Occupational Stress and Burnout among Secondary School Teachers in Sokoto Metropolis – Nigeria: How Does Coping Strategies Matter?

Abstract

This study investigated occupational stress and burnout among senior secondary school teachers in Sokoto metropolis and their coping strategies. The population of the study consisted of all public senior secondary school Teachers in Sokoto metropolis, totaling (1, 216). One hundred and ninety-six (196) respondents were selected based on Krejcie and Morgan table of determining sampling size from eight (8) secondary schools. Descriptive design was used for the study. Three adopted instruments titled; Teacher Stress Scale by Liman (2016) to measure teachers’ stress, Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educator Survey (MBI-ES) by Maslach, Jackson and Schwab (1986) to measure teachers’ burnout, the Cope Inventory by Carver, Sheier and Weintraub (1989) to measure teachers’ coping strategies, were used to collect data for this research. Three hypotheses were tested and t-test was used for data analysis. The findings of the study shows that there is significance difference in occupational stress of male and female senior secondary school teachers in Sokoto metropolis but, there is no significant difference in burnout and coping strategies of male and female senior secondary school teachers in Sokoto metropolis. Conclusively, the findings of this research study shows that male teachers experience more stress than female teachers. The stress experienced by secondary school teachers can lead to reduced productivity and burnout. Nonetheless, stress coping strategies should be inaugurated to assist teachers reduced their stress. Some recommendations made include there is need to help teachers resolve occupational stress. This can be achieved through seminars, workshops, and sensitization programs.