Abstract
(1) Background: Teachers’ personal and strenuous working conditions reflect the realities of the teaching vocation that may result in increased stress levels and associated negative consequences, such as negative emotions. It is also well-known that teacher stress contributes to more violence against students. However, little is known about personal and school context factors that contribute to teachers’ stress. The current study examined whether, in addition to school-related factors, job perceptions, including the feeling of pressure at work and perceived school climate and teaching difficulties, contribute to teachers’ stress. (2) Methods: A representative sample of 291 teachers from 12 public secondary schools in southwestern Uganda responded to self-administered questionnaires. (3) Results: Teaching difficulties and feelings of pressure at work contributed to teachers’ stress. Furthermore, stress did not vary with teachers’ sociodemographic variables. (4) Conclusions: Teachers’ perceptions of their working conditions were associated with teacher stress levels. Therefore, more efforts need to be geared towards improving the working conditions of teachers as a way of reducing stress.
Highlights
Teaching is a highly stressful profession, and the characteristics of teachers’ work seem to be related to stress and associated negative emotions [1]
Teacher stress may be influenced on different levels, for example, on the individual level, the interpersonal level, or the organizational level [3]
In low-income countries, teachers are further burdened with often poor working conditions, and these terms and conditions of service may result in stress
Summary
Teaching is a highly stressful profession, and the characteristics of teachers’ work seem to be related to stress and associated negative emotions [1]. The teaching profession is highly regulated, which limits the individual scope for decision-making, e.g., teachers have to conform to the Ministry of Education guidelines and teacher professional code of conduct [2]. Teachers in low- and middle-income countries often report that they do not have an interest in the teaching vocation because of a lack of career advancement opportunities and poor remuneration, and that they are frustrated by working in a limited resource environment [4,5,6]. Poor education of teachers in low-income countries may explain the reported feelings of helplessness and that teachers are overstrained when dealing with misbehaving students [7]. Often teachers in low-income countries have only limited access to school
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