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:
1)
Teachers’ stress will not have effect on students’ academic
performance.
2)
Relationship does not exist between the causes of teachers’
stress and students’ academic performance.
3)
There will be no relationship between the effect of stress
in the society and the students’ academic performance.
4)
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:
1)
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.
2)
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.
3)
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.
4)
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.
5)
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.