Professional development training can help teachers to build resistance against teaching associated stress

Abstract

This study examined the possibility of integrating resilience strategies into the TPD-R curriculum to help teachers develop resistance to stress and enable them to thrive under the pressures of teaching. Drawing on theoretical and empirical insights, the social ecological theory of resilience provided the theoretical framework for this research. The study employed a quantitative research design and utilised a quasi-experimental approach for data collection. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 50 female participants from 2 pedagogical excellence centres located in Astana, Kazakhstan. These participants were randomly assigned to either the TPD-R group (25) or to the control group (25). The Teacher Stress Scale (TSS) (α = .81) and the Resilience for Adults Scale (α = .89) were employed for data collection to assess job stress and resilience. The data were analysed using the analysis of covariance and independent t-tests. The TPD-R training intervention significantly improved the resilience ability of female teachers, as indicated by their pre-test and post-test mean scores of 36.25 (36.25%) and 27.13 (27.13%) respectively. The participants exposed to TPD-R (mean = 43.52; SD = 13.86) demonstrated greater improvement compared to those in the control group (mean = 27.97; SD = 2.31). Furthermore, the study found a significant interaction effect between the treatment and years of service. In conclusion, TPD-R training effectively helps reduce teacher job-related stress and promotes resilience, especially among female teachers. However, the resistance against job stress may be dependent on years of experience.

Keywords:

• Female teachers
• professional development training
• resilience
• teaching job-related stress
• years of service

Reviewing Editor:

• Lawrence Jun Zhang, Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of Auckland Faculty of Education and Social Work, New Zealand

Subjects:

• Teacher Training
• Teachers & Teacher Education
• Continuing Professional Development
• Educational Psychology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dariyash D. Shakimova

Dariyash D. Shakimova a second tear Ph.D. student at the Department of Psychology, L.N.Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Astana, Kazakhstan. Her professional research interests include teachers’ well-being, teaching job-related stress and pedagogical resilience. She is a senior manager of the “Teacher Assessment and Certification” department of the “Center for Pedagogical Measurements” NIS, Astana, Kazakhstan.

Kehinde C. Lawrence

Kehinde C. Lawrence a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana, Kazakhstan, and a Research Fellow at Walter Sisulu University, Butterworth, South Africa. He earned his Ph.D. in Counselling and Developmental Psychology from the Department of Guidance and Counselling, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. As a seasoned researcher, he has authored over 40 publications in reputable peer-reviewed journals, with the majority indexed in Scopus and Web of Science. His research interests span adolescents’ and youths’ education, career development, psychosocial and mental well-being, moral development, and counselling. Dr. Lawrence is experienced in both qualitative and quantitative research approaches, including mixed methods. He possesses the ability to use structural equation modelling with statistical packages such as AMOS and LISREL. Dr. Lawrence is a member of the British Psychology Society.

Zhanat K. Aubakirova

Zhanat K. Aubakirova a Candidate of Psychology, Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology, L.N.Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Astana, Kazakhstan). She is a supervisor of many doctoral and master students. She teaches health psychology courses at Bachelor, Master and PhD-levels