Award Date

5-1-2017

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational & Clinical Studies

First Committee Member

Jeff Gelfer

Second Committee Member

Monica R. Brown

Third Committee Member

Joseph Morgan

Fourth Committee Member

Richard D. Tandy

Number of Pages

116

Abstract

Public education and teachers are under considerable scrutiny (Gibboney, 2008). With

the inception of local, state, and national demands being placed on education, teachers are faced

with many challenges (Eppley, 2015). Educational accountability measures have grown out of

the political pressures impacting educational policies (Gibboney, 2008). There is much debate

regarding whom teachers are accountable to and what they are accountable for (Ornstein, 1986;

McDermott, 2011). This scrutiny increases a teacher’s level of perceived stress.

Stress and perceptions of stress differ from person to person, making it conditional and

highly personal (Fimian, 2001; Jary, 2006). Although stress has been an area of study for many

years, academic disciplines such as psychology, sociology, and education define it differently

(Saleem & Shah, 2011). Some disciplines view stress as a process while others view it as a result

of interactions influenced by culture or customs (Prabhatt, 2011). Because stress appears to be

pervasive among educators today (Prabhatt, 2011), it is important to have an understanding of

stress as it relates to education.

The way an educator teaches and how a student learns impacts the perceived self-efficacy

of the teacher (Goroshit & Hen, 2014). Current and past educational legislation also has an effect

on teacher perceived self-efficacy (Goroshit & Hen, 2014). The efficacy beliefs of a teacher

affect how they perform in the classroom, their goals, and what they want to achieve

(Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001).

Perceived teacher stress and perceived teacher self-efficacy are factors that affect both

general and special education teachers. Understanding how perceived teacher stress and

perceived teacher self-efficacy affect educators may lead to understanding what positive

variables are working with teachers, and how negative situations such as teacher attrition may be

avoided.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the following

perceived stress factors: (a) time management, (b) work-related stressors, (c) professional stress,

(d) discipline and motivation, (e) professional investment, (f) emotional manifestations,

(g) fatigue manifestations, and perceived teacher self-efficacy with general and special education

teachers. This was conducted with students in teacher education programs at a local university in the

southwestern United States. There were two surveys that were combined to create the questionnaire

that was used. These were the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1979) and the

Teacher Stress Inventory (Fimian, 1984).

The results of this study showed the correlation between perceived teacher stress and

perceived teacher self-efficacy and how they affect a teacher. Many of the studies available at the

time of this study contained more variables than perceived teacher stress and perceived teacher

self-efficacy. The results of this study also provided a starting point for future research to

determine why teacher attrition is occurring.

Keywords

General education teachers; Perceived self-efficacy; Perceived stress; Special education teachers; Stress factors

Disciplines

Education

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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