Stressors at school from the teachers’ perspective and their associations with individual characteristics and burnout

Abstract

Objectives. Teaching is a stressful job, but it is not clear what stressors teachers perceive at school and how these perceptions are associated with teacher characteristics and burnout.
Sample and setting. The data were collected from 594 teachers of 6th to 9th grades from 118 schools. In an online survey, participants answered an open-ended question about what they perceive as the most important problems at school, and they filled a burnout scale.
Questions and hypotheses. The study described the types of stressors that teachers perceive. Then, it verified whether stressors and their number reported by teachers associate with gender, socio-economic status (SES), teaching experience, and burnout.
Analyses. A mixed design was used. Stressors were identified using thematic analysis and relationships were verified using statistical tests.
Results. The stressors found were as follows: problematic relationships with students, parents (31%), student inappropriate behaviors (29%), non-functioning policies (27%), student lack of motivation (23%), underappreciation of education (22%), administrative overload (22%), improper parenting (17%), poorly handled inclusion (13%), and unfavorable collegial climate (8%). On average, teachers mentioned two stressors. Women more often reported student inappropriate behaviors. SES proved no significant effects. More experienced teachers less often mentioned student inappropriate behaviors and unfavorable collegial climate and reported a lower number of stressors. Teachers with a higher level of burnout more often complained about problematic relationships with parents and reported a higher number of stressors.
Limitations. Although the generalizability of the results may be limited to 6th to 9th grade teachers in the Czech Republic, the study brings novel insights into the demands of teaching.