The use of the nominal group technique to isolate teacher job stressors

Abstract

The nominal group technique, a small-group decision-making process which offers open and relatively unrestricted response to problem identification and resolution, was used as a means of identifying the major stressors of elementary school teachers and the concomitant solutions to their problems. Although the specific stressors that have been presented in this paper are not necessarily applicable to other school districts, the nominal group technique itself should be very useful in other school districts as well as in most any work setting. The active involvement of teachers in defining and solving their own problems is a critical aspect of the technique. Teachers, like most employees, will more actively solve problems and accept innovations if they can see some tangible benefit for themselves in doing so. “Intensity of work demands” was the most frequently mentioned job stressor and also received the highest combined ranking for the nine teacher groups. “Student misbehavior and lack of motivation” ranked a close second.