Abstract
D.Ed.
Increasingly high demands are being made on teachers. It is consequently not strange that they often find it difficult if not impossible to hold their own, professionally and personally. This leads to phenomena such as stress, burnout and resignations from the teaching profession. Although these problems are also encountered in other occupations as well, in teaching they have a unique and rippling dimension. Pupils, who are in a particularly impressionable stage in their lives, are defenceless against the "onslaughts" that may partially stem from a teacher's inability to cope successfully. Every teacher should therefore be able to uphold his inner self, with all the meanings he attaches to it - in the work context and in all life situations that have a bearing on him as a unique person. Against this background the aim of this investigation was to determine how the high demands of the teaching profession influence the professional and personal coping process of high school teachers. To achieve this aim the research was guided by seven detailed objectives. The first five were realized by building a theoretical framework for the professional and personal coping process of teachers with the help of an extended literature study. Factors and functions were identified that complicate the survival and functioning of high school teachers, and consequently set high coping demands. Arising from the nature of these coping demands, particular conditions or requirements were sought that promote or ensure the successful professional and personal coping process of teachers. In addition, certain kinds of strategies or techniques were identified from the literature that teachers can use to help them handle situations that could lead to tension, frustration or could upset them. In the above theoretical reflection of this investigation, two dimensions (facets) of high school teachers' ability to hold their own have crystallized. The first of these dimensions concerned teachers' professional and personal coping abilities in respect of demands placed on them by contextual factors and the inner dynamic quality of each teacher's own persona. The second dimension concerned teachers' use of particular coping strategies or techniques when they find themselves in situations that could be stressful, frustrating or upsetting to them. An empirical investigation was undertaken with reference to the above theoretical framework. White teachers at Afrikaans-medium and English-medium schools in Pretoria and Verwoerdburg were involved in the investigation. A structured questionnaire, in Afrikaans and English, was compiled on the basis of the above dimensions of teachers' ability to hold their own. In line with the sixth objective set for this study, this measuring instrument was used to determine to what extent high school teachers succeeded in holding their own professionally and personally. The strategy followed to analyze and interpret data consisted of four steps. In accordance with steps 1 to 3 the data were separately analyzed in respect of each dimension (facet) of teachers' ability to hold their own. In step 1 the validity and reliability of the measuring instrument was investigated in terms of each separate dimension (facet) of teachers' ability to hold their own. First and second-order factor analytical procedures and item analyses were applied in this connection, leading to the identification of three variables (scales or factors). In respect of dimension 1, one variable was of relevance, namely teachers' perceptions of their professional and personal coping ability concerning demands made on them as a result of con extual factors and the inner dynamic quality of each teacher's own persona. For dimension 2 two variables were used, namely teachers' use of predominantly problem-oriented coping strategies or techniques and their use of predominantly emotion-oriented coping strategies or techniques. The above variables were then used to conduct multivariate and single-variable analyses on the data according to steps 2 and 3 in respect of each dimension of teachers' ability to hold their own. These analyses were aimed at determining to what extent high school teachers were currently succeeding in holding their own professionally and personally. The Hotelling T2 test and the MANOVA were used to test multivariate hypotheses, while Student's t test, the ANOVA, the Scheffe test and the Chi-square test were used to test single-variable hypotheses. In step 4 of the analyses a canonical correlation analysis was conducted on the data to determine
whether there was a statistically significant relation between the two respective dimensions (facets) of the teachers' ability to hold their own. The findings obtained from all these analyses will now be dealt with briefly. Concerning the first dimension of teachers' ability to hold their own, it appeared from the findings that most of the teachers in the test group had apositive perception of their professional and personal coping abilities. There were also teachers who had less positive perceptions in this regard, which indicates that they found it more difficult than others to hold their own successfully. It therefore seems that such teachers could often experience crises in their ability to cope. In addition, the use of the respective types of coping strategies (dimension 2) by the teachers in the test as a whole suggests that the above positive perceptions may not always be so realistic. Although the teachers believe they coped very successfully, it appeared from the results that their use of predominantly problem-oriented coping strategies or techniques was not particularly high, which can imply a less successful ability to hold their own. It follows from this that these types of strategies are aimed at averting emotional experiences such as tension, frustration and alarm. Although there were teachers who used these strategies to a greater extent than others, it emerged that the use by most of the teachers of predominantly emotion-oriented coping strategies was particularly high. There were also teachers who made use of the latter type of strategies to a greater extent than others, which indicates that they probably frequently experienced tension, frustration or alarm and consequently coped less successfully. This happens because predominantly emotion-oriented coping strategies are used when the above experiences have already been elicited in a person and he/she endeavours to control them. Regarding the relation between the teachers' perceptions of their professional and personal coping abilities and their use of particular types of coping strategies or techniques, the following was found:
• Particularly positive perceptions of professional and personal coping abilities correlate
statistically significantly with a high use of predominantly problem-oriented coping
strategies or techniques. • Teachers who believe that their religious convictions and teacher training to a large extent contribute to their coping ability, nevertheless find it difficult to cope in respect of demands that stem largely from their relationship with the pupils. Such teachers consequently make use of mainly emotion-oriented strategies in their endeavours to hold their own. In addition these teachers believe that nowadays teacher training equips teachers with the skills to cope successfully in practice.
Understanding for the professional and personal demands that teachers have to contend with, needs to be encouraged among parents and the public at large.