CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
- Background of the Study
The issue of stress on job has progressively gained attention of educators and vocational experts probably because of its elegance to employee and organizational problems. While research such as Izundu (1990) support the need for research on job stress, little is known about job stress and job performance among primary school teachers. Stress is a set of conditions involving interactive of a person and environment which presents a person with a demand or constraint, as an opportunity for behavior. Stress has also been conceptualized as a condition where in job- related factors interact with the worker to changes his psychological or physiological condition such that the person is forced to deviate from normal functioning stress is considered as an arousal reaction (positive or negative.) to some job or personal related stimulus (Girdano and Everly 1979). The stimulus that causes stress is called a stress or stress is positive if it enable a person to perform or excel in a given situation or event, it is negative if there is excessive, amount of stress that causon an individual to reduce performance. Invancerichi, Maltason and Richards (1985) addressed that the issue of stress can cause physical illness and psychological disturbance with psychosomatic as well as physical change” they observed that while stress is an inevitable part of living thing and working excessive pressure can lead to ill-health, lost productivity and increased personal problems these authors advised that school management and managers must learn to identify the potential stress trouble sport in their organizations, and concerted effort to relieve these when necessary the current socio-economic trends occasioned by the rapid deteriorating in basic infrastructure and standards of living in Nigeria within the past few years have contribute to more stress, hence the need to investigate stress on the job and job performance of primary school teachers. Today teachers and other senior management staff of training institutions face the conflicting problems and demand of increase expectations of the training sector and pressures on financial resources with which to meet those expectations. It is on this base that Yesufu (1984) observed “modern employment is carried on under very demands which they made upon each other are constantly changing and very often, indeed are in a state of Flux”. In the light of the foregoing oblation (1986) noted that primary education makes a great demand on its teaching methods and processes as a result of technological changes. It is perhaps on this basis that Izundu (1999) recommended that there is the need to identify difficulties related to certain occupations to act as a check against worker’s inability to cope with or to adopt well to the behavior requirements of the job. Some research works such as Ifeluni (1992) reported areas of stress among Nigerian co-anchors but there is little evidence that have been conducted to provide information on job related stress and job performance among Nigerian primary school teacher. The constant need for primary school teachers to improvise equipment and instructional materials may bring about job related stress as they carry out their professional functions the action understand what lead to stress in the profession the more they can achieve effectiveness and efficiency in the mission of primary Education.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Primary education like every other area of education in Nigeria is always experiencing an acute shortage of it professionally qualified teachers. The shortage no doubt impose strain on the few available teachers as they strive to work under presence in order to meet the demands of large numbers of pupils. The situation appears to be compounded as primary school teachers are increasingly being required to improvise teaching aids/ instructional materials for doing their work even with little or no special reward for their effort. The constraints seem to have contributed to lack of devotion to duty some teacher, which is itself a result of stress. Such stress reaction raise concern.
