The purpose of this study is to analyze properties of special class teachers' job stress and turnover intention and examine effects of job stress on turnover intention. For this purpose, a survey was conducted by mail with 200 special class teachers f...
The purpose of this study is to analyze properties of special class teachers' job stress and turnover intention and examine effects of job stress on turnover intention. For this purpose, a survey was conducted by mail with 200 special class teachers from primary and secondary schools in Daegu; of those questionnaires returned, 147 copies were analyzed. Statistical techniques used to analyze the collected data were t-test, one-way ANOVA, and regression analysis.
Through these methods and procedures, the following conclusions were drawn.
First, the level of general job stress for special class teachers was not high; teachers with shorter teaching career, less experience in special schools, experience in turnover, a larger number of students, discordance between the present working area and expected one, and presence of special education assistants and other special education teachers come to experience higher job stress.
Second, the level of special class teachers' turnover intention was not high; teachers with short teaching career, discordance between the present working area and expected one, and absence of special education assistants showed greater turnover intent; male teachers, rather than female ones, with shorter teaching career and discordance between the present working area and expected one more frequently conducted actual turnover trial. Those with longer teaching career, experience in turnover, a hope to be placed in a special class, and presence of other special education teachers within a school showed stronger stay intent.
Third, of job stress factors for special class teachers, the higher the degree of physical symptoms and the higher stress caused by relationships with administrative managers, the greater turnover intention. And the higher job stress caused by psychological and emotional symptoms, teachers' mutual relationships, and relations with parents, the higher level of actual turnover trial. The lower job stress caused by relations with administrative managers and internal conflicts, the lower turnover intent. However, job stress from students' behavior or time management causes no difference in turnover intention.
The following suggestions can be made for more in-depth follow-ups.
First, continuous researches are necessary to obtain more detailed results about effects of job stress on turnover intention among special class teachers. It is expected that more objective results can be obtained by examining special class teachers' job stress factors and turnover factors through several measurements to improve reliability of the research.
Second, it will be possible to obtain more detailed results by including such factors as teachers' age and titles, differences by school grades, teachers' evaluation of school administrators, disability areas of students, and tasks in analyzing job stress and turnover intention.
Third, it is necessary to conduct detailed researches including those on reduction in job stress and turnover intention caused by discordance between the present working area and expected one, efficient placement of special education teachers, development of a pre-placement training program for special class teachers, the need of mentoring by experienced teachers, alienation or isolation of special class teachers, identity, and authority distribution, cooperation, and construction of a network among special class teachers as further research tasks to apply the results to educational practice.