ABSTRACT
The study examined the influence of
teachers’ stress on the academic performance of students in selected secondary
schools in Oshodi Local Government Area of Lagos State. The descriptive
research survey design was employed for the assessment of the opinions of the
selected respondents with the use of the questionnaire.
One hundred and twenty (120) respondents
using random sampling technique were used in this study. Four null hypotheses
were formulated and tested in this study using the independent t-test for
hypothesis one and the Pearson product moment correlation statistical tools for
hypotheses 2, 3 and 4 at 0.05 level of significance.
At the end of the analyses, the
following results were obtained:
-
Hypothesis one found that there is a
significant influence of teachers’ stress on students’ academic performance in
school.
-
Hypothesis two revealed that a
relationship exists between the causes of teachers’ stress and students’
academic performance in the school.
-
In hypothesis three, it revealed that
there is a significant relationship between the effect of stress in the society
and the students’ academic performance in the school.
-
Finally, it was indicated in hypothesis
four that a relationship exists between teachers’ emotional stress and
students’ academic performance in schools.
Based on these findings, certain
recommendations were made.
-
Teachers should not be over-loaded with
work in their daily teaching professions, rather, teachers, to avoid stressful
conditions, should ensure that they do not take their work home that is,
uncompleted work home. They should stop their work at the end of the day in their
offices rather than continuing with them at home.
-
The large class size in our secondary
schools is the bane of high academic achievement of students and it contributes
to the stressful condition of the teachers.
-
Government should ensure that the provision
on National Policy of Education (NPE) on teacher – student ratio should be
maintained. Government should ensure that more teachers are employed to teach
the large enrolment of children in our schools.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgment iv
Abstract
v
Table of contents vi
CHAPTER
ONE 1
1.1 Background to the Study 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem 4
1.3 The Purpose of the Study 5
1.4 Research Questions 6
1.5 Research Hypothesis 6
1.6 Significance of the Study 7
1.7 Scope of the Study 8
1.8 Definition of Terms 8
Chapter
Two: Literature Review 10
2.1
Concept of Stress
10
2.2
Early conceptualizations of stress 12
2.3
Psychological stress
24
2.4
Types of stressors 28
2.5
Effects of stress 33
2.6
The impact of stress on academic functioning and
educational
progress 36
2.7
Empirical review of stress 38
2.8
Coping behaviour on stress 42
2.9
Stress, coping and health 47
2.10 Summary of review 49
Chapter
Three: Research Design and Methodology 52
3.0
Introduction 52
3.1 Research
Design 52
3.2
Population of the Study 52
3.3
Sample and Sampling Technique 52
3.4
Research Instrument 53
3.5
Validity of Instrument 53
3.6
Reliability of Instrument 54
3.7
Procedure for Data Collection 54
3.8
Procedure for Data Analysis 54
Chapter
Four: Data Analysis and Interpretations of Results 55
4.1 Introduction 55
4.2 Descriptive Analyses of Bio-Data of
Teachers 55
4.3 Hypotheses Testing 57
4.4 Summary of the Findings 61
Chapter Five: Discussion, Summary, Conclusion, Recommendations and
Suggestion For Further Studies 62
5.0 Introduction 62
5.1
Discussion 62
5.2
Summary of the Study 67
5.3
Conclusion of the Study 68
5.4
Recommendations 69
5.5
Suggestion for Further Studies 70
References
71
Appendix
75
CHAPTER
ONE
1.1
Background to the
Study
The
phenomenon stress has been studied extensively (Asmussen and Mazon, 1978;
Karlson 1979; Jones Bigland, Ritcine and Edward, 1979 and Ikulayo, 1987). From
different perspectives based on the results of numerous scientific researchers
is now a general consensus that stress is not only can hinder performance
basically in all fields of human endeavour, it can also cause harm and damages
to the body if not properly managed.
