A comparative study to determine the level of occupational stress among teachers of private and government schools in Chennai

Abstract

Today’s life is full of challenges. In everyday life we come across many situations. The work of a teacher is a physically and mentally challenging. A teacher needs to use a lot of energy in his daily chores in the classroom coupled with his personal and family commitments. This trend which is a routine for a teacher forwards a lot of stress to the teacher. More than ever before work is not seen as the root of infinite satisfaction and fulfillment, but rather a source of stress, discontentment and humiliation. Teaching related stress, commonly termed “teacher stress” is defined as a teacher’s experience of “unpleasant, negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, tension, frustration, or depression, resulting from some aspect of their work as a teacher”. The present study aims to determine the level of occupational stress among teachers private and government schools in Chennai. A cross sectional quantitative research design was conducted among 50 private school teachers and 50 government school teachers. A random purposive sampling technique was used to select samples. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect demographic data and the occupational stress was assessed. The present study also shows that the demographic variable gender in private school teachers  had shown statistically significant association with level of occupational stress among private school teachers at p<0.05 level and the other demographic variables had not shown statistically significant association with level of occupational stress among private school teachers and that that none of the demographic variables had shown statistically significant association with level of occupational stress among government school teachers. The study thus indicates that there is a significant rise in the occupational stress among the private school teachers in comparison with the government school teachers.