The administrator's role in reducing stressors in the school environment as identified by teachers in charter schools
Washington, Precious Stress is experienced by many in education; administrator assistance provided to teachers varies. Systems and strategies for delivering help must be strategically implemented and developed. An environment of trust and rapport should be considered, so those in need feel safe requesting or accessing support. This study investigates the administrator's role in reducing stressors in the school environment as identified by teachers in charter schools. Specifically, the outcomes of the research answer the following questions: 1. What do teachers say about stress in their work environment? 2. What teachers say administrators could do to mitigate their stress in the school environment? A qualitative research design was used to gather information for this study, and Participatory Action Research informed the design. A questionnaire was administered to twenty-six participants from a population sample of schools in the City of Milwaukee. An interview was also conducted with five teachers from the target population of seven schools chartered by the City. The findings revealed five significant themes surrounding teacher experiences with stressors in their environment: How teachers' voice is utilized in the school, stress causes, decision-making processes, support systems provided to teachers, and administrative awareness surrounding teacher stressors. The themes are discussed and analyzed using the words: voice, stress causes, decision making, support, and administrative awareness. These themes were analyzed and interpreted alongside the theoretical framework of external and internal stress causes and risk and protective factors that help mitigate stressors within the environment. The analyses revealed high percentages of teachers who identified external stressors and administrator awareness as risk and protective factors that were effective within the work environment for them as teachers. It was discovered that if protective factors are in place and outweigh risk factors experienced by teachers, it helps reduce stressors within the environment. When teachers are provided multiple avenues for sharing both anonymously and face-to-face, it was concluded that teachers are more inclined to reveal what is needed. Administrators can then be more effective in mitigating stressors by providing protective factors to reduce the risk factors within the environment.
Teachers--Job stress--Prevention, School administrators
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