When
most people talk about stress at home or stress on the job they are talking
about mental, physical and stress actually can make negative contribution to
performance. Stress is not a bad phenomenon or a good phenomenon. Stress
depends on individuals and the way they perceive it. Looking at stress and man,
man is made of three diverse but inter-related components that is the physical
body, the soul and the spirit. Stress and the three components are so linked to
each other that one, affects the others.
Stress
in individuals is viewed as any interference that disturbs a person’s health,
mental and physical well being. It occurs when the body is required to perform
beyond its normal range of capabilities. The results become harmful to
individuals, families, students, teachers and society at large.
Stress
comes in various forms. At one time or the other, individuals experience a
particular stress, these are Eustress, Hyper-Stress, Hypo-stress and distress.
Eustress
is characterized with the state of uphoria, happiness as a result of good news,
promotion, passing examination etc.
Distress
is viewed as with anxiety, frustration and anger.
Hypostress
has the features of boredom, fatigue, lack of stimulation while Hyperstress
which is characterized with over excitation, coping with many things at the
same time which eventually leads to systematic failure.
However,
the causes of stress are not far fetched. A stressor is anything that causes
stress – death of spouse, divorce, marital separation, death of love ones,
death of close friend, death of close family member, personal, marital
reconciliation, pregnancy, business adjustment, instability at work, schools
financial state, church activities. When people are under severe emotional or
mental stress, they face much higher risk of heart attack and sudden cardiac
arrest and death than those people who have healthy arteries and less stress
(Adeyemi, 2000).
What
are the causes of stress in Nigeria? Nigeria is a multi-cultural and
multi-ethnic society. Some of the factors identified as the causes of stress in
Nigeria include our cultural influence, economy, our life pattern, too many
friends, fear of ageing and death, lack of motivation at the work place.
Effects of stress may come in many forms on individuals under severe stress who
may become absent minded. This is not because there is nothing on their mind
but because the mind is stressed up with too many things. Stress leads to loss
of concentration, forgetfulness, inability to perform, individuals becomes
hypersensitive, restless, confused with so many thoughts coming into the head.
Sometimes they become irritated and become quarrelsome if the individual is a
teacher there is no way the students can perform well academically (Ayo, 1994).
Teachers
perception of the profession and the societal negative attitude to the teaching
job have placed them under stressful situations because of poverty all of these
have a spiral effect on the students’ academic performance in Oshodi Local
Government.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The
study is designed to address the effects of teachers; stress on students’
academic performance. There is no doubt that teachers in this part of the world
experience more stressful situation than their colleagues in other parts of the
world especially the developed nations.
Teachers’
perception of the teaching profession and societal negative attitudes to
teaching job have placed us under undue stressful situations. Teachers are
generally under paid, they receive small pay among their contemporaries in the
country. They are unable to rent a house of their choice, not able to meet
basic responsibilities of their family, low self esteem, inability to cope with
problem students in the class, too much workload in the area of lesson notes,
marking, recording or grading, teaching, jealous among colleagues, job
insecurity, all of these are enough for teachers in schools to be stressful and
therefore have effect on the students’ academic performance.
Notable
among these are absent-minded, fatigue as an adage says “a hungry man is an
angry man”, which results to low performance, loss of concentration. When an
individual becomes hypersensitive, restless, confusion set into his head. The
blood pressure rises severely and causes an individual analgesic at times have
a nagging headache which do not respond to common analgesic, stomach disorder
such as diarrehoea, constipation, general body pains which may be worse at
regions.
However,
when these effects of stress are telling much on the body, the teacher
concerned experience hyper excitation or depression or high blood pressures,
drying of the throat and mouth under these conditions, the teacher has nothing
to offer the students but just like a mere image in front of the classroom.
Teachers experience such effects of stress like grinding of teeth, sweating,
frequent need to urinate, diarrhoea, indigestion, tension, pain of the neck,
compulsive eating, increase of smoking which are all symptoms of stress and
cannot achieve success rather than the opposite on the student’s academic
performance. It has now come to the time to address this issue once and for
all, to look at the exact meaning of stress to teachers, analyse the possible
causes and prefer remedies to this effects of stress.
