Perceptions and Concerns of Novice Secondary Teachers in Louisiana: The Relationship of Novice Secondary Teacher Stress to Their Perception of Principal Leadership

The demand for highly qualified teachers is well documented, yet numerous stressors influence educators to leave their positions. The guiding question for this study was: Is there a relationship between perceived principal leadership behavior and the stress experienced by the novice secondary teacher? The target population was novice teachers in Louisiana. The purposive sample was delimited to novice secondary teachers having six semesters of teaching experience or less in grades 6 through 12. The ten largest parishes in Louisiana were selected to sample. Four of the ten parishes granted permission to survey novice secondary teachers. The Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire, Form XII (Stogdill, 1963) was used to determine the perception of principal leadership in two dimensions: consideration behavior and initiation of structure behavior. The Teacher Stress Inventory (Fimian, 1988) was used to collect demographic data on the participants and to determine a composite stress score from five sources of stress and five manifestations of stress. The statistical analyses included stepwise multiple regression and one-way ANOVA. Data were analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Science Version16.0 (SPSS). Time management, along with discipline and motivation, were the top two sources of stress for novice teachers. Fatigue manifestation and emotional manifestation were the most conspicuous manifestations of stress. These results reflect relevant issues facing the contemporary teacher. Professional investment, the diminished autonomy teachers experience when the locus of control is external to the classroom, was the single most reliable source of stress to predict both initiating structure and consideration leadership behavior. Emotional manifestation was the single most reliable manifestation of stress to predict initiating structure xiv and consideration leadership behavior. No significant relationship was found between the demographic and organizational variables and stress in the novice secondary teacher. Principal leadership is a potential predictor of teacher retention. Thus, the findings of this study have implications for three specific areas: programs of support for new teachers, preparation and training of principal leadership, and policies that are critical for the successful principal.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Foundations

Year

2009

Author dc:creator

• Hand, Victoria Sanderlin

Contributors dc:contributor

• Causey-Konate, Tammie M.
• Beabout, Brian R.
• Haydel, Juanita

• Teacher Stress
• Sources of Teacher Stress
• Teacher Satisfaction
• Teacher Turnover
• Teacher Retention
• Manifestations of Teacher Stress
• Secondary Teacher
• Principal Leadership Behavior
• Buffering
• Teacher Autonomy
• Leadership Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ)
• Stogdill
• Initiating Structure Leadership Behavior
• Consideration Leadership Behavior
• Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI)
• Fimian
• Herzberg
• Secondary Educational Leadership
• Secondary Educational Administration
• Ohio State University Leadership Studies
• Leader Behavior

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1020

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-2001