Summary:
Teachers’ occupational stress stimulates intense interest of the educational community in the recent years. Major occupational stressors for teachers include the working demands, the variety of school activities and the lack of professional recognition. Main consequence of the phenomenon is teachers’ drop-out, due to psychological and emotional pressures. Occupational stress is strongly related with two variables, self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Self-efficacy refers to teachers' beliefs about their abilities, while job satisfaction stems from the assessment of their profession as a means of professional values’ achievement. The present study tries to investigate the comparison of occupational stress between general and special education teachers of Primary education, as well as its correlation with self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Our sample consisted of 144 teachers working in general and special education schools, mainly in Athens. A questionnaire was used to collect data, which included Teachers’ Occupational Stress Scale (Antoniou, 2006), Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001), Job Satisfaction Scale (Warr, Cook, & Wall, 1979) and demographical and work items. The findings of the research showed that general education teachers develop higher levels of stress. In addition, self-efficacy and job satisfaction are negatively related to occupational stress. These correlations are also influenced by the demographics of the research. My comparative study aims, if possible, to stimulate future educational research irrespective of the sector and the education level.
Keywords:
Teachers’ Occupational Stress, Self-Efficacy, Job Satisfaction, general education, special education, primary education