1.3 The Purpose of the Study
The
objectives of the study are to: investigate into the term ‘stress’ and the various
forms of stress. The researcher will also look into the possible causes of
stress to teachers and also look into the effect of teachers’ stress on the
students’ academic performance in schools.
More significantly, the study will also press upon to know how to manage
or remedies to stress when it comes.
1.4 Research Questions
The
study will provide answers to the following questions:
1. What
are the effect of teachers’ stress on students’ academic performance in
schools?
2. Are
there any causes of stress to teachers in government schools?
3. Does
stress have effect on the society?
4. Can
we have solution or remedies to the effect of stress to teachers in schools?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
The
following hypotheses stated in null forms will be tested in this study:
Ho1: Teachers’
stress has no effect on students’ academic performance.
Ho2: Relationship
does not exist between the causes of teachers’ stress and students’ academic
performance.
Ho3: There
is no relationship between the effect of stress in the society and the
students’ academic performance.
Ho4: Relationship
does not exist between teachers’ emotional stress and students’ academic
performance.
1.6 Significance of the Study
This
study will be beneficial to the following people listed below:
Teachers –
Teachers who have stress as a result of their workloads in the school will
benefit from the findings and recommendations of this study, in that, it will
help them discover some of the problems caused by stress and how best to avoid
them. Many teachers through this study would understand more about the effect
of stress such as ill-health which may lead to low performance at work and even
death. Thus, they would avoid those conditions that can lead them to be
stressed up.
Students –
Students at all levels would benefit from this study as it will enable them to
identify those stressful conditions that are associated with their studies and
learn how best to avoid them or even how to manage stressful condition as
stress is one unavoidable issues of life.
Government –
Government especially the Ministry of Education, will through this study have
deeper insight into the ugly effects of stress on the teaching and learning
process of both teachers and students in the school system. It will also
benefit other workers outside the teaching profession.
The
findings and recommendations of the study would enable governments to formulate
education policies that would not be so stressful to the workers and students
in the school system.
The School Authority – The
school authority will be able to gather necessary information on the effects of
stress on teachers and students learning outcomes in the school sector and find
remedies to the problem.
The Society – The
society and new researchers will also benefit from this study immensely because
it serves as a reference material to them and will give them great insight into
the effect of stress of teachers, and academic performance of students.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The
study will cover the effects of teachers’, stress on the academic performance
of students in selected secondary schools in Oshodi Local Government Area of
Lagos State.
1.8 Definition of Terms
The
following operational terms will be defined in this study:
Stress –
According to Anozie (1990) stress refers to a negative feeling or unpleasant
emotional state resulting from studying or carrying out a learning task as a
student and carrying out a teaching task as a teacher. It is a recognise to a
challenging demand or event. For example, teachers performance, their teaching
duties under stressful situation such as lack of conducive environment where
there is short fall of the supply of equipment and other school facilities
necessary for carrying out quality teaching and learning.
As
a result of this, teachers under harrowing tasks performing their teaching jobs
and this causes them to do their work in a manner devoid of accuracy and
qualitativeness.
Environment – As
Ayodele (1974) puts it, this refers to all the surrounding conditions which
influence growth and development. The natural conditions such as air, land,
water in which man lives. This implies that the environment in which teachers,
especially, at the public school sector do their work is nothing to write home
about. For example, the school environment in many schools in Lagos State do
not give anybody the cause to clear. This is because, in many schools today.
There is the problem of classrooms in which students are taught in an
overcrowded room between 50 – 80 students.
This
conditions does not give the teaching the opportunity to fully express himself,
neither does it give it room to assess the children according to the school
rules. This has cause the teacher to perform his/her work unaccomplished and
this has affected the academic performance of the students who learn under such
conditions. Also the government does not give the teacher the enabling
environment to perform his/her work and this has created so many loop-holes in
the teaching and learning process.
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