more appropriately evaluated by Inspecting the dimensions of the change.     

Child Behavior Problems,Teacher Executive Functions,and Teacher Stress in Head Start Classrooms

Research Findings: The current article explores the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of child behavior problems and preschool teacher job stress, as well as the possibility that teachers’ executive functions moderate this relationship. Data came from 69 preschool teachers in 31 early childhood classrooms in 4 Head Start centers and were collected using Web-based surveys and Web-based direct assessment tasks. Multilevel models revealed that higher levels of teachers’ perceptions of child behavior problems were associated with higher levels of teacher job stress and that higher teacher executive function skills were related to lower job stress. However, findings did not yield evidence for teacher executive functions as a statistical moderator. Practice or Policy: Many early childhood teachers do not receive sufficient training for handling children's challenging behaviors. Child behavior problems increase a teacher's workload and consequently may contribute to feelings of stress. However, teachers’ executive function abilities may enable them to use effective, cognitive-based behavior management and instructional strategies during interactions with students, which may reduce stress. Providing teachers with training on managing challenging behaviors and enhancing executive functions may reduce their stress and facilitate their use of effective classroom practices, which is important for children's school readiness skills and teachers’ health.