Occupational stress among Maltese primary and secondary teachers in church and private schools

Abstract

The major aim of this study was to investigate teacher stress and underlying stressors among primary and secondary teachers in church and private schools in Malta. One fifth out of 762 respondents claimed that they were either very or extremely stressed. Significant main effects of teacher status (lay/religious) and teacher age (Age Group I: 16-30 years/Age Group II: 31-40 years/Age Group III: 41-50 years/Age Group IV: 51-60 years) and a significant two way interaction of sex by school population (1-300 pupils/ 301-600 pupils/ 601-900 pupils) were obtained. A principal components analysis of the sources of stress revealed three underlying factors labelled "Poor Staff Relations and Working Conditions", "Pupil Misbehaviour" and "Time Pressures". Significant relationships were found between the severity of these stress factors and the demographic groups of teacher sex (male/female), teacher status (lay/religious), teaching post (fu11-time prim~ry tP~rnPr/p~rt-tim0 primary teacher/full-time secondary teacher/part-time primary teacher) and teacher age (Age Group I: 16-30 years/Age Group II: 31-40 years/Age Group III: 41-50 years/Age Group IV: 51-60 years).