Literature

Stress is a major work problem in nine out of ten places (Brown & Ralph, 1998). Throughout the history of literature, it has been suggested that teachers experience greater levels of stress compared to other professions (Coates & Thoresen, 1976; Brown & Nagel, 2004); studies in the United Kingdom have found that about onethird of teachers surveyed reported their job as stressful or extremely stressful (Brown & Ralph, 1998). Stress, nonetheless, is not a British phenomenon; studies in the United States (Dunham, 1983 as cited in Travers & Cooper, 1996) and Australia (Tunnecliffe, 1986 as cited in Travers & Cooper, 1998) revealed that teaching is the number one stress job. The aim of this chapter, therefore, will be to explore the origins of stress and its correlation to burnout and job satisfaction as well as to examine the sources and symptoms relating to teacher stress.

2. 3 Sources Leading to Teacher Stress An early study by Coates and Thorsen (1976 as cited in Millicent & Sewell, 1999) found that sources of teacher stress include time demands; clerical duties and difficulties with pupils; motivating and controlling students; large classes; financial constraints; and lack of educational supplies. Later studies generally confirmed the importance of role workload, difficulties with students and staff relations in explaining stress in teachers (Humpreys, 1996; Millicent & Sewell, 1999). Antoniou, Polychroni and Vlachakis (2006) have recently categorized the major sources of teachers’ occupational stress into (i) factors directly linked to the teaching profession; (ii) administrative factors related to school organization and administration; and, (iii) teachers’ individual differences in coping with stress. Regarding the first category, Kyriacou (2001) identified a number of conditions as the main sources of teacher stress. These include teaching students who lack motivation; maintaining discipline in the classroom; tackling general time pressures and workload demands; being exposed to a large amount of change; being evaluated by others; having difficult or challenging relationships with colleagues, administration, or management; and being exposed to generally poor working conditions. Travers and Cooper (1996) added the lack of promotional prospects as an important source in explaining teacher stress. Based on further findings, Kyriacou (1989) had also supported the importance of certain other factors like covering absent colleagues, striving to maintain standards, the fear of being unpopular, as well as school changes like the introduction of new curricula. In relation to administrative factors, Pettegrew and Wolf (1982 as cited in Adams et al., 2005) identified nine categories of system related stressors as possible causes of teacher stress: role conflict and ambiguity over teachers’ obligations, status,