Stress, job satisfaction, resilience, and teaching performance of high school mathematics teachers in the new normal

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to propose a model of the relations between stress, job satisfaction, teacher resilience, and teaching performance of high school mathematics teachers from the province of Negros Occidental in the A.Y. 2020 - 2021. This study covered responses from 380 randomly selected public high school teachers of the Negros Occidental teaching mathematics province who taught during AY 2020-2021. The teachers answered the following questionnaires: Job Satisfaction Survey, Resilience Assessment Questionnaire, Teacher Stress Inventory and Pandemic-Related Perceived Stress Scale of COVID-19, and Teaching Performance Questionnaire. Means and standard deviations were used for descriptive data analyses, the Pearson Product- Moment Correlation, Multiple Linear Regression, and Structural Equation Modelling for inferential data analyses, all set at a .05 level of significance. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the level of stress, job satisfaction, teacher resilience, and teaching performance in terms of technological competence, pedagogical competence, and attitudinal competence of high school mathematics teachers. The Pearson'sPearson's Product-Moment Correlation was run to determine the significant relationship between teachers' overall stress and teachers' levels of reported job satisfaction; between teachers, overall stress and teachers' resilience; between teachers' levels of reported job satisfaction and teachers’ resilience; teachers stress levels, reported job satisfaction, and resilience relation to the teaching performance. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the types of stressors, job satisfaction indices, and categories of resilience that account for the variation in teaching performance. The structural equation model was used to test if teacher resilience played a moderating role concerning the contribution of teachers' job satisfaction and stress to teaching performance and to find the best fit model that best influences the teachers' teaching performance. The stress level of mathematics teachers in the province of Negros Occidental was moderate. The level of job satisfaction of high school mathematics teachers was ambivalent. The level of resilience of high school mathematics teachers was high. The teaching performance of the teachers was also high. There was a negative significant relationship between stress and job satisfaction, resilience and stress, and stress and teaching performance. There was a positive significant relationship between resilience and job satisfaction, resilience, and teaching performance. The exogenous variables problem-solving, vision, supervision, using technology, fatigue manifestations, time management, determination, and operation procedures significantly predict teaching performance. The results and findings latent variables resilience representing the measured variables determination and problem solving; job satisfaction represented by the measured variables in terms of pay, contingent rewards, and nature of work have a significant contribution to the latent variable teaching performance. This suggests that the policymakers may reorganize their incentive programs, and policies need to be introduced to empower teachers through special capacity-building programs and incentives. It is also essential that DepEd officials pay greater attention to strategies that nurture environments in supportive contexts, so teachers stay in the classroom longer and improve at faster rates than their peers in less-supportive environments. School principals may consider the findings as benchmark data in revising policies, plans, and programs which will promote sustaining a higher level of teaching performance of classroom teachers. It is recommended to continuously conduct supervision and evaluation, socialization and mentoring, education and training, and reciprocity. In other words, these four recommendations can be maximized if all elements collaborate. It means that every teacher understands their profession as educators, so they are not only demanded to be intelligent and fun, but they can also become role models for the students. The findings show that colleagues, students, family, and friends' roles are essential in developing and sustaining resilience and job satisfaction. It is recommended that math teachers continue developing a work environment that sustains resilience and job satisfaction within the school organization. Finally, future researchers who wish to utilize the adopted questionnaire in the present study may consider validating the instrument using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) or confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).