Abstract
The aim of this study was to validate the Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI) for use in a South African context. The process of scale validation also sheds significant light on this culturally diverse group of participants’ levels of psychological well-being and physical health, and its association with the level of stress that teachers reported. Using a cross-sectional survey design, Caucasian ( n = 209) and African ( n = 200) educators’ subsiding in the North-West Province of South Africa, completed the TSI, together with a number of self-report and physiological measures of stress and well-being. In contrast to the five factors of the TSI identified in US samples, statistical analysis yielded a two-factor model (i.e. General circumstance-related stress and Learner-related stress ) with satisfactory reliability indices. Significant correlation with measures of psychological and physiological health also reflected positively on the criterion-related validity of the scale. The TSI proved to be a useful, brief self-report questionnaire for the assessment of teacher stress in this cohort of South African teachers. Keywords: psychological well-being; reliability; South African context; stress; Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI); validity
Highlights
The teaching profession is known internationally to provide high levels of job satisfaction, but to pose significant challenges (Beck & Garguilo, 1983; Billingsley, 2004; Chaplain, 2008; Mearns & Cain, 2003; Näring, Briët & Brouwers, 2006; Schwarzer & Hallum, 2008; Sharplin, O’Neill & Chapman, 2011; Skinner & Beers, 2016)
This study yielded a number of promising results regarding the validity of the Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI) in a South African context
S11 construct validity in comparison to the five factors initially identified by Boyle et al (1995), and indices of internal consistency indicated that reliable conclusions could be drawn from the data
Summary
The teaching profession is known internationally to provide high levels of job satisfaction, but to pose significant challenges (Beck & Garguilo, 1983; Billingsley, 2004; Chaplain, 2008; Mearns & Cain, 2003; Näring, Briët & Brouwers, 2006; Schwarzer & Hallum, 2008; Sharplin, O’Neill & Chapman, 2011; Skinner & Beers, 2016). Within the South African teaching context various challenges have been reported to add to the stress that educators need to overcome in order to maintain their psychological well-being (Ferreira, 2008; Lund & Flisher, 2006). These include: historical and socio-economic disparities (Møller, 2007); the challenges of coping with the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS); the downsizing of the number of teachers in schools (Olivier & Venter, 2003); and the fact that, in many instances, South African teachers have to cope with multi-racial classrooms, teach in their second language, and work with individuals from other cultures, whose backgrounds they do not fully understand (Vandeyar, 2005)
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