Influence of Gender, Qualification and Experience on Incidence of Stress and Coping Strategies among Primary School Teachers in Ekiti State

Abstract

The study explored the influence of gender, qualification and experience on incidence of stress and coping strategies among primary school teachers. This study adopted descriptive design of research type. The population for the study consisted of primary schools in Ekiti State. The sample consisted of 21 primary schools, 378 teachers participated. Two instruments were used for the study. They are the sources of stress and coping strategies adapted from Ugwuja (2009). When validated by Ugwuja, the instrument yielded the reliability co-efficient indices of .73 for sources of stress, .71 for stress management, and .81 for overall instrument respectively. The data collected were analysed using using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The result indicated that significant difference existed in the incidence of stress among primary school teachers in Ekiti state based on gender with male teacher having highest incidence of stress, no significant difference in incidence of stress among primary school teachers in Ekiti state based on teacher qualification and there is no significant difference in incidence of stress among primary school teachers in Ekiti state based on teaching experience. The study recommended that marital counselling should be organized for both the divorcee and married in order to reduce their stress level. The school management should look for a way to reduce the work load of the teachers generally. In addition to this, the government should make teaching more attractive by increasing teacher salary