Occupational Demand and the Level of Stress among the Secondary School Administrators in Nakuru County, Kenya

Abstract

Stress can be caused by different factors among the secondary school administrators. One of those factors is the demand subjected to them during the day to day running of the schools. The implementation of the Ministry of Education and the teachers' service commission policies at the school's level and the management of the school is associated with a lot of challenges due to the resistance they may receive from the stakeholders. Occupational stress is increasing due to changes in every sector of the economy, all professions and all categories of workers, as well as schools and societies.  There is little evidence of research on the influence of stress among school administrators in Nakuru County, Kenya. Consequently, all these occupational demands loaded on to the secondary school administrators can cause stress among them. This study seeks to establish the influence of occupational demand on the level of stress among the secondary school administrators in Nakuru County, Kenya. The study used a descriptive research design. The target population was 1200 respondents who consisted of 400 secondary school principals, 400 deputy principals, and 400 senior teachers. A sample of 588 respondents was selected using purposive and proportionate stratified random sampling. The sample consisted of 196 principals, 196 deputy principals and 196 senior teachers. The study used questionnaires to collect the data, and focus group discussion was used to access the levels of stress among the School principals. The study found that the number of hours spent on TPAD, EMIS, TMIS, and PC significantly influences the level of stress since the p- values were less than 0.05 significant level. The study used the regression analysis to determine if there was significant effect of occupational demand on the level of stress among the secondary school administrators. The results also found that there was a significant influence of the occupational demand on the level of stress among the secondary school administrators since the p-value =0.000<0.05 significant level.  The study recommends that Ministry of Education, Teachers Service Commission and the School's Board of Management should employ an Employee Assistance Program to assist needy secondary administrators who should also be given an entertainment allowance to ensure that they visit recreation facilities to reduce stress.