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International research examining teacher stress and contextual factors, such as culture, government policies, professional autonomy, and school level factors, are reviewed in this chapter, as well as their impact on teachers’ occupational health. Research reviewed identifies important contextual and cultural factors impacting teacher stress and the occupational health factors of job satisfaction and workforce instability. While research examining teacher stress in different countries nation is robust, there is a dearth of research examining the role of culture within or between national borders. Further, while models of stress and occupational health are prevalent in existing research, theoretical models explaining the role of culture and other contextual factors in teacher stress are needed.
International research examining teacher stress and contextual factors, such as culture, government policies, professional autonomy, and school level factors, are reviewed in this chapter, as well as their impact on teachers’ occupational health. Research reviewed identifies important contextual and cultural factors impacting teacher stress and the occupational health factors of job satisfaction and workforce instability. While research examining teacher stress in different countries nation is robust, there is a dearth of research examining the role of culture within or between national borders. Further, while models of stress and occupational health are prevalent in existing research, theoretical models explaining the role of culture and other contextual factors in teacher stress are needed.
This chapter explores three context and education system factors that are implicated in educators’ experiences of stress in the workplace: occupational support, interpersonal relationships, and educational policy changes. More precisely, the first factor concerns occupational support provided to educators to conduct their work with a specific focus on principals’ provision of autonomy support. Autonomy support stems from self-determination theory and refers to the extent to which an authority figure supports individuals’ self-determination in a particular context. The second factor concerns the relational context of teaching with a focus on educators’ relationships with students and colleagues. The third factor concerns the impact of systemic factors in educational policy. For this, we have focused on the impacts of standardized testing and educational innovations. Together, the three overarching factors represent defining features of school and educational systems that shape educators’ work and their experiences of stress in that environment. Overall, our aim is to broaden understanding of the role that schools and educational systems play in educators’ psychological functioning at work.
During the last decade the research literature has shown a growing interest in teacher stress and teacher self-efficacy and how these constructs are related. In this chapter, we review current research on relations between teacher stress and teacher self-efficacy, how these constructs are influenced by the school context, and how they relate to teacher engagement and well-being. Teacher stress and teacher self-efficacy are consistently shown to be negatively related and to predict teachers’ cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses differently. For example, teacher stress correlates negatively with teacher job satisfaction and job commitment, but positively with burnout and teacher attrition, whereas teacher self-efficacy correlates positively with teacher job satisfaction and job commitment, but negatively with burnout and teacher attrition. We propose a model of relations between stressors in the school environment, social support, teacher self-efficacy, teacher stress, and outcome variables such as work engagement and burnout. We then report an interview study which examines experiences of stress and self-efficacy among senior teachers who chose early retirement after long periods of sick leave and teachers who were still teaching and thriving at the ages of 63 and 65.