PSYCHO-SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WOMEN TEACHERS IN RELATION TO THEIR SCHOOL ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE

1634

AMERICAN RESEARCH THOUGHTS ISSN: 2392 – 876X Available online at: www.researchthoughts.us

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Volume 1 │ Issue 7 │ May 2015

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PSYCHO-SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF ELEMENTARY

SCHOOL WOMEN TEACHERS IN RELATION TO

THEIR SCHOOL ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE

Dr. Nimisha Beri

Asst. Professor Dept. of Education, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, India

Abstract: Teachers have been increasingly presented with significant occupational health problems.

The psycho-social problem of teachers results from heavy work burden, heavy life pressure, and high

expectation from children’s parents, harassment about interpersonal relationship and the shortage of

their knowledge on psychological health. Positive environment is the basis for psycho-social health, so

creating a stress-free and harmonious environment comes first in order to maintain teachers’ psycho-

social problems. Descriptive survey method was used. The sample for the study was selected as 197

elementary women teachers working in government and private schools by using stratified random

sampling from the districts of Wokha, Kohima and Dimapur of Nagaland.

The results reveal that majority of the elementary school women teachers have average level of psycho-

social problems and the elementary schools in Nagaland have controlled and familiar climate. There is

low disengagement, low alienation, moderate esprit, moderate intimacy, low psycho-physical

hindrance, moderate controls, moderate production emphasis and moderate humanized thrust. There

is no significant difference between school organisation climate and psycho-social problems of

elementary school women teachers working in government and private schools in Nagaland. It was

also found out that the women with very high psycho-social problems have high correlation with their

school organization climate.

Key words: Psychosocial problems, School organizational climate, elementary teachers

INTRODUCTION

Education is the heart of the development process of every developing nation.

Development of the country means improving the life of its citizens as a whole.

http://www.researchthoughts.us/

Nimisha Beri- PSYCHO-SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WOMEN TEACHERS IN

RELATION TO THEIR SCHOOL ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE

1635 AMERICAN RESEARCH THOUGHTS- Volume 1 │ Issue 7 │2015

Education being a continuous process of learning, a teacher is a key figure, an element

of educative process. It is teacher who transfer knowledge as well as bring positive

changes, promote healthy training and active integration into society in the students.

Teacher also plays the role of a moral and educational guide. Teachers in the

performance of their professional roles and responsibilities often encounter a range of

interpersonal and task demands, some of which tend to be quite stressful for them.

They respond to situations in which they find that either outcome are uncertain or these

give rise to negative emotional states and outcomes, by making a variety of attribution,

behavioural, physiological and psychological responses. Hence due to grave challenges

in education and heavy demands made on teachers for different roles, psycho-social

problems affect the health of teachers especially women as they had to cope with the

demands of workplace. Working conditions affect subjective health over time. Lath and

Sharma (2010) concluded that teachers are more stressed because of lack of support and

environment. The socio-economic condition of teachers is far from satisfactory. Hence

their mental well-being deteriorates.

Privatization and globalization is being tried in education as well. Private

institutions are being encouraged to provide education on commercial basis. For cutting

down expenditure on education and amplifying materialistic attitude, government is

left with no alternative except privatization of education. This policy of the government

has led to financial and academic exploitation of the teacher as well. The teacher’s

health is being affected which in turn will affect students learning environment and

their professional career in future. Lack of professional autonomy, improper human

relations among teachers, political interference, autocratic attitude of bureaucrats and

denial of teachers professional rights have led to their dissatisfaction. Resent research

suggest that as physical demands in the work place diminish, various aspects of the

social environment of workplace and psychological futures of the job, may play an

increasingly important part in affecting employees health and wellbeing (Theorell,

Berkman and Kawachi, 2000).

