Load and Strain in the Teaching Profession- Gaps in the Research Discourses

Author(s):

Michael Stiller(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 08 D, Parallel Paper Session

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-20

09:00-10:30

Room:

FCEE - Aula 4.3

Chair:

Donald Gray

Contribution

International empirical research comes to the conclusion that a high percentage of teachers all over Europe suffer from an unhealthy level of strain.

With a wide range of theoretical models, methods and instruments researchers from many disciplines (medicine, psychology, sociology…) have contributed to general knowledge about work load and strain (Freudenberger 1974; Maslach & Jackson 1981; Maslach & Zimbardo 2003; Lazarus & Folkman 2006). These findings are all rather unspecific. However, they are tried to be adapted to teaching profession in order to explain the specific phenomenon of teachers load and strain (Kyriacou 1998; van Dick 1999; Abele & Candova 2007).

The following paper starts from the assumption that teachers strain is a highly specific phenomenon mainly caused by the unique factors of this profession (Lortie 2002; Day 2004).

The research objective of this paper is to develop a concept including a specific theory, model and framework in order to display, explain and analyse teachers load and strain. Therefore the paper at first describes the status quo of the existing models and theories (Kyriacou 2000; Schoenwaelder 2006) to identify unspecific and missing facts as well as to find a gap in the research discourse.

Secondly the paper goes a step further and will develop a new model specific to the teaching profession which provides an explanation for the teacher-specific interrelation between load and strain, basing on all relevant individual and structural indicators.

In a third step and on basis of this model the paper will construct a theoretical framework in order to be able to categorise and analyse the existing empirical studies (Lazarus & Folkman 2006; Abele & Candova 2007; Schaarschmidt 2007) afterwards.

In a forth step - to test the capability of this theoretical framework- it will be filled with a wide range of present empirical research in order to categorise it. This systematisation is the basis in order to handle the huge amount of different empirical studies with the aim to analyse it deeply afterwards.

In the final step this analyse is done to contribute to a deeper understanding of teachers load and strain.

At this year´s ECER conference in Cadiz I want to present the theoretical model, the systematization of the empirical research and additionally parts of the final analysis.

Method

The first part of this paper manly consists of theoretical work. In the first step the state of the art of load- and strain theories are analysed and categorised by means of a meta-analysis of theories and research available. It, thus, offers a theoretical and empirically useful framework for analysing teachers load and strain. Afterwards this frameworks ability of categorisation and systematization the existing research is tested in the empirical part this paper. Therefore the theoretical framework is empirical filled with a wide range of present studies. The last part is consisting of theoretical work again. The following analysis of the empirical studies is the basis for the final conclusions.

Expected Outcomes

In contrast to the many models which take stress as a rather unspecific phenomenon the paper provides a highly specific theory and model which displays load and strain in the teaching profession. This theory-based concept provides more complex understanding for the genesis of teachers load and strain. Furthermore this paper develops a theory-based framework in order to be capable of doing a theoretical systematization of the empirical studies. This is the basis for the following meta-analysis of the empirical research. As a surrogate of this analysis many important factors which are relevant to accessing a deeper understanding of teachers load and strain can be extracted; e.g. main factors of teachers load and strain, the interrelation between certain factors as well as references to possibilities and limitations of stress- and burnout prevention. Additionally this framework features research on the research itself. It is contributing to disclose many different aspects concerning the research field of teachers load and strain; for instance key aspects of previous studies, research developments and trends as well as research desiderata. So this framework furthermore serves a new guidance for prospective research on the specificity of teachers load and strain.

References

Abele, Andrea E.; Candova, Antonia (2007): Praedikatoren des Belastungserlebens im Lehrerberuf. Befunde einer 4-jährigen Laengsschnittstudie. In: Zeitschrift für Paedagogische Psychologie, Jg. 21, H. 2, S. 107–118. Day, Christopher (2004): A passion for teaching. London, New York: RoutledgeFalmer. Dick, Rolf van (1999): Streß und Arbeitszufriedenheit im Lehrerberuf. Eine Analyse von Belastung und Beanspruchung im Kontext sozialpsychologischer, klinisch-psychologischer und organisationspsychologischer Konzepte. Marburg: Tectum-Verl. Freudenberger, Herbert (1974). Staff burnout. Journal of Social Issues, 30(1), 159-165. Kyriacou, Chris (1998): Teacher stress: Directions for future research. Educational Review, 53, 27-35. Kyriacou, Chris (2000): Stress-busting for teachers. Cheltenham, Thornes. Lazarus, Richard & Folkman, Susan (2006): Stress, appraisal, and coping. [Nachdr.]. New York: Springer. Lortie, Dan Clement (2002): Schoolteacher. A sociological study. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Maslach, Christina & Jackson, Susan (1981). The measurement of experienced burnout. Journal of Occupational Behavior, 2, 99-113. Maslach, Christina; Zimbardo, Philip (2003): Burnout. The cost of caring. Cambridge, MA: Malor Books. Schaarschmidt, Uwe (2007): Geruestet für den Schulalltag. Psychologische Unterstützungsangebote für Lehrerinnen und Lehrer. Weinheim: Beltz (Reihe Pädagogik). Schoenwaelder, Hans-Georg (2006): Arbeitsbelastung von Lehrern - terra incognita der Paedagogik. In: Engagement - Zeitschrift für Erziehung und Schule, H. 4, S. 273–282.

Author Information

Michael Stiller (presenting / submitting)

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Lehrstuhl für Allgemeine Erziehungswissenschaft II

Nürnberg

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