Perceived Stress by Senior Secondary School Educators in a South African School District

Abstract

This study investigated perceptions of work-related stress as experienced by school personnel in a South African school district. Participants were senior secondary high school educators from five schools (n= 20, mean age = 38.6, females = 12, males = 8 and SD = 10.6). Data on perceptions on lived stress experience in the workplace by senior secondary high school educators were collected using interviews. Thematic analysis of the data suggested that lack of resource support, student management issues and curriculum innovations were the main stressors experienced by the education personnel.

Keywords:

• stress
• interpretivist paradigm
• perceptions
• corporal punishment
• monitoring
• curriculum
• policy