Occupational stress in head teachers: a national UK study

Abstract

This study assessed occupational stress amongst 2,638 head teachers of primary and secondary schools, together with principals/directors of further and higher education establishments, throughout the United Kingdom. Data were collected on personal/job demographics, sources of job stress, mental health, job satisfaction and coping strategies. These data were analysed by SPSS-X, producing univariate, bivariate and multivariate techniques. It was found that as we moved from the further/higher education level to secondary to primary sectors, the levels of job dissatisfaction and mental ill health rose. In addition, it was found that, with the exception of primary schools, female head teachers in secondary and FHE seem to be suffering significantly greater job dissatisfaction than their male counterparts, although this does not translate itself into mental ill health. Male head teachers, on the other hand, seem to suffer more mental ill health than their female counterparts. And finally, the two main sources of occupational stress that appear in many of the multivariate analyses as predictors of job dissatisfaction and mental ill health are 'work overload' and 'handling relationships with staff'. The implications of all these findings are discussed in detail.