Academic Stress and its Effect on Teaching of Secondary School Teachers

Teaching is a profession that is considered to be a rewarding challenging and complex role.

An effective teacher does not simply teach knowledge their students and instead aims to arm

students with the knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes that will prepare students for

life-long learning. The modern theories have impacted on the way that teachers teach and this

has changed the approach of teaching to place a greater importance on the teacher instead to

act as a facilitator of learning in an open, constructivist environment and providing students

with the tools to challenge themselves to develop both academically and personally.

Teacher is a facilitator, is a friend, and is a philosopher. The main purpose of teachers should

be to develop in each student his / her general education and personal culture, ability to

identify ones potentials, educate others, to create an awareness of the principles which

underlines good human relations and a sense of the responsibility to lead as an example to

social, cultural and economic progress in the society. The nation building task will be

performed under the leadership of a brilliant set of teachers who will develop the creative

abilities of the teeming millions of the country.

Teachers need to be seen as creators of knowledge and thinking professionals. A teacher

needs to be an information provider, role model, facilitator, assessor, planner, resource and

developer. Educated teachers, with wide knowledge, command the respect of fellow teachers

and the people in their communities. They need to be empowered to recognise and value

what children learn from their home, social and cultural environment and to create

opportunities for children to discover, learn and develop.

Teachers play an important role in educating the future members of a society through their

work in schools. Furthermore, teachers in institutions of higher education, in technical

training colleges and in centres of lifelong learning and recurrent education play a critical

part in advancing economic and technological development as well as sustaining the wellbeing

of the societies they serve. Consequently, the factors influencing the levels of

commitment of the teachers in schools and in the wider education systems must necessarily

be the focus of an important field of research leading to the introduction of reform and

change within classrooms and lecture theatres, schools, institutions and learning centres, and

national systems of education. This study is not only concerned with the importance of

teacher commitment at all levels of education, with conceptualizing teacher commitment and

with the dimensions or different types of commitment, but also with the influences of

leadership and working conditions on teacher commitment as well as with the development

and maintenance of high levels of commitment among teachers. In addition to considering

the effects of antecedent personal characteristics of teachers on their levels of commitment,

this chapter also considers the effects of social groups, such as the body of teachers within a

school or institution on the individual members of the group.