Stress and work motivation of primary and secondary school teachers

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the levels of stress and work motivation of primary and secondary school teachers, investigate factors affecting stress of teachers and validate the consistency of the model and empirical data.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample consisted of 400 teachers of primary and secondary schools. Questionnaire was implemented as the instrument and the data were analyzed by t-test, ANOVA and confirmatory factor analysis.

Findings

The results indicated that teachers of secondary schools have higher overall stress than teachers of primary schools for many reasons, such as financial issues and work obligations. Stress was found to be significantly positively associated with work motivation in secondary school teachers. The study revealed that demographic and work motivation factors influence teacher stress. The validation of a goodness of fitted model demonstrated an acceptable model fit with empirical data (χ² test/df = 1.913, GFI = 0.934, CFI = 0.965, NFI = 0.930, AGFI = 0.893).

Originality/value

Teachers under stress could negatively influence their students’ academic performance and might be more vulnerable to occupational diseases. Therefore, the teachers should find favorite activities that reduce stress and thereby contribute to effective teaching. This study would be beneficial for anyone who works to support teachers and wants to reduce turnover among teachers.

Citation

Kongcharoen, J., Onmek, N., Jandang, P. and Wangyisen, S. (2020), "Stress and work motivation of primary and secondary school teachers", Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 709-723. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-04-2019-0088