An Analysis of Perceptions, Rituals and Management of Stress Among Public Primary School Teachers: the Case Study of Westlands Division, Nairobi West District

Abstract

Stress is quickly becoming the single greatest cause of diseases (Leigh and Schnall 2000) and can have far reaching consequences for both the worker and the work place. Occupational stress occurs when external demands and conditions do not match a person's needs, expectations or ideals or exceeds their physical capacity, skills, or knowledge for comfortably handling a situation (French et al., 1982). The general objective for the study was to find the perceptions, rituals and mechanisms of stress management among public primary school teachers.

The study questions were: what are the perceived sources of occupational stress among public primary school teachers, what is the impact of stress on teachers and what management practices are put in place to mitigate the impact of stress on teachers. Using a sample of 60 respondents, the study adopted both non- probability and probability sampling. The study found that low salaries and big and unmanageable classes were the major sources of stress.

To determine the impact of stress among public primary school teachers, the study found out that absenteeism was high and teachers suffer from low self esteem due to stress. In order to establish approaches employed to mitigate the impact of stress on teachers, the study found out that no practices/mechanisms were in place to manage stress among teachers. The study recommended an upward review on salaries and hiring of more teachers.