Murphy, A.; (2005) Do teachers and teacher managers in a primary school differ in their views on work-related stress? Doctoral thesis , University of London.

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Abstract

Work-related stress amongst teachers and other occupational groups, is a significant problem in terms of its prevalence and costs. Reduction of work-related stress has been attempted by a variety of intervention programmes. Most published, work-related stress programmes appear to have resulted in minimal stress reduction and this thesis is broadly concerned with the reasons for this apparent lack of success. Responsibility in the workplace for addressing stress usually lies with managers who appear willing to deal with work-related stress, but mis-direct stress programmes at the individual rather than the organizational level. A question arises about what accounts for this apparent contradiction. Part of the problem seems to be that managers and staff have different perceptions, beliefs and values in relation to stress. Managers may not have an accurate view of what is causing stress in their staff and so the 'real' stress issues are not targeted by the stress management programmes which managers provide. Another part of the problem centres on the informal communications between managers and staff around issues to do with work-related stress. If they were better able to communicate and identify the real stress problems, then more effective interventions could be developed. If managers and staff hold differing beliefs on work-related stress, can any differing manager-staff views be observed by direct observation This thesis attempted to discover whether any differing views on work-related stress were observable in the talk of teachers and teacher managers in a primary school. When teachers and their managers are not agreed on the nature of the stress problem to be addressed, there would appear to be little likelihood that a stress management programme would be effective in alleviating teachers' stress.

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