Further, the accelerating pace of social, the rise in demand on teachers, the

uncertainties regarding educational reform coupled with scarcity of resources and

deteriorating social image of the teachers are some of the factors behind what has been

labelled “Teachers Distress”. Today’s teachers no longer enjoy the same dignity and

respect as our traditional teachers. They are looked upon as mere professionals working

to let the both hands meet and hence all these causes are dissecting her inner peace of




mind resulting in psycho-social problems. Ana (2011) in her study reported greater

stress in women than man professors. Hence, recognition of psycho-social problems to

seek promising solutions becomes quite important so that educated working women

can give their best to the society, to the nation and the world at large.

As a teacher, woman’s vital impact is powerfully and visibly reflected in the

conduct and character of pupils. It is she who transfers the knowledge as well as the

positive changes to the following generation and also promote healthy training of

students and their active integration into society. Hence, due to grave challenges in

education and heavy demands made by society on teachers for different roles, stress is

sure to overpower and affect the mental health of all teachers, especially women

teachers as they play dual role in the family and workplace to cope with both conditions

and hence their mental wellbeing is deteriorated.

Rose and colleagues (2002) have found a very strong link between

Organizational Climate and employee reactions such as stress levels, absenteeism,

commitment and participation. School climate enhances or minimizes emotional

exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of low personal accomplishment (Grayson

& Alvarez, 2008).Teachers' perceptions of school climate influence their ability to

implement school-based character and development programs (Beets et al., 2008).

To draw out the best of creative talent and intellectual potentialities of women in

workplace as well as in domestic life, there is a need to recognize psycho-social

problems and study them for seeking promising solutions and also to give women

teachers the worthy attention, dignity and cooperation that they richly deserve.

The educational scenario in Nagaland shows that the teacher, the main agent of change

through education, undergoes so many stress and strain during the discharge of his/her

duties. Organizational climate or environment of a workplace is one of the factors that

explicitly or implicitly influence the level of psycho-social problems of teachers which,

in turn, is likely to have bearing on their performance. Therefore dire need was felt to

undertake a study for investigating and exploring psycho-social problems that affect

women teachers working in Elementary Schools of Nagaland in relation to their school

organizational climate so that there is awareness about these problems and also

solutions to overcome them.




OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To explore the psycho-social problems and the school organization climate of

elementary school women teachers in Nagaland.

2. To find out the difference between psycho-social problems of elementary school

women teachers working in government and private schools in Nagaland.

3. To find out the difference between psycho-social problems of elementary school

women teachers working in rural and urban schools of Nagaland.

4. To find out the difference between the school organizational climate of

government and private schools in Nagaland.

5. To find out the difference between the school organizational climate of rural and

urban schools in Nagaland.

6. To explore the relationship between psycho-social problems and school

organizational climate of elementary schools women teachers of Nagaland.

HYPOTHESIS

1. There is no significant difference between the psycho-social problems and the

school organization climate of elementary school women teachers in Nagaland.

2. There is no significant difference between psycho-social problems of elementary

school women teachers working in government and private schools in Nagaland.

3. There is no significant difference between psycho-social problems of elementary

school women teachers working in rural and urban schools in Nagaland.

4. There is no significant difference between the schools organizational climate of

government and private schools in Nagaland.

5. There is no significant difference between the schools organizational climate of

rural and urban schools in Nagaland.

6. The psycho-social problems of elementary school women teachers of Nagaland

have no relationship with their school organizational climate.

METHODOLOGY

A descriptive survey method was employed. 200 elementary school women teachers

were selected as the sample for the study. Data was collected by using stratified random




sampling technique. The data was collected from elementary schools of Wokha, Kohima

and Dimapur districts of Nagaland. The tools adopted for the study were:

1. Psycho-Social Problems of Educated Working Women Scale by Hundal (2002).

2. School Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire by Dr. Motilal Sharma

(1978)

FINDINGS

After collecting data from 197 elementary teachers it was analysed keeping in view the

objective and hypotheses of the study by applying the percentage, mean, SD, t-test and

correlation.

It was found that social problems among employed women are caused by jobs

which involve outdoor work, when quantum of work and family responsibilities cannot

be done on a single day, domestic helps are not easily available, when they have to

sacrifice the interest of family for excelling in chosen fields, when children are neglected

due to absence from home, when they have to live independently outside the family

circle and when they are denied help from friends.

The employed women suffer from psychological problems when they feel

insecure about their children, when they cannot concentrate properly on the children

because they work outside the home, conflict of ideology with husband in-laws, when

job and family life tend to interfere with each other, conflict and contradiction due to

neglect and lack of interaction, when retention in memory decreases due to heavy work

load, when they suffer from physical and mental fatigue, they have a guilty feeling

because they do not have enough time for children, when they feel anxious for their

young children when at work place, due to heavy work load it is difficult to get sound

sleep and when considered less capable than men.

It was also found that in Group Behaviour Characteristics schools have

Controlled Climate and in Leadership Behaviour Characteristics schools have Familiar

Climate. It was also found that there is low disengagement, low alienation, moderate

esprit, moderate intimacy, low psycho-physical hindrance, moderate controls, moderate

production emphasis and moderate humanized thrust among the school teachers.

Thus the findings reveal that majority of the elementary school women teachers have

average level of psycho-social problems. The reason may be that they may have faced

some sort of anxiety, frustration, depression and stress that makes them not at all free of




psycho-social problems. Kaur, Ravinder and Kaur, Naginder (2012) in their study found

out that women teacher of Punjab falls in the group of average level (70%) of psycho-

social problems.

Also elementary schools have controlled and familiar organizational climate.

There is low disengagement, low alienation, moderate esprit, moderate intimacy, low

psycho-physical hindrance, moderate controls, moderate production emphasis and

moderate humanized thrust. Thus it is found that there exist differences between the

psycho-social problems and the school organization climate of elementary school

women teachers in Nagaland.

Variables Group N Mean SD T value

Psycho-Social

problems

Government 100 242.52 47.37 0.45

Private 97 245.04 28.28

Table1: Mean, SD and T value of govt. and private elementary school women teachers with

regard to psycho-social problems

*Significance at 0.05 level with 195df Tab.t=1.97

Table 1 signifies that their exist no significant difference between Psycho-Social

Problems of elementary Women Teachers in government and private schools in

Nagaland The elementary women teachers in private schools have higher mean value.

They seem to have high psycho-social problems as compared to elementary women

teachers in government schools.


Psycho-social

problems

Urban 100 244.13 31.13 0.19

Rural 97 243.38 21.21

Table 2: Mean, SD and T value of urban and rural elementary women teachers with regard to

psycho-social problems


Table 2 signifies that there exists no significant difference between Psycho-Social

Problems of elementary Women Teachers in urban and rural schools in Nagaland. The

elementary women teachers in urban schools have higher mean value. They seem to

have high psycho-social problems as compared to elementary women teachers in rural




schools. Kaur, Ravinder and Kaur, Naginder. (2012) in their study also found out that

there is no significant difference between psycho-social problems of women teachers

working in urban and rural schools of Punjab.


Disengagement Government 100 14.25 2.12

6.15 Private 97 15.48 0.00

Alienation Government 100 8.17 0.70

0.43 Private 97 8.20 0.00

Esprit Government 100 22.34 1.41

0.28 Private 97 22.43 2.82

Intimacy Government 100 22.40 4.94

0.53 Private 97 22.13 1.41

Psycho-physical

Hindrance

Government 100 10.49 1.41 7.18

Private 97 11.71 0.70

Controls Government 100 14.14 1.41

0.00 Private 97 14.40 2.12

Production-emphasis Government 100 17.76 2.82

0.93 Private 97 18.04 0.70

Humanized Thrust Government 100 32.70 4.94

1.98 Private 97 33.71 1.41

Table 3: Mean, SD and T value of govt. and private elementary school women

teachers on organizational climate and its dimensions

Significance at 0.05 level with 195df Tab.t=1.97

Keeping in view the main objectives of the present study t-test was employed to see the

difference between teachers of private and government schools on the two measured

variables and their respective dimensions. The table 3 reveals that private school

teachers feel more disengagement, face more psycho-physical hindrance and at the

same experience more humanized thrust in their school than government school

teachers. The results reveal that there is no significant difference between the schools

organizational climate of government and private schools in Nagaland. Data reveals

that the organizational climates in private schools have higher mean value in all the

dimensions. They seem to have better school organizational climate as compared to

government schools. Zeenat Zahoor (2012) in her study partially proved that teachers of




private and government schools differ significantly with each other on organizational

climate and its dimensions.


Disengagement Urban 100 15.35 0.45

7.14 Rural 97 14.35 1.41

Alienation Urban 100 8.31 1.63

1.25 Rural 97 8.06 0.70

Esprit Urban 100 23.10 2.19

2.65 Rural 97 21.64 4.94

Intimacy Urban 100 23.03 2.84

4.31 Rural 97 21.48 2.12

Psycho- physical

Hindrance

Urban 100 11.22 0.15 1.23

Rural 97 10.95 2.12

Controls Urban 100 14.75 1.94

2.80 Rural 97 13.77 2.82

Production-emphasis Urban 100 18.33 3.06

2.93 Rural 97 17.45 0.70

Humanized Thrust Urban 100 33.53 7.44

0.88 Rural 97 32.85 2.12

Table 4: Mean, SD and T value of urban and rural elementary school women teachers on

organizational climate and its dimensions


The result obtained from table 4 also reveal that urban school teachers feel more

disengagement, experience more intimacy and experience more controls than rural

school teachers. The result reveals that there is no significant difference between the

schools organizational climate of urban and rural schools in Nagaland. Data reveals that

the organizational climates in urban schools have higher mean value in all the

dimensions. They seem to have better school organizational climate as compared to

rural schools.

Over all the relationship between school organizational climate and psycho-

social problems at very low, low, moderate, high and very high levels reveal that

schools organizational climate are open, autonomous and closed. On the basis of result

obtained it was found that the relationship between women teachers with very low

level of Psycho-social problems and school organizational climate there exist very high




correlation between Psycho-social problems and Esprit, Psycho-social problems and

Controls, Psycho-social problems and Production-emphasis; with low level of Psycho-

social problems and school organizational climate it was found that there is very high

correlation between Psycho-social problems and Intimacy, Psycho-social problems and

Humanized-Thrust; with average level of Psycho-social problems and school

organizational climate on it was found that there is very high correlation between

Psycho-social problems and Esprit, Psycho-social problems and Psycho-physical

Hindrance, Psycho-social problems and Humanized-Thrust and between women

teachers with very high level of Psycho-social problems and school organizational

climate, it was found that there is very high correlation between Psycho-social problems

and Intimacy and Psycho-social problems and Humanized-Thrust.

Thus it was also found that the women with very high psycho-social problems

have high correlation with their school organization climate. This means that the

psycho-social problems of elementary school women teachers of Nagaland have no

relationship with their school organization climate.

CONCLUSIONS

Thus, based on the findings of this study, the followings are some recommendations

that would be beneficial for the future practices and future researches. It is

recommended that families should share the responsibilities of domestic obligations to

reduce the burden of working women. Family members especially in-laws should be

encouraging and provide congenial atmosphere for working women. Heavy workloads

should be not be burdened upon working women as it cause retention in memory,

physical and mental fatigue. Society should accept the fact that working women are as

capable as men, have the right leadership qualities. In school the Principal should

provide constructive criticism and give suggestions to correct teacher’s mistakes.

Teachers should not be burden with too much of administrative work. Staff meetings

should not be like a business conferences. The behaviour pattern of the principal and

the staff members should be less formal and impersonal. Friendly social relations

should exist among the staff members and Principal’s behaviour should not be

dictatorial, treat teachers humanly and tender-heartedly.




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