PRESCHOOL TEACHERS EXPERIENCES OF STRESS

This research study investigated the phenomenon of stress among a grou p of preschool teachers. Eight teachers were given opportunities to re cord and describe current sources of stress. These teachers kept a ref lective journal over a 2-week period and summarised their reflections diagrammatically. The daily journal entries and the diagrammatic repre sentations were analysed for common themes on the sources of stress in the teachers' work. The researcher sought written feedback and confir mation from the teachers that the themes identified by the researcher during analysis were the major sources of stress for them. Confirmatio n was given that time pressures, meeting children's needs, dealing wit h non-teaching tasks, maintaining early childhood philosophy and pract ice, meeting personal needs, issues with parents of the children, inte rpersonal relationships, and attitudes and perceptions about early chi ldhood programs were the major sources of stress for this particular g roup of teachers. Consideration of the themes support the view that th ere is a need for research to explore teachers' experiences of stress within their specific teaching context such as preschool or childcare, as well as within the wider contexts of the school campus and the edu cational, organisational, and social system. Differentiation between t he internal demands which teachers place upon themselves in their dail y work and the external demands from organisational and social pressur es must be understood in order to provide support for teachers to cope with and adapt to change.