Work-Related Stress Among Public Preschool Teachers In Rural Area : A Qualitative Study

• Main Author: Diannie, Pintan
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English; English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) 2020
• Subjects: BF Psychology
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/32382/1/Work-Related%20Stress%20Among%20Public%20Preschool%20Teachers%20In%20Rural%20Area%20%20-%2024%20pgs.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/32382/4/Work-Related%20Stress%20Among%20Public%20Preschool%20Teachers%20In%20Rural%20Area.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/32382/

This study aimed to explore the challenges that cause stress experienced by rural preschool teachers. In particular, this study identified the perceptions of preschool teachers in defining their work-related stress based on their own experience, the challenges faced by preschool teachers related to work in performing duties and responsibilities as an educator, and strategies used by preschool teachers to in coping the challenges. There are eight (8) informants involved in this study who are preschool teachers chosen from Kanowit district rural schools. The case study design was used to conduct this study and the interview questions were constructed to be used as the instrument to obtain data and data collection is using the online method which is using Google Form. Purposive sampling was used to obtain the most appropriate informants for this study. The findings of this study have revealed the challenges faced by preschool teachers in the workplace that are related to teaching activities as well as including non-teaching tasks. Among the many challenges, majority of the informants mentioned non-teaching workloads and issues with parents of students as the main challenges. The findings of this study also show that social support and engaging in sports activities are among the strategies used by preschool teachers to deal with stress and as a measure to calm down from stress issues from the workplace. Finally, the findings from this study are useful as a recommendation for the school to realize the importance of paying attention to the work-related issues expressed by preschool teachers while to the HR team is to create awareness on the importance of understanding and protect the well-being of employees in the organization so that viii employees feel valued and needed and provide exposure to employees regarding the strategies that should be taken when faced with stress in the workplace.