INFLUENCE OF WORK-RELATED STRESS ON GOVERNANCE OF TEACHERS’ IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN JUJA SUB-COUNTY, KENYA

: The main aim of the study was to establish the influence of work-related stress on governance of teachers’ in public secondary schools in Juja Sub-county in Kenya. The study was guided by two specific objectives which included to examine the effect of policies-related stress on governance of public secondary schools teachers in Juja Sub-county and to establish the effect of economic-related stress on governance of public secondary schools in Juja Sub-county. In Kenya, teachers are confronted with occupational, pedagogical and technological changes which have largely influenced alterations in their working conditions. Changes of this nature have been reported to be partly responsible for work stress and this subsequently affects how teachers perform. The study used three theories related to work-related stress: path-goal, person-environment fit and effort-related imbalance theories. The study sought to bridge the existing knowledge gap on the effects of work-related stress on teachers’ performance in Juja Sub-county, Kiambu County, Kenya. Purposive and stratified sampling techniques were used whereby subjects were selected from existing subgroups in the population. Out of a total population of 190 TSC teachers from eight secondary schools, a sample size of 66 respondents was selected from eight secondary schools. Questionnaires were used to collect primary data while the secondary data was collected through review of published documents and text books. The presentation of data was through tables. The findings from the study indicate that management-related stress, family-related stress, policies-related stress and economic-related stress affect teachers’ performance in Juja Sub-county. The findings further indicate that up to 81% of the teachers’ job performance in public secondary schools in Juja Sub-county could be attributed to the combined effects of the variables studied. The study also suggested for further studies to be conducted on the emerging job related stress factors such as the effects of the new performance appraisal on teachers’ performance in public schools in Kenya as well as a side by side comparison of the same variables in other Sub-counties and Counties in Kenya. From the study results majority (56.5%) of the respondents agreed that preparing lessons, teaching aids and evaluating students work, have great effects on teachers‟ job performance. This corroborates views by Sorenson (2000; p.12) “Stress is a condition of twenty-first-century education that continues to increase as more accountability standards and new policy initiatives are introduced. ” According to the study findings majority (60.9%) agreed that handling students‟ indiscipline cases have the most significant effect on teachers‟ performance among policy related stress factors with Chi-square results (χ2=190.460, p= 0.0001). The results are a clear indication that in public secondary schools students‟ indiscipline cause work related stress and poor performance. The findings support studies by Geving (2007) that suggests student behavior is an increasing factor of the stress, especially among secondary level teachers due to inadequate discipline policy and Dizon (2011) and Gitonga (2012) that restrictive government legislation on child rights protection has led to restrictive students‟ disciplinary policies in schools thus repeated students‟ misbehavior making classroom management and subject matter delivery difficult hence time wastage and anxiety in teachers whose jobs are at risk for disciplining their students. Additionally, 47.6% inadequate cause low morale, uncertainty and teacher turnover. Poor training further makes coping with emerging globalization effects such as technology integration in teaching stressful. Also 44.1% agreed that inadequate stress management in schools deteriorate teachers‟ stress levels leading to frustration, stress-related diseases and eventually turnover supporting such findings by Borg (2010). The reviewed literature showed that effective teachers‟ performance contributes to individual and national development since all the professions take their roots and nourishment from the teaching profession. Effective teachers‟ performance helps in supplying the economy with educated and productive citizens who can convert efficiently other resources into output of high value for quality life. Previous studies confirm that teachers usually experience negative work related stress which lead to job dissatisfaction, ill health and poor performance. This study further revealed that management-related stress, family-related stress, policies-related stress and economic-related stress affect teachers‟ performance. The findings indicated that up to 81% of the teachers‟ job performance in public secondary schools in Kikuyu Sub-County could be attributed to the combined effects of all these variables in the multiple regression models. The effects of each of the variables are presented in the following sub